Take Action – Contact Elected Representatives

Tell Your Elected Official(s) How You Feel About a Selected Conservation Issue

Our elected officials need to be kept informed about how we feel about conservation issues.  Conservation issues affect not only our quality of life, but also our continued existence on this planet.  It is important that legislators are sent many supporting messages because they judge the relative importance of competing issues by the number of messages they receive.

The AMC Club has made it easy to send an email expressing a position about selected conservation issues.  You can simply send a copy of the Club message, or increase the message impact by adding some text of your own.  Your added text should not only express how you feel, but also explain how you are impacted, and how does your desired action benefit you.  The links in each listed action will take you directly to the AMC take action page to compose and send your message, and also some links to ancillary information that you can use to support your case.

Adding a few lines of text is relatively easy by left clicking in front of the top line and hit enter twice.  You’ll be above the top line and just add your text.

Alternatively, you can compose a more complex message with your word processing program, just be sure to copy and paste it as plain unformatted text into the message window.

The Club Has Four Conservation Action Items

1 – Solutions For Clean Transportation

The Climate and Transportation Initiative is a regional action plan for the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic States.  Part of the plan is would be to require large suppliers of gasoline, diesel, and other fuels to purchase “pollution allowances” and use those funds to invest in carbon-reducing transportation options — like public transportation; zero-emission buses, cars, and trucks; electric vehicle charging stations; high speed wireless internet in rural and low-income areas to allow for teleworking; roads and bridges repairs; and safer bike lanes and sidewalks.  The Governors of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, have signed on to the plan, while the Governors of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont have not.  Send a message to the Governor of your State to join the regional program.  Customize your message by adding some text about your interest. For example, I would like to have rural highway shoulders widened and paved for safer bike travel.

For additional information regarding the Climate and Transportation Initiative, use any of the following links or search “Climate and Transportation Initiative”

Three New England Governors Sign Pact

New England States Announce Clean Transportation Plan

Regional Transportation and Climate Initiative

2 – Support Climate Actions In Your State

New Hampshire ranked 18’th in the 2020 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard, two places higher than it held in 2019. The state scored 24.5 points out of a possible 50, 3.5 points more than last year.  While that score is better than most other States, it is the lowest in New England.  The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy measures five categories of energy use, Utilities, Transportation, Building policies, State-led initiatives, and Appliance standards.  New Hampshire met or exceeded the National median score in all categories except transportation.  Send a message to the Governor regarding energy efficiency.

If you are not a New Hampshire resident, look up your States Scorecard, and comment accordingly.

3 – Maine Initiatives

The New Hampshire Chapter members who reside in Maine can use the following two links to send a message to their State representatives.

3.a – Supporting Maine’s Climate Action Plan

It’s called “Maine Won’t Wait” and it is a detailed and comprehensive four-year plan of action to combat climate change. You can help move that plan to reality.  Click on the link to review the plan before sending your message.   Contact your legislators to help make this action plan a reality.

3.b – Fund Land for Maine’s Future

Maine voters have overwhelmingly supported funding Land for Maine’s Future in the voting booth, but you won’t get the chance to vote this year unless the Maine Legislature votes to place a question on the ballot. Ask your state representative and senator to support LD#911 so that an appropriate question will be on the November ballot.   Click here to review the proposed legislation.