Environmental Voters
Love nature? Take a hike to the ballot box.
Spring. After a hard winter, we love the cheerful faces of daffodils, the slow unfolding of tiny green leaflets. The jingling-sleighbell song of spring peepers in the misty pond. So many of us are deeply moved by nature, and find peace and solace there. Yet few people make the connection between the relaxing beauties of nature and the hard work of voting.
In the terrified aftermath of November 2016, as we faced the reality that yes, Donald Trump had really been elected President of the United States, a certain poem often cropped up in my Facebook feed. It’s called The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry, and in those unsettling times many people turned to it for support, and still do.
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
And that’s lovely, isn’t it? So soothing, so calming.
Twelve days after Trump’s inauguration, the Republican-dominated Congress passed a joint resolution to block the coal mining regulation known as the Stream Protection Rule, aimed at limiting the dumping of coal mining waste into streams. And so the wood drake and the great blue heron were out of luck. They’re not going to find much to feed on in any of those streams polluted by mining sludge.
Sigh.
If we cherish the peace of wild things, we have to take some forethought of grief, I’m afraid. We have to get out the vote for legislators who will make laws to protect wild things. It’s as simple as that.
Okay, so how to help with this worthy goal? I think that an organization called the Environmental Voter Project is on to something. Here’s how they describe their work: “With behavioral science-informed messaging, we call, canvass, mail, and send digital ads to millions of low-propensity environmental voters each year with just one goal: turning them into better voters.” In other words, they reach out to folks who love nature but haven’t yet made the connection between loving nature and voting to protect it.
You can donate to EVP, of course, or you can get more directly involved. They have an excellent phone-banking program that runs all year, not just in fall for the big election. You sign up for a certain date and time, and after a brief Zoom training you’re given a script and some phone numbers to call.
As someone who’s a bit telephone-phobic, this is a stretch for me, but it’s effective. You don’t have to get in a big long conversation, just say your piece, thank you, and hang up. You might be calling voters in Pennsylvania to remind them about the upcoming primaries, or giving voters in Nebraska information about a special election. And EVP also has useful postcarding programs, sending notes to carefully targeted audiences who, if they vote at all, will vote to support environmental causes.
And if you’re not up for phone banking or donating right now, I think their general idea has a lot of merit: seeking out voters who are on the fence about voting and giving them a gentle reminder of the stakes coming up in November.
Do you know anyone who loves nature? Loves the red gleam of a cardinal at the feeder? Someone who spends hours in the garden nurturing tulips or fussing over irises? Can you nudge them in the direction of their polling place? Ask them if they’ve seen a creek with a wood drake or a wading heron recently…
Are you more than a little worried about the election of 2024 and wondering what to do about it? I hope you’ll continue to check out The Optimistic Activist.
Every Tuesday I post some ideas for doing something. How to get out the vote, spread the word, and support progressive candidates. Ideas for simple but effective activism. As easy, as practical, as do-able as I can make them.
Together, I think, we could really make a difference.
“Optimism is a strategy for making a better future.”
--Noam Chomsky
Beautifully written!