Congress

When it comes to changing the world with global warming which is more important, personal action or political action. As a post I read on a bulletin board (one of Ade’s) stated (rough paraphrase) it’s not about light bulbs it’s about the politics. I’ve been debating this over in my head since I read that, my first though on raising awareness was my personal actions (and each of ours independently) are more important than the politics behind the issue. To me, at least at the start, it is about light bulbs not the politics or legislation. Does that mean that political action is the wrong course? Is policy change the proverbial chicken or egg?

One of my thoughts with global warming was to introduce concepts, ideas, efficiencies that would most importantly help the environment, but also save people money, and not be overly divisive in terms of the politics. I personally don’t care what George W thinks of global warming, and my overall hope is that even if you do agree with him you can at least buy into some of the ideas I present on how to reduce your environmental impact. Politicians seem to have proven they can’t (or won’t) introduce (perceived) unpopular policy for fear of offending their voters, causing job loss for them (and global warming fits that bill now). Congress won’t act until stopging global warming are popular in all neighborhoods. So, if this is the case then light bulbs are the key, right? True, at least I thought for some time, and then I started considering when we as a country have made changes, specifically thinking about MLK jr. and the civil rights movement (thanks to Shay). Yes MLK was trying to change perception but along a parallel path he worked on legislation to protect civil rights. In the case of the civil rights movement neither efforts to change perception nor legislation would have worked independently. To truly effect the change America need both. So I wrote to my Congresswoman last night because global warming is that important. I’ll send letters to my senators, governors, mayor of the next few weeks as well.

I hope each of you will do the same. Ask, NO TELL, your elected officials you support legislation to reduce co2 emissions from cars, support legislation to increase gas mileage in cars, support government agencies buying hybrid vehicles, support alternative power options (wind and solar for example) and that you want the US Government to sign and comply with the Kyoto Treaty (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_Protocol).

Here is a link to get in touch with your congressional representative and senator http://www.webslingerz.com/jhoffman/congress-email.html.