With the democratic takeover of both the House and Senate earlier this month, many took it as a sign that issues with the environment might finally start getting some notice and action. Any politician should see that taking steps to go green would be a very politically savvy move right now, as the condition of our environment now and in years to come is a serious worry.
Even though they SHOULD see that going green would be political genius, that doesn’t mean they won’t need a little push from We, the People. The time to act, en masse, is, well, yesterday, but now will be fine as long as we get right to the point. It’s important to get as many people as possible to help spread the word, and bombarding local, state and federal officials may at least get you some time on your local news station, if nothing else, and publicity of any kind is welcome, as long as it spreads the word that we are in trouble.
It’s easy to say, Well, just contact your congressman, or senator, or sign this petition. It’s tougher to take those steps, whether it’s because you’re not a good speaker, not a good writer, not very convincing the list of excuses could go on and on. How about we stop the excuses and start acting? Even if you can’t rally some of your own personal troops, one person trying to make a difference is better than none.
So let’s put on our thinking caps, grab some scrap paper and a working writing utensil, and go over our plan of attack:
Visit your local politician
Our elected officials claim to love visits from their constituents, so book meetings immediately. Tell them that you’d just like to discuss the little matter of climate change. Arm yourself with a list of points you’d like to make.
- Check out some climate crisis pages and highlight some adverse climate trends that worry you. Suggest a visit to some websites: (www.campaignearth.org is a good one) so they can find out for themselves (they probably don’t know specifics, at least not in a way that would affect them, but that’s what you’re there for).
- Educate them about different ways to generate clean power and support energy use reduction (check out past articles on this site to find ideas).
- Don’t mince words. Tell them that their political party is not doing enough. Make sure they understand that, unless their party seriously improves its climate change policy, you and all of your people (it doesn’t hurt to exaggerate if you don’t have your own people) will have no choice but to vote for the party that does and will continue to put the environment ahead of oh, say, gay marriage or banning abortion.
- Explain to them that in order to work on reversing current climate changes, we will ultimately need to move to a zero greenhouse gas emission economy and establish alternate sources of fuel, not to mention getting the word out — charts detailing how to reduce emissions in your own home are easy to understand and HIGHLY effective. Make sure, too, that people get these charts; even if you send the information home with kids from school, it’s amazing the impact they will have on their families if their teacher just spends a minute explaining it to them first. Emphasize, if you must, that you and your large group will be spreading the word anyway on a sizable scale, and attaching the politician’s name to the cause certainly wouldn’t hurt future campaigning.
Using the Media
Of course, there’s always the possibility that your local politician may just nod and say some pretty words and forget all about you as soon as you leave, or end the call, or whatever. You should expect that, really, because everything in Washington takes ten times longer than we think it should, and usually costs ten times more. Equate it to that remodeling job you had done on your house get the picture?
That’s why just talking isn’t enough. The politicians may think they have the power, but we have to remember that it’s not them; it’s US who make the decisions. This is when you have to contact your local and/or regional media. Send your newspaper information about global warming trends, articles about average daily emissions, even their very own chart that they can publish to show more people what driving your car, leaving your lights on all the time, and not recycling does on a global scale. Emphasize that minor changes equal big differences. Point out that it doesn’t matter what your neighbor’s SUV is doing to the environment just focus on what YOU can change.
If you have to, play dirty. It’s not pretty, but if you don’t hear from your politician, or if your return calls go unanswered and visits lead to excuses about why you can’t see Politico right now, use the media to your advantage for that, too. Say that your local representative turned your group, or however you want to phrase it for maximum results, away, and no calls have been returned.
This is potentially a huge turn in the tide. Any politician, being schooled in the art of what makes them look best and what the people want most, should be willing to work with you, even if they assign one of their grunts to your case. This is not a job for the thin-skinned, either be prepared to face rejection, and remember that it’s not personal; you’re doing this for the planet. You’re doing this for future generations. Any human being armed with even a little knowledge should want the same. Let’s stop worrying about what other countries are doing with their governments and start worrying about a future on a planet that’s taken a lot of abuse and is inevitably breaking down as a result.
Now GO GET ‘EM.
