John F. Kennedy wrote, "Letters have an effect on Members of Congress. Everybody?s vote counts in America, but those who sit down and write letters make their votes count more."

You can encourage people to write letters advocating positions on environmental legislation in two ways ? through a group letter writing effort, and through a standing message center. In either case, the following tips on legislative letter writing apply:

• Be as specific as possible in your state opinion, the action or actions you are requesting from the elected official, and why you wish them to take that course of action.
• Be as informed as possible ? have a fact sheet nearby while writing
• Be original ? use your own words, in your own style. Most legislative offices throw out form letters.
• Be friendly ? threatening elected officials only alienates them.
• Even when taking part in a group effort, write as an individual citizen rather than as the member of a specific group.
• If you receive a response and want to strengthen your impact, write a follow-up letter promptly, positively reinforcing points of agreement, reiterating your key arguments to points of disagreement, and trying to pin down an opinion when the official has been noncommittal.
• Make sure to address the letter clearly and neatly. You should include your return address on both the envelope and the letter itself. Some of the addresses you may need are:

  President (name) [salutation: Dear Mr. President]
  The White House
  Washington, DC 20500
  
  The Honorable (name) [salutation: Dear Representative (name)]
  House of Representatives
  Washington, DC 20510
  
  The Honorable (name) [salutation: Dear Senator (name)]
  United States Senate
  Washington, DC 20510
  
  The Prime Minister of Canada [salutation: Dear Prime Minister (name)]
  The Parliament of Canada
  Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A2

• Note: it is free to mail letters to the Canadian Parliament from anywhere in Canada

a) Group letter writing effort

The most effective way to promote letter writing is to encourage a group of people to do it at the same time. The setting can be a service (in response to a rabbi?s sermon), if writing is permitted at that setting, an adult education class, a youth group get-together, a social action committee meeting, or even a board meeting. Such an effort requires the following steps:

1. Introduce the issue. Pass out fact sheets to everyone assembled. (If you need help putting such a fact sheet together, contact the Religious Action Center 2027 Massachusetts Ave., NW Washington, DC 20036 tel ? 202-387-2800.
2. Provide all the necessary materials for writing the letters (including a table to write them) ? pens, papers, envelopes, and stamps
3. Work to ensure that everyone finishes their letters while at the group session ? once the letter is taken home, even with the best of intentions, it will rarely be mailed.
4. As responses from elected officials are mailed back, ask people to share them. This reinforces the significance of their actions.

b) Message Center

An easy way to encourage letter writing is to set up a permanent ?message center? in your synagogue or organization headquarters. During times when many people are around, such as when religious school is in session, you could have volunteers staffing the center, but the center should be designed to function even without volunteers. The center consists of:

1. materials needed for letters (see above)
2. fact sheets on the issues you wish people to address. (Try to also include a Jewish perspective with the fact sheets.) Each setting and issue requires a separate decision as to whether or not to present differing views or a single viewpoint in your fact sheets.
3. important addresses
4. letter-writing tips

2) Linking up to the Advocacy Network

To ensure that you and your community remain informed about key environmental issues, it is important to link up with groups that are monitoring legislation on an ongoing basis. The Coalition for the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL) set up a no-cost Advocacy Network, operated through the Religious Action Center, which is designed to keep its members informed about important environmental legislation and to give them easy opportunities to advocate for their views.

3) Major Pieces of Environmental Legislation

The following are names and descriptions of some of our country?s major environmental laws:

• Clean Water Act ? The major law protecting our nation?s wetland areas, streams, rivers, lakes, and estuaries. The law includes provisions for cleanup of polluted waters and seeks to prevent the discharge of chemicals and other pollutants into water sources.
• Endangered Species Act ? The law that protects plant and animal populations whose existence is threatened. The status of a species is determined by scientists working with the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
• Resource Conservation and Recovery Act ? Our country?s major federal law governing the treatment and disposal of hazardous and nonhazardous solid waste. The law mandates tracking the generation and use of toxic, flammable, corrosive, or reactive waste material.
• Superfund ? Officially known as the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CER-CLA), this law was passed in 1980 in response to public outcry over the chemical waste disaster in Love Canal, New York. The law requires the Environmental Protection Agency to identify the nation?s most dangerous waste sites and create a ?superfund? to pay for the cleanup of these sites. As of 1993, there were about 1,200 sites on a list of priority cleanup projects still to be completed.
• Clean Air Act ? The major piece of federal legislation concerning air quality in the United States. The law sets standards of visibility levels, concentrations of hazardous air particulates, and mandates the reduction of polluting emissions from factories and vehicles.
• National Energy Policy Act ? First enacted in the late 1970?s in response to the oil price shocks of that decade, this law attempts to map out a national energy strategy. The law mandates certain levels of energy efficiency and begins to promote the use of less polluting and renewable energy technologies.