I am a member of Focus the Nation, a non-profit organization that is committed to fight for clean, renewable energy resources. This morning their news letter arrived in my inbox detailing some of the upcoming events and where they would be held. All the way at the bottom was a link to 41pounds.org which was described as a service that will stop all unwanted junk mail for five years. Having never heard of this particular organization before, I went to the website and read each page, looking to gain a broader perspective on what and how they do it. For $41.00 (US) they will contact and stop all unwanted mail for five full years -- catalogs, credit card offers, fliers -- anything with a name and address on it and $15.00 of that donation goes directly to an organization in the drop down menu. It sounded pretty good (especially since FTN was in the list), but while reading through the list it occurred to me that many of the organizations on it were local to southern California.
I love SoCal but presently live in Massachusetts so my wheels began to turn and I realized that the only organizations I currently belong to as a member are all national. This made me stop to think -- where are my local organizations and how can I find them? I thought about the saying:
I love SoCal but presently live in Massachusetts so my wheels began to turn and I realized that the only organizations I currently belong to as a member are all national. This made me stop to think -- where are my local organizations and how can I find them? I thought about the saying:
Think Globally. Act Locally.
Now that is not to say that acting globally does not help because I do truly care what happens to the rest of the world but starting at home will give me more pride in actually being able to watch that effort come to fruition.
So where can I research local organizations? How do I join them? What makes them reputable?
I had a lot of questions and only the internet to guide the origins of my search. So I opened up Google and typed in “Environmental Org my hometown and state”. To my surprise and delight my own town website came up with links to three committees and the Sustainability Action Plan. The Town Selectmen voted eight years ago to join with the Cities for Climate Protection Campaign that would require a plan be put into action.
Eight years ago! I felt like I had a lot of catching up to do! My town issued part one of their Sustainability Plan just two years ago and a committee was formed so the first thing I did was register for an account to their website so I could learn more about upcoming events and town meetings. I learned that the next will be held tomorrow night at 7:30 PM and emailed the moderator of the meeting to see if it was open to the public. Finally, while waiting to hear back I called my Mom, who also lives here, and asked if she too would be interested to attend if we were allowed and she said sure!
There were two additional committees listed and I fully intend to research both in the same manner in order to get more involved right here in my own town. I will continue to donate to and support larger organizations such as We, 1Sky and Focus the Nation but to begin an effort right here in my own town makes me feel more connected to the air my own community breathes every day.
What are you doing to support local organizations? Tell me about your experiences!
7 comments:
im in so cal woo!
So is this "hometown" you speak of the one that is the large city and we both live in the suburbs near this city? Or are you talking about your suburb? Because I recently moved here I haven't done a lot locally yet, other than looking at ways to advocate for recycling pick-up at my apartment complex, so if you're talking about the large city I'd love to get involved with you. =) (Was that anonymous enough?).
Totally anonymous enough Bridgete lol. I am actually talking about my own little suburb directly. I had no idea they were so into the environment and doing even more research into the other 2 committees has made me even more excited to do something about it. Sadly the moderator for tomorrow night's meeting still hasn't gotten back to me but that is ok, we may just go anyway & see, the walk will be good for all 3 of us (Matt wants to come too!)
Maybe we can research something in the city too though and get involved together, I would love that!
Hey that is awesome about the recycling (think I remember you mentioning that on Ginger's blog). Be sure to mention that if & when I ever get those questions out to you :) Prob later this week!
Yay, we should research something in the city and get involved! That would be fun!
Great blog!
Back in middle school, I spent the occasional weekend sorting recyclables with my sister's elementary school Environmental Education (EE) Club. Then when that kinda folded, I would occasionally accompany my mom to the community collection center to do more of the same. (The area is rural with only voluntary recycling drop off at select municipal buildings and fire stations.)
Since then, I can't say I've had any "active" involvement in community environmental organizations. Unless you count picking pop cans out of the top of the trash can at work to rinse & recycle them. Maybe someday when my kids are "of age" I'll be that mom who heads their EE club...
For the record, that experience working at a recycling center, sorting bottles and cans, with numb fingers... because of it, I will always rinse my recyclables, will always remove caps as requested, and absolutely cannot drink beer.
way to go with the google-factor on being an environmental queeeen! that's a good idea, the global/local activism. i try to act locally by buying (organic hopefully) produce when it's available. say i buy colorado apples instead of washington...stuff like that. i like to think it lessens my eco-footprint a bit. plus i recycle and live vegan and all that other jazz ;)
speaking on the junk mail though; i joined triplealert.com. it's like free credit report dot com. there is a place on there where you can see who's running your credit and why...those credit card offers come to you because joe blow credit shark ran your credit, yep. there's an option on there to nip that in the bud, so i did. it took about a month, but i no longer receive junk mail. the occasional piece from some random place, usually from someone i donated to or a chinese restaurant, but that's it. it costs $5/month and i get those nifty credit alerts too.
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