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!