Perhaps you’ve written a letter to a bank by now. What’s the next step? Getting political. In the Columbus area we have three congresspersons, two senators, one president, 14 state representatives, six state senators, and one governor, plus cabinet officers, directors of agencies, AND a local newspaper. All of these persons (and the newspaper) have contact information so you can express your opinion on what is happening to the environment and what needs to be done.
It is true that some representative are less sympathetic to environmental action than others, but even those men and women are alert to volume. They want to get re-elected after all. The more constituents send them emails and letters demanding action on the climate crisis, the more they are willing to be open to doing something, even if it is not the maximum effort wished for. Our local newspaper, The Columbus Dispatch, is very open to letters supporting action on climate change. Getting a letter published there also gets attention from representatives.
Social media pages are also great places to post polite, but firm comments. Until an aide takes them down, they can be read by hundreds of people and even forwarded to friends and other sites. Your comment could become viral!
What if you don’t quite know how to phrase what to say? Or what if you feel you need more information to back your opinion up? Once again the web can come to your rescue. If you are a member of the Sierra Club or the National Resources Defense Council you can find sample letters on their action pages. Even if you are not, there are organizations with sample letters for all kinds of issues. Elders Climate Action has a column of model messages on different topics to address to national and local politicians, banks, businesses and your local newspaper. Of course you need to modify them to fit your personal situation. The “Take Action” page of the Environmental Defense Fund has sample letters and background information on many current issues.
And you can just write a short email on your own, expressing your personal concern for the future of our children and grandchildren, your impatience with the slow pace of government action, your observations of how climate change is already effecting you and your neighbors. Highly personal messages often have the biggest impact.
Here’s a contact list:
Representatives Joyce Beaty, 3rd District, Troy Balderson, 12th District, Mike Carey, 15th District
Senators Sherrod Brown, Rob Portman
President Joe Biden
Find your State Representative on this map.
Find your State Senator on this map.
Governor Mike DeWine
The Columbus Dispatch: email – letters@dispatch.com
So sit down with a keyboard or pen and paper and let these representatives, executives and neighbors know how concerned you are about climate change!
Here’s a prayer for this week:
Creator God,
Thank you for the waters of the earth,
for the life-sustaining rains,
lakes, and deep oceans.
Keep us mindful of how precious these are,
and how vulnerable they are.
Help us to work together for clean water,
and for the sharing of it with those who have need of it today.
Amen.
Rt Rev’d Christine Hardman, Bishop of Newcastle, Church of England
Thanks for your commitment to praying and caring for God’s creation!
You can find this and all the Creation Care blogs for the church website I have written at my consolidating blog: ststephenscreationcare.blogspot.com
