Week 43 - Green Your Vote!

As you may have noticed, we are now on week 43 of Going Green Painlessly, with this post being one of the last ten. I was thinking about all the different ideas I have written about and how if we can stick with even just a few of them we can make a big difference. One other thing entered my mind. This is an election year.

I realize we have some big problems right now (the War, a slumping real estate market, the tanking economy, oil prices, unemployment, health care…jeez, I’m getting depressed), but I think if the environment is important to us, we need to add it to that list. Now obviously I wouldn’t expect someone to vote for a candidate based solely on where they stand on the “environment“, but what if we were to phrase things differently? How does a candidate plan to reduce our dependence on foreign oil? How important does s/he (it’s great adding the “she“!) believe research for alternative fuels is? How focused are they on alternative/renewable energy? Will they place pressure on the automobile makers to manufacture more fuel-efficient models/hybrids? Do they support the Clean Air and Water Acts? What about the Kyoto Protocol? Will they support the US being part of a global effort to reduce greenhouse gases? When put another way, we can see how these issues can affect our economy, and our health.

So what’s the first thing you need to do? Get registered to vote if you haven’t already. You can do this from home. Visit the League of Women Voters’ website vote411.org. Print the form, fill it out and mail it in . That’s it! No excuses!

The next thing we need to know is where the candidates stand on environmental issues. The League of Conservation Voters has a terrific website presidentialprofiles2008.org, which not only outlines where the candidates, but also grades them based on their voting history regarding those issues. They also document candidate responses to various environmental questions. It’s a wonderfully informative website. Grist.org also offers information about each presidential candidate’s stance on environment issues. It may also be a good idea to visit the candidates’ websites to see if what they claim to do is indeed, what they do.

Whether or not you care about the environment, the truth is with the rising cost of both oil and energy everyone is going to feel the crunch. It is becoming more and more expensive to manufacture and move product. As a result, we pay more for them. Therefore, we need to make a smart choice this November and vote for someone who will support the changes necessary (and for those that know me, by "we" I mean those of you who can vote. Since I am Canadian I have to do my part in other ways - like writing an informative blog).

If the environment benefits from those changes even in a secondary way, I’m fine with that. Job well done!