Monday, February 4, 2008
new website and forum
we have a cool new website that provides you with a framework for starting your own green group, and a new forum for talking all about it. join us over at http://goinggreenfamily.com!
Sunday, January 13, 2008
power to the people
Yesterday I went to a lobbyist training and legislative workshop sponsored by Washington's environmental lobby, Priorities for a Healthy Washington. It was so inspiring. And such a relief to learn about the great plans and leadership Washington State has in place. Our government is actually responding to global warming! Here's what I learned:
The lobbyists are targeting these four 2008 priorities for the next legislative session:
> Climate Action and Green Jobs (master plan to reduce pollution and train workers for green jobs in place by 2012)
> Local Solutions to Global Warming (tools to help local communities apply the master plan)
> Evergreen Cities (protecting and planting trees in our cities)
> Local Farms/Healthy Kids (getting local organic food into our schools)
Governor Gregoire has identified these priorities as Governor Request Legislation, which means that she wants to make it happen.
At the training, we listened to green Democrat and Republican Representatives weigh in on the challenges we face in our state (I didn't realize that transportation makes up half the pollution in Washington), and heard from our fearless leader, Jay Manning, Director of Washington State Department of Ecology. This dude is on it! He's like Washington's own Al Gore. Manning is responsible for developing and implementing the master plan by January 1, 2012. If you want to know more about the specifics, you can check it out here.
Next we learned about how to talk to our legislators about environmental issues that we care about. I'm not quite ready to march into my legislator's office, but it's great to know how to do it.
Here's what I learned in case you're interested:
1. Find out who your legislator is and call up their legislative assistant (LA) to make an appointment. Be sure to be nice to the LA since they give you access to your legislator and it's also good to mention that you're a constituent. Do your homework on the issue and your legislator, looking for what their personal interest might be in your issue.
2. When you meet your legislator, introduce yourself and tell them what your connection is to their community, e.g. "I'm a member of the Sierra Club and a constituent in your district."
3. Start and end on a positive note to create a positive tone - thank them for voting on or doing something you liked.
4. Clearly and concisely state your message in a few sentences. Practicing ahead of time helps you focus your message. Give specifics, like bill numbers, and ask for specific action. Adding your personal story is really important too. For example,
"I'm a mom to a new baby and I'm worried I'm passing toxins to her through my breastmilk. Please vote no on Bill XXX to protect our families from toxic chemicals."
Be honest, straight forward, and don't worry if you don't know the answer to any specific or technical answers they might ask. You can just say, "I don't know the answer to that question, but I'll do the research and send it to you in the next few days." By following up, you'll be developing a relationship with your legislator, which sounds pretty cool!
5. End on a positive note and send them a thank you along with any additional information you wanted to give them.
And that's it! If writing a letter to the editor is more your style, here's some suggestions.
There's a Global Warming Activist Workshop on February 2nd at Bastyr that I'm going to check out, so let me know if you want to check it out too. I keep thinking about that Gandhi quote, "Be the change you want to see in the world." It's exciting to know that positive action is happening, that our government is actually responding to global warming, and that we can be a part of it. Our individual changes make a difference and our voices really do matter!
The lobbyists are targeting these four 2008 priorities for the next legislative session:
> Climate Action and Green Jobs (master plan to reduce pollution and train workers for green jobs in place by 2012)
> Local Solutions to Global Warming (tools to help local communities apply the master plan)
> Evergreen Cities (protecting and planting trees in our cities)
> Local Farms/Healthy Kids (getting local organic food into our schools)
Governor Gregoire has identified these priorities as Governor Request Legislation, which means that she wants to make it happen.
At the training, we listened to green Democrat and Republican Representatives weigh in on the challenges we face in our state (I didn't realize that transportation makes up half the pollution in Washington), and heard from our fearless leader, Jay Manning, Director of Washington State Department of Ecology. This dude is on it! He's like Washington's own Al Gore. Manning is responsible for developing and implementing the master plan by January 1, 2012. If you want to know more about the specifics, you can check it out here.
Next we learned about how to talk to our legislators about environmental issues that we care about. I'm not quite ready to march into my legislator's office, but it's great to know how to do it.
Here's what I learned in case you're interested:
1. Find out who your legislator is and call up their legislative assistant (LA) to make an appointment. Be sure to be nice to the LA since they give you access to your legislator and it's also good to mention that you're a constituent. Do your homework on the issue and your legislator, looking for what their personal interest might be in your issue.
2. When you meet your legislator, introduce yourself and tell them what your connection is to their community, e.g. "I'm a member of the Sierra Club and a constituent in your district."
