Take the Earth Day 25 Action Pledge

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                Take Action!
                Addresses and Samples

Congress reconvenes from Easter recess on May 1, a week after Earth Day. Beginning on May 1, and extending through that week, our goal is to flood Congress with letters, postcards, FAX messages, phone calls, and e-mail messages expressing a mandate from the American people that our environmental protection laws be maintained and/or strengthened.

To our fellow citizens:

Twenty-five years after the first Earth Day, we have reason to be pleased. Environmental awareness is high. Air is cleaner, drinking water is safer, we've upgraded and expanded our system of national parks, and pollution prevention and resource conservation technologies are paying off for many companies. So we have reason to be optimistic about the future? Right?

Unfortunately not. The new Congress, brought to power on a wave of anti-government anger, feels a mandate to reform government. However, while the Contract With America may reflect public frustration with some aspects of government, it contains no mention of the environment. The American people have not given anyone a mandate to dilute or dismantle environmental laws. There has been no public request for bills currently being proposed in Congress that would weaken clean air, clean water, and toxic waste legislation; that would sell off national parks and allow oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; or that would eliminate the Endangered Species Act. In fact, national polls continually show broad, bipartisan public support for maintaining or strengthening environmental protection.

Earth Day 1995, our day to celebrate America's commitment to the environment, gives us the opportunity to meet this challenge by coming together in a massive show of participatory democracy. In the grassroots tradition of the first Earth Day, millions of us with a common purpose, can reaffirm and express our collective support for the environment and for the laws which protect the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the wildlife with which we share the earth. What better way to express our participation than by adding an environmental amendment to the "Contract" mandating Congress to maintain the best of current environmental safeguards and to expand them where necessary in the years ahead.

No matter what your party or positions, we challenge you to join with us in taking an Earth Day Pledge of action. There is power in numbers, and there are millions, many millions, of Americans who care about the environment.

SHOW YOUR PERSONAL COMMITMENT TO ACTION ON THIS 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF EARTH DAY BY PLEDGING TO COMPLETE THE 3 SIMPLE STEPS OUTLINED BELOW:

I agree to take responsibility for completing the following THREE SIMPLE steps:

• ACTION STEP 1: On the weekend of Earth Day (April 22 and 23), I will write letters or send post card messages to:

      President Clinton
      House Speaker Gingrich
      Senate Majority Leader Dole
      One of my two senators
      My district congressman
  

  INTENT: All of these cards should be waiting in their offices when Congress reconvenes May 1.

• ACTION STEP 2: Between 6AM and 8PM on Wednesday May 3, I will PHONE, FAX, OR E-MAIL short messages to the following:

      House Speaker Gingrich
      Senate Majority Leader Dole
      My other senator
      My district congressman
  

  INTENT: If tens or hundreds of thousands, and hopefully millions, of people are calling, it will be hard for Congress and the media to ignore the message.

• ACTION STEP 3: Within one week of signing this pledge, I will contact 5 people who I know well ANYWHERE in the U.S., and particularly in states where Senators or Congressmen have questionable environmental records, and convince them to complete the three simple steps of this pledge.

  INTENT: If we begin with 100 people in Hawaii the week of March 27, and these people each enlist 5 others nationwide, if this only multiplies once a week, we will have 1,562,500 people on board by May 3. If, however, each of us can get 5 people to commit in less than a week, we could conceivably have 7,812,500 people sending messages by May 3. The impact of this could be tremendous.

  SIGNED_____________________________

  DATE_______________________________

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  WHERE AND WHAT TO SEND

  To find out how to reach your elected officials by e-mail, regular mail, or phone, check this Address List.

  SAMPLE LETTER AND SAMPLE POSTCARD MESSAGES

  The following samples show one way of getting your message across. Remember that personal letters, faxes, or postcards are given greater attention than form letters by your Senator or Representative. Your message to Congress will be most effective if you do not copy this letter verbatim but instead rewrite it in your own words, perhaps adding information on environmental concern in your community.

  SAMPLE LETTER
  
  Dear Representative _______________,
  
  I am concerned that a number of bills currently before Congress
  may have the effect of weakening our nation's commitment to
  protecting environmental quality and public health. While
  Congress may feel it has a mandate for government reform,
  diluting and dismantling environmental safeguards was not called
  for in the Contract With America and was certainly not requested
  or approved by the American people.
  
  Environmental laws such as the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act,
  and Endangered Species Act have been key to improving and
  safeguarding the quality of our air and drinking water, and in
  protecting America's wildlife and wild lands. Broad bipartisan
  majorities of Americans have consistently supported strengthening
  -- not weakening -- programs to improve air and water quality and
  protect our natural heritage.
  
  Legislation currently being proposed that will relax rules on the
  dumping of contaminated water into urban reservoirs or force
  taxpayers to pay landowners not to use their property in a way
  that harms the surrounding community and environment runs counter
  to values of public responsibility.
  
  I am depending on you to represent the voices of your local
  communities and ecosystems that need your help rather than
  the voices of other special interests seeking to weaken
  environmental safeguards. Please contact me to confirm that you
  are listening to the folks back home.
  
  
  SAMPLE POSTCARD MESSAGES
  
  Dear ________: We don't think that the Contract with America is a
  mandate to dismantle our environmental laws. Please protect our
  clean air, clean water, and endangered species.
  
  Dear ________: Forcing taxpayers to compensate landowners for not
  polluting or for protecting endangered species is ridiculous.
  Good neighbors should not have to pay bad neighbors to stop using
  their property in a way that harms the surrounding community.
  
  Dear ________: We are concerned about the plight of endangered
  species and the habitats on which they depend. Protect America's
  wildlife and our wild lands. Please vote to reauthorize the
  Endangered Species Act.
  
  Dear ________: We depend on air that is safe to breathe for
  ourselves, our children, and our children's children. We do not
  want to give loopholes to pollutors. Maintain the integrity of
  the Clean Air Act.
  
  Dear ________: We depend on water that is safe for drinking,
  recreation, and supporting wildlife. I count on you to vote
  against efforts to weaken the Clean Water Act.
  

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  Based on posting by:

  Carolyn Chase, Earth Day Network,San Diego
  Tel: (619)272-7423
  FAX: (619)272-2933
  Voicemail: (619)496-3361
  email: earthday@qualcomm.com

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  Brought to you by Tufts University

  Environmental Consciousness Outreach

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  Tufts ECO - Earth Day Pledge <jcoate@tufts.edu>