Part of the Solution, cont.

Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.

-Goethe

I feel good about myself today.  A few days ago I received a response to my clean energy plea (from a prior post), and today I received another one.  The first was from Senator Dianne Feinstein, it came in the snail mail with a return address of “United States Senate: Official Business”.  I know everyone gets this same stationary but it still made feel proud to see Offical Senate Business with my name typed on the envelope (I’m SO important!).  Her letter was nicely typed and it addressed all of my concerns – and even though it sounded a bit like a form letter, I was thrilled to hear back from her office.

The second response was an email from the office of Congresswoman Susan Davis which was similar to the Feinstein letter, only Davis sounded a bit more angry that congress isn’t fighting as hard as they should be for clean energy.  I’m glad she’s angry.    She did sound optimistic though about their new bill, the Comprehensive American Energy Security & Consumer Protection Act.  Here is an excerpt:

“Like you, I believe that our country needs to be looking toward a renewable future.  This comprehensive bill is a good new step that works to that end by investing in wind, solar and natural gas.  As a byproduct of these investments, hundreds of thousands of green American jobs will be both created and retained.  Rest assured, I keenly understand that researching and promoting a full range of renewable energy options must be at the forefront of our nation’s agenda.  I will keep your thoughts in mind as the 110th Congress comes to a close and in the months ahead, and I am hopeful that in the next Congress we can revisit renewing the ban on offshore drilling.”

Writing letters is only the tip of the iceberg – there are many other things we can do to make a difference.  It does feel great though to at least get my feet wet.  If anyone is interested in doing the same, please know that it’s very easy, and it’s time well spent!    If you’d like more information regarding action on this specific cause, please go to the “Take Action” section of www.wecansolveit.org.

Until next time!  xoxo

Part of the Solution

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors,
we borrow it from our children. 

-Native American Proverb

So…I was reading about politics (as I do everyday) and while I usually get a bit irritated, today my head almost exploded.  I’ve had enough.  This seems like the longest election season of all time.  Don’t get me wrong, I love reading political news and opinion and discussing it with my friends, but what I cannot stand is the lack of attention to the issues!   We talk about who is pregnant, who is black, who is old, and who is inexperienced.  But it seems our increasingly more important issues are being eclipsed by dangerously displaced media attention.  Which, by the way, is our fault…

To make matters worse, the only issue getting any love in the past weeks is the issue of abortion laws.  Really?  Should we be caught up on that right NOW?  We are losing our houses, our jobs our families, and our planet.   Now is not an appropriate time to be discussing this.  We need to make drastic changes in our country and abortion should NOT be on anybody’s priority list.

And why don’t we all care about our planet?  The thing that makes we wanna freak out is the fact that science has proven we are ruining our earth, yet some continue to deny it.  Why?  It’s the earth.  It’s not the death penalty, it’s not gay marriage.  There is no reason for anyone to roll their eyes when this topic is discussed.  It is our natural environment, our safety, and our quality of life – an issue that affects young and old, rich and poor, catholic and atheist.  Even if we aren’t having a climate crisis and this is all untrue, what is wrong with taking care of our planet just because it’s the right thing to do?  Hmmm?

ANYWAY – rant is over…back to my point…

I decided to quit just being angry and in my hour of irritation, I revisited a site I found a few days ago called We Can Solve it, an online community/website that designed to educate Americans on the climate crisis and the actions they can take to toward acheiving a very simple and practical solution.

The site outlines many action steps that we can do as citizens to improve environmental conditions.  I decided to take on action item #1 – To tell congress to end our addition to fossil fuels.  It took less than 15 minutes and the site outlined everything I needed to do.  Easy peasy!  How can you help, you ask??  Here is the link…  Please, please, please join me in being part of the solution.  All you have to do is click on the link and follow the instructions.

http://www.wecansolveit.org/content/congress/

I’ll keep you posted on the responses I get back from them  That’s always the exciting part!!