After a dull interlude without a regular ISP I am back online again, & catching up on stuff. After getting around to signing a petition about monitoring water related to coal ash storage, i was looking over the photos on the local Sierra Club site & remembering what a good time I had on Feb. 29, Conservation Lobby Day in Jefferson City. We had a lovely group of conservationists who shared some goals about discussing issues with the Missouri General Assembly. Since some people were not able to come that day my friend Michael and I had the assignment of covering the St. Charles County legislators, all of whom are Republicans. After a couple of interactive sessions to begin the day, one with the whole Conservation Lobby alliance (/http://www.movotesconservation.org/our-legislative-work/environmental-lobbying-alliance) and another with the Sierra Club members, plus some photo sessions (http://missouri.sierraclub.org/FrontPage2012/LobbyDay2012Report.aspx), we set to work.
Michael, who works part time at the local Sierra Club office, and I climbed up several stories of stairs, after which I had to beg for an elevator next time, we set out to cover the issues with our list of legislators. In fact we landed on 2 floors after that & I continued with the stairs. We were dashing back & forth from then on, except for a short lunch break, carrying our heartfelt opinions on coal ash, energy efficiency, and CWIP, which we backed up with appropriate flyers. Most of the legislators were polite and receptive to the message, although several of them stated they do not oppose nuclear power per se. We delivered a couple of cookies to each of them too, which were donated by Black Bear Bakery & included in our own lunch packs. YUM!
With Michael a bit ahead of the game with experience and having knowledge aforethought in organizing the lobbying, I learned quite a bit. I also told a couple of the legislators to be sure to see the movie FRESH http://www.freshthemovie.com/, which presents the case for organic sustainable farming, and was made with the help of educators from the School of Agriculture at Mizzou.
I loved the whole day, including the ride up and back to Jeff City with my friends Ginger and Linda. It was truly energizing and hopeful to spend a day with such a lively group of intelligent activists for the conservation of resources in the State of Missouri. Happily also met up with some of my facebook friends there.
Wow I slept well that night, & part of the next day too! : )
No comments:
Post a Comment