As a country, we’ve shared an outrage over the past two months as a wasteland has been made of our beautiful Gulf Coast. We’ve created rage-filled Facebook pages like “1 Million People for the Plugging of the Oil Spill with BP Executives” and seen some hilarious yet still sad videos like this one. We’ve expressed frustration and anger as our government, BP, and basically everyone in power has failed to stop the spill—and has succeeded in destroying our land, water, wildlife, jobs, and people. All in all, we are largely together in this.

Yet, as individuals, we can feel pretty powerless.

What can one person do, after all? This is one of the worst environmental disasters to befall humans in history. Even throwing money at a worthy organization such as EarthJustice or any of the dozens of people either threatening or moving forward with suing BP won’t stop the oil from spewing. As much as we think that, as one person, we can’t do much, there are still a few things we can do:

• Boycott BP. I know lots of people have been exclaiming that this is the wrong thing to do, rationalizing that by doing this we “only hurt the gas station workers.” Here is the thing, though—when you know a product is bad for you, you don’t buy it. Not even to help workers. Do you think people who quit smoking or tanning worry about that? We can’t keep using up this planet just for the sake of jobs. If the planet is destroyed, so are we! Getting workers green jobs in renewable energy is the answer, not continuing a broken paradigm that only kills us all in the long run. And the only way to hurt a business—to really make it listen up—is to not buy from it. The only thing these people listen to are dollar signs. So if you want BP to pay, don’t pay them.
• Vote Green. I don’t mean Green Party, necessarily. I mean vote for the candidate who takes the least amount of money from the oil industry—especially from BP. This can be hard to do, but you can find out where your candidate gets his or her money at OpenSecrets.org.
• Stop Using Oil. This one’s probably even harder than the last, but if we don’t do it, it’s just going to keep happening. And I know you know that oil is a nonrenewable resource; we’ve been taught that since the fifth grade. Back in the fifth grade is when we should’ve ditched the oil in the first place! Scientists and the military estimate that we will experience oil shortages within the next three years—and as far as when the oil will completely run dry, well, that’s surely not far after. We need to stop with the oil habit and invest in a clean future. Tell your Congress people how important this is to you, and stop using oil products as much as you can.