Three Letters You Can Write to Help Save the Planet

By Chris Baskind in Living

While letter-writing has been largely replaced by email for daily correspondence, it still has its uses. Here’s how a traditional letter can help green the planet.

Want to have some personal impact on the kind of issues that will make the world a greener place? Write a letter. Not just any letter: the dead tree kind. Email is a great tool for brief personal and business communication. But when it comes to influencing opinion leaders, there’s no substitute for a well-considered, old school paper letter.

Think about your own inbox. It’s probably jammed with more than you can manage — not to mention a heaping helping of spam. Now multiply that bulk by a thousand (or many thousands), and you’ll understand why top-ranking business and government officials rarely see more than a staff-collated summary of public email.

Whether your interest is climate change, recycling, or getting your neighborhood store to stock more locally grown produce, a traditional letter is often the best way to get your words on someone’s desk. And there are three kinds of letters you can write today that can really make a difference. So warm up your favorite word processor or get out a nice box of stationery, and let’s start changing the world.

Write a Public Official

Public policy — in theory, at least — starts with the public. That’s you. While it often seems that elected officials have their own agendas, most post real attention to thoughtful communication by the people they represent.

Email is so dominated by special interest campaigns that it’s mostly regarded as a sign of a group’s organizational strength, rather than personal communication. Cut through the clutter with something which won’t be mistaken for a form letter.

The most important thing is to contact the right person: your particular Congressman, MP, Governor, or Mayor. It’s less effective to address lawmakers from outside your own district.

A few things to keep in mind as you’re writing:

• Clearly identify yourself as a constituent.
• Qualify yourself — state your background or interest in the issue at hand.
• Politeness matters.
• If you’re writing about a piece of legislation, identify the bill by number.
• Request one specific action per letter.
• A single typewritten page is enough.
• If your letter is handwritten, be sure it’s legible.
• Always sign your letters.

One further note: letters to elected officials may become part of the public record. This means any personal information — including things such as phone numbers — might become available for general inspection. Protect your privacy accordingly.

Write a Letter to a Business or Corporation

Let’s single out Wal-Mart for a moment — the United States’ biggest retailer, and one of the world’s 20 largest corporations.

Regardless what you think of their policies or impact on local retail communities, getting an entity like Wal-Mart to make even a tiny change to improve the environment or reduce resource consumption can have an even more dramatic impact than legislation or regulatory oversight.

And there’s no reason not to go straight to the top. See if the company you’re writing is listed at Yahoo Finance.  If they’re a publicly held company, you can find their key officers by doing a symbol lookup on Yahoo’s ticker section. Otherwise, check their website for the name of the owner or chief executive.

The same general rules which guide your conversation with elected officials will apply to dealing with businesses. Customers are a corporation’s constituents, so introduce yourself by saying where you shop or how you do business with the company.

Be specific, and make one actionable suggestion per letter. Try to put yourself in the company’s place: How will whatever you are asking effect the bottom line? Are there examples of similar companies which have taken the course of action you are recommending? How will being more Earth-friendly return value to the company’s customers and investors?

One of the biggest difference between today’s environmental movement and that of 10 or 20 years ago is that greens now recognize business can be partners in positive change, rather than adversaries. Companies can act thoughtlessly. But they can just as easily become allies. Remember that the officer you are writing may one day be an environmental colleague.

Write a Letter to the Editor

Newspapers are in trouble. Almost across the board, circulation and advertising are in a historic decline.

But it’s a mistake to dismiss newspapers as a public forum. Their readership is well-read and disproportionately influential. You’ll also be reaching a lot of people who simply prefer to get their news from something they can hold in their hand, rather than a screen.

The key to writing a good letter to the editor is brevity. Do your homework: most papers publish their requirements for letters, and you should be familiar with these. You’ll usually find them somewhere on the Editorial page.

Construct your letter in the same way newspaper stories are written — with the most important facts right up front. Think of your first paragraph as a summary of the whole letter, then make your case in three main thoughts or less. Don’t be shy about plugging a relevant website, meeting, or event.

One more thing: There’s something about a letter to the editor which seems to compel people to sound as if they’re making a speech before the local Rotary Club. By all means, write in normal, conversational tone. If you find yourself using a lot of overly formal words like “populace,” take a deep breath, think how you’d communicate the same thought to a friend over coffee, and start over. Your readers will thank you.

Three different kinds of letters — three ways you can help save the planet. Revive the vanishing art of written correspondence, and you’re well on the way to establishing a personal influence which will extend far beyond your desk or kitchen table.

Originally posted 01. Dec, 2008 | Tags: Activism, Letter-Writing, Newspapers, Wal-Mart