Actor, director, and environmental activist Robert Redford is urging us to use the power of social media today (June 18!) to help end government subsidies for the fossil fuel industry.
In a blog on the Huffington Post, Redford questions whether it’s right to hand out almost 1 trillion dollars to the oil industry in harsh economic times, especially when teachers, firemen, and other government workers are losing their jobs due to massive budget cuts.
We should not be subsidizing the destruction of our planet. Fossil fuels are literally cooking our planet, polluting our air and draining our wallets. Why should we continue to reward companies to do that? As they go after more expensive and harder to access fossil fuels, it is like drilling a hole in our pocketbooks. We pay more at the pump. We pay in taxpayer subsidies to a highly profitable industry. And we pay in the rising costs of climate change in the form of floods, storms and droughts that hurt our homes and communities.
Read Redford’s full post here.
So how does Robert Redford want us to help with this problem?Redford wants us to spread his message on Facebook and Twitter and other social media outlets – today! Share his post and use the hashtag #endfossilfuelsubsidies. Let others know about the irrational use of taxpayer dollars and urge them to support clean energy industries like wind and solar. Ending fossil fuel subsidies is good for our pocketbooks, economic growth and for our health and environment.