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A heat dome will send temperatures into the triple-digits across the West as fires burn
(edition.cnn.com)
this post was submitted on 04 Jun 2024
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You are absolutely right about all the challenges facing average Americans that keep us too busy to do a lot about issues like these.
Still, there are lots of different ways to help. Some do require more time, and are probably out of reach for someone who's just barely getting by. But some require less.
Today I dropped off at the post office 350 hand written postcards to low propensity climate voters in my state. I wrote and addressed the postcards while I was watching TV, so it didn't really take much more of my free time (I would have been watching TV anyways). Elections in my state have been decided by only a few hundred votes, so actions like this do make a difference.
Next week, I will be meeting with staff for my member of Congress in person in D.C. I have the luxury of having the time and money to make this happen, but if you pick up the phone or write an email every single month to your congressional office and mention climate change, it makes it much easier for us to get these meetings and get our point across. Pressure on congressional offices alone doesn't get the job done, but it makes them take us more seriously when we meet with them and present a bill that we want them to support.
Congress is pretty dysfunctional right now, but we still have managed to get some climate friendly legislation through. Every bit of help and support we get along the way makes a difference.
The group I volunteer with is Citizens' Climate Lobby, and I think they are the best, but there are other groups out there. The American Conversation Coalition is more right-leaning and has been gaining traction recently. The Sunrise Movement is more left-leaning, though for some reason I haven't heard much from them recently, at least in my state. I'm sure there are other groups out there besides those three.
Of those 350 postcards, 330 were immediately thrown in the trash without being read.
Edit: Also 350 postcards with the proper postage would cost $185.50
I'm sure that many will be thrown away, and the cynical take sounds logical at face value. But that's not what the data shows:
https://www.environmentalvoter.org/results
Postage costs were spread around among volunteers. Some people have more time than money, some have more money than time. Personally, I paid for about 250 postcard stamps, and got a roll of 100 from the group. Others got more or less rolls of stamps.
Cynicism among folks who care about climate change is understandable, and widespread, which is a big motivation for sending postcards targeting climate voters. The data shows that we tend to vote less than the average voter. If we really want the political changes that we say we do, then we need to show it and take action.
It's entirely possible that it is too late to do anything about climate change. But if we act as if it's true then we make it a certainty, where now it is only a probability.
Climate change realists (people that have common sense) voting less than the average population is not something I expected. If anyone believes that climate change is real and isn't voting Democrat, you're the problem.
Climate change has become reality because of apathy. Not evil actors. They've always been the minority relying on inaction.