Protecting Your Turf pt. 1: Getting the Info

Reducing your waste, not eating meat, and taking shorter showers are all magnificent behavioral changes that contribute to living a more sustainable life. To truly live sustainably though, tt's necessary, to zoom out of what you can easily control and look at the bigger picture. What's happening in the world around you that may be counteracting your sustainable aims? What are our governments, businesses, and institutions doing that limit the choices you can make to live more sustainably? As I've lamented in earlier posts, there are just some sources of pollution, emissions, and environmental harm that we partake in, but cannot control in our everyday lives without making huge sacrifices. In the likely event that you don't want to move to an off-grid self-sufficient earthship and abstain from using any public infrastructure, you may be more interested in good old civic activism.

Political fights over environmental problems happen constantly in every level of government from neighbors fighting over leaf disposal to countries fighting over emissions reduction targets. These fights may seem inaccessable to the average college student since we are not homeowners, politicians, or even really adults yet. I was incredibly surprised when I sent an email to the PA Department of Environmental Protection about the siting of a pharmaceutical waste facility and actually got a reply. Since then, I've tried to stay more up to date about environmental happenings in my hometown so I can chime in and potentially impact local policy.

This two part post will target one specific way of engaging in local politics - email writing. There are many many other outlets for activism that are perhaps more effective, but this one is perhaps the most easily integrated into the life of a college student. It doesn't require physically going anywhere and it helps strengthen writing and communication skills. In this first post, I'm going to detail two main sources of local environmental news where you can look to find out about environmental issues going on in your hometown. I will use my home county, Bucks County, PA as an example throughout.

1) Local News Websites - If you google " 'town' local news" you're bound to get some sort of local news website pertaining to your town. One that I found for Bucks County is buckslocalnews.com. Another great source for local news is patch.com. This is a website that has news pages for a ton of participating towns as well as pages for each state. Once you're on the website, click "find your patch" and enter your zip code to find your town. Patch does a great job on their government section of noting when town supervisors meetings are, what's on their agenda, and how to contact them.

Neither website has an explicit "environmental" section. In the likely event your town's news website doesn't either, try using their search bar and search words like "pollution, zoning, environment, siting, parks, conservation, floodplain, land use, water, energy, agriculture" and other language that is applicable to local or state environmental problems. This article gives a fantastic summary of the power that local leaders have in creating environmental policy and is a great reference for trying to find an issue that may be going on where you live.

2) Organization Newsletters/Websites - Almost every town or county has some sort of environmental organization that actively updates websites and sends out newsletters about local environmental issues that they're working on. I find these newsletters to be incredibly easier to read than most news articles since they are coming from someone who has already read and synthesized the available news. These organizations often include the email addresses and phone numbers of the relevant political leaders responsible in making decisions about a particular issue.

- A go-to organization is 350.org. This is a national organization concerned with climate change, divestment from fossil fuels, and global power shifts away from dirty energy. They have local groups all over the world and a super handy map that you can use to find your local 350 group. When you find your group, click on their name and head to their website where you can see what they're up to and sign up to be on their newsletter.

- Another go-to is www.foodandwaterwatch.com. F&WW focuses a lot on consumer protection when it comes to access of clean water and healthy food (hence the name) so if you're in an area that may have water or food problems, they're probably working there. They have a button right on the top of the home page that says "get active where you live." It's incredibly easy to get involved as a volunteer, but if you just want information about issues, petitions to sign, and contact information for relevant political figures, their newsletters are the way to go.

- And how could I talk about environmental activism without mentioning The Sierra Club? The notorious environmental activist group that has been instrumental in shaping environmental policy all over the country actually has a wealth of information about environmental policy issues in each state with very explicit instructions and links that can help anyone get involved.

- Unaffiliated Local Groups: There may be groups unaffiliated with any national organization that still send out newsletters about environmental issues in specific counties, regions, or towns. A great way to find these organizations is through Eco-USA. These groups may be a bit more accessible so if you have questions about what they do or a specific problem they're addressing, someone will definitely reply to you.

**Tip: I recommend subscribing to newsletters to get issues on your radar and get necessary information for where to direct your commentary, the information these newsletters will provide will likely be heavily pro-environmental leaning. In order to keep your facts straight while developing your thoughts about a particular issue, be sure to google it and read what's been written by non-environmental groups or "unbiased" news sources.

Go forth and hit "subscribe," then keep your eyes peeled for calls to action coming at your inbox. It was exactly one of those calls from 350 Bucks and No Fracking Bucks that inspired me to reach out to the PA DEP about the potential siting of a pharmaceutical waste facility 10 minutes from my house.

Keep your eyes peeled for part two of this post on Wednesday!