3. Start and end on a positive note to create a positive tone - thank them for voting on or doing something you liked.
4. Clearly and concisely state your message in a few sentences. Practicing ahead of time helps you focus your message. Give specifics, like bill numbers, and ask for specific action. Adding your personal story is really important too. For example,
"I'm a mom to a new baby and I'm worried I'm passing toxins to her through my breastmilk. Please vote no on Bill XXX to protect our families from toxic chemicals."
Be honest, straight forward, and don't worry if you don't know the answer to any specific or technical answers they might ask. You can just say, "I don't know the answer to that question, but I'll do the research and send it to you in the next few days." By following up, you'll be developing a relationship with your legislator, which sounds pretty cool!
5. End on a positive note and send them a thank you along with any additional information you wanted to give them.
And that's it! If writing a letter to the editor is more your style, here's some suggestions.
There's a Global Warming Activist Workshop on February 2nd at Bastyr that I'm going to check out, so let me know if you want to check it out too. I keep thinking about that Gandhi quote, "Be the change you want to see in the world." It's exciting to know that positive action is happening, that our government is actually responding to global warming, and that we can be a part of it. Our individual changes make a difference and our voices really do matter!
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
water, water everywhere
happy new year, my green friends! i hope your first day of 2008 is treating you right and that you're enjoying the nice fresh start. i'd love to hear your going green goals for the new year. what are you thinking about?
this year, i'm looking forward to continued learning and experimenting with ways to help slow things down. to kick it off this week, i'm thinking about water.
for starters, i'm trying to find out what the environmental impact is per gallon of water that i use. i'm not finding a nice tidy breakdown on the impact of my water use, so if you have any research suggestions along these lines, please send them my way. i did find this interesting regional comparison of consumptive use vs. renewable water supply, but it's from 2000, so i suspect things have changed since then.
on the home front, i took a careful look at our water bill last month and started getting interested in how many gallons of water we use. it will be fun to make some changes over the next month and see if we can reduce the amount of water (and $$) we churn through. here's a list of the things i'm going to try:
> install energy-efficient shower and faucet heads or make sure the washers are tight
> find and repair water leaks. This cool link shows you how to determine if you have water leaks and tells you how to fix them.
> stop buying bottled water and use my fancy new SIGG bottle instead (apparently each plastic bottle of water takes about 6.7 bottles of water to produce. yikes. . .)
> turn off water while bushing or shaving
> run full loads in the dish and clothes washer
> fill a plastic bottle with water, recap it, and place it in the toilet tank. you’ll reduce the flow by 40 percent and still maintain enough water for a good flush.
we rent our house, so the following suggestions don't make sense for us, but i'd be interested to hear if any of you homeowners out there have tried them out:
> install low flow or composting toilets
> install low flow and washerless faucets
> rearrange plumbing so rainwater and gray water can be used to flush the toilet
> install an activated charcoal or ceramic filter for drinking water
any other water conservation ideas to add to this list?
last but not least, cheers!
this year, i'm looking forward to continued learning and experimenting with ways to help slow things down. to kick it off this week, i'm thinking about water.
for starters, i'm trying to find out what the environmental impact is per gallon of water that i use. i'm not finding a nice tidy breakdown on the impact of my water use, so if you have any research suggestions along these lines, please send them my way. i did find this interesting regional comparison of consumptive use vs. renewable water supply, but it's from 2000, so i suspect things have changed since then.
on the home front, i took a careful look at our water bill last month and started getting interested in how many gallons of water we use. it will be fun to make some changes over the next month and see if we can reduce the amount of water (and $$) we churn through. here's a list of the things i'm going to try:
> install energy-efficient shower and faucet heads or make sure the washers are tight
> find and repair water leaks. This cool link shows you how to determine if you have water leaks and tells you how to fix them.
> stop buying bottled water and use my fancy new SIGG bottle instead (apparently each plastic bottle of water takes about 6.7 bottles of water to produce. yikes. . .)
> turn off water while bushing or shaving
> run full loads in the dish and clothes washer
> fill a plastic bottle with water, recap it, and place it in the toilet tank. you’ll reduce the flow by 40 percent and still maintain enough water for a good flush.
we rent our house, so the following suggestions don't make sense for us, but i'd be interested to hear if any of you homeowners out there have tried them out:
> install low flow or composting toilets
> install low flow and washerless faucets
> rearrange plumbing so rainwater and gray water can be used to flush the toilet
> install an activated charcoal or ceramic filter for drinking water
any other water conservation ideas to add to this list?
last but not least, cheers!
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