Lobby Day

Yesterday was quite an experience when we went to the State House to lobby..

Prior to this, I had met Debbie from the Conservation Voters when she came to talk with my environmental ethics class. She told us about their mission and what it was that they try to accomplish while the senate and house are in session. The amount of time and action that is required just to try to convince these members of office, is a crazy process. I don't think that this is an area that I would ever want to get involved with but it was very interesting to see how it worked.

While I was there I was overwhelmed by the amount of people that came to lobby the Senate. There were groups from all over the state that wanted to push their bill or funding just as much as the others. After talking briefly with Prof Whiteman and Jenny I was able to look over the packet that they provided. It gave us what the bills were, who exactly to talk to and even what they looked like. I felt out of place from being from out of state but once I saw others in my class talking to Senators it eased my nerves a little. But if I did talk to one questions ran through my head like, how would I know what to say, where do I say I'm from, why am I trying to push this bill? And even more so, why wouldn't they want to pass it?

This got me thinking. There are always two sides to each sides to an argrument, and it is important to see where others are coming from. This is true with many environmental issues and the resistance that they may receive from opposing parties. Sometimes it has to do with politics and sticking to their word, other times money is the main reason, and sometimes people simply just don't care. So how do we approach these issues and come to a compromise or agreement that makes both parties happy. Personally, I don't think that an answer will come from lobbying alone. It comes from a mixture of awareness and education on these issues and then stressing the importance and sharing personal experiences. People won't respond unless you use a combination of communication techniques and networking. This is a problem that is very apparent with environmental issues in our country and it is hard to tell which direction it is going to go, but hopefully our actions will impact at least one person.