This is How We Win
173,604
That’s how many action Clean Water Action members have taken since January 1, 2017. That’s more than 73,000 emails and more than 99,000 hand-written letters and personally signed postcards. Stack those actions and you get a 72 foot pile. And more people are taking more actions every day. It’s incredible.
Clean Water Action members have told President Trump that he won’t have the last word on our water. They have told Scott Pruitt that repealing protections for streams, wetlands, and drinking water is a bad idea and they have demanded that Congress stop playing games with EPA’s budget. Members have pushed for state legislatures to protect kids and fire fighters from toxic flame retardants in our furniture and have asked major retailers like Best Buy to get toxic chemicals out of their supply chains. Our members have pushed their Governors to lead on climate change, filling the leadership role the President has abandoned, and they have held their state elected officials accountable for weakening protections for our water and health and made sure that polluters can’t get act with impunity.
It’s not just emails and letters. Clean Water Action members have called their elected officials, speaking with staff and making their thoughts heard. Our members have attended town halls to ask questions of their Senators and Representatives. They have gone to rallies and traveled to marches in Washington DC and state capitals. When elected officials have tried to duck public appearances, like Representative Freylinghusen in New Jersey, Clean Water Action members have shown up at their offices to make sure their voices were heard.
Clean Water Action members are engaged. They are motivated. And they are making a difference.
Thanks to an outcry from the public, Scott Pruitt was forced to give us more time to comment on his terrible plan to gut protections for drinking water. Rhode Island legislators listened to our members and passed a landmark law to get toxic flame retardant chemicals out of furniture. Clean Water members helped convince California to require oil companies to disclose some of the chemicals they injected into the ground and now manufacturers of cleaning products have to list the ingredients in their products. Lawmakers in Michigan listened and are joining the fight against Line 5, an oil pipeline through the Great Lakes, and more and more communities and local officials in Maryland are pushing for plans to protect Baltimore from the danger of oil trains running through the city.
And that’s just a short list.
We can change the world. We can fight for the things that are right and stop the really bad ideas and the injustices we see. But we have to get involved. We have to do the work. That is what Clean Water Action members are doing. I am gobsmacked by their engagement and their passion.
We need that more than ever right now. Because this is not going to stop. The President is going to President and Congress is going to Congress and, lately, that means bad things for our water, our health, our country. It can be so frustrating. It’s time to channel that frustration. Take action. Get in the fight. Make sure people are hearing from you.
Originally published at www.cleanwateraction.org on October 18, 2017.
