Dear Senator [Duckworth or Durbin],
I am a soon-to-be constituent from Champaign. I am writing to urge you to support the Green New Deal. We have less than four guaranteed years under the Biden Administration to get as much done to combat climate change as possible. Biden’s first day in Office gave me hope, as he rejoined the Paris Climate Agreement, and stopped the Keystone XL pipeline, however since then he has made no other changes. This is not enough.
We are in a crisis. People are starving, homes are getting destroyed, and we are becoming numb to billion-dollar natural disasters. We have to act appropriately, we cannot pretend this can wait. During the Great Depression the unemployment rate soared to 24.9% in the United States, and Americans were desperate (Jones, 2021). FDR didn’t sit there waiting for employment rates to rise again. He supported the New Deal which created jobs, provided relief, and enacted reforms. The New Deal was a controversial, radical solution to a global crisis; the scale of legislation we need now.
I know many politicians put climate change on the backburner because they believe our economy is more important, but I ask you how there will be an economy when we’re trying to support 20% of the world displaced by hot zones in 50 years (Lustgarten, 2021). If you want our economy to prosper in the long run, you will support strict climate reform now.
If we say it can’t be done, it won’t be done. If we sit here listing all the reasons why the Green New Deal isn’t perfect, we lose precious time to protect our planet and our future. If we try to enact the Green New Deal and don’t get very far, we will still be further than we are now. The time to act was years ago, let’s do what we can now to create a better future for all.
Thank you for your consideration and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Works Cited
Jones, Chuck. "3 Reasons Unemployment Is Already at Great Depression Levels."
Forbes, www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjones/2020/05/19/
3-reasons-unemployment-is-already-at-great-depression-levels/?sh=31fd25dd413f.
Accessed 28 Feb. 2021.
Lustgarten, Abrahm. "The Great Climate Migration." New York Times,
www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/07/23/magazine/climate-migration.html.
Accessed 28 Feb. 2021.
Your post is very well written and I'm curious about what reply you'll get from the email. I think that you do a good job summing up some major points in a way that is convincing and I think that there are a lot of people who should read this. People fear radical change but what they don't seem to understand is that one way or another change is going to happen. The question is merely whether we choose to make changes now to improve the way society works or we do nothing now and society changes for the worse due to increasing threats from climate change.
ReplyDeleteThis was the first letter to a senator that I had read, and it is very well written. I agree with you that while President Biden has done some great things, he has not done enough and needs to be held accountable. Very often we see our legislators and leaders making empty promises to land them a seat at the table. I can't vote yet, but this is a very good idea, and I will definitely do this, as it is a way to make an impact, even if I can't vote.
ReplyDeleteThis is really cool, and while I've seen email "scripts" online as a format to send to legislators, I know that it really cuts through to have something as well-thought out and original as this to send instead. The line that stuck with me the most from your letter was about how we are becoming "numb" to enormous natural disasters. It's a point that I see made a lot about American-related issues, but I think you've nailed it here. And as the people above me have said, this is a great way to make an impact for people who don't have many other opportunities to do so (like voting).
ReplyDeleteI am incredibly impressed with this letter. You conveyed your argument effectively by voicing your serious concerns for our future, while appealing to their own concerns (where you address their focus on economy). I really like how you compare our current situation to the Great Depression, and drew similarities between FDR's New Deal and The Green New Deal of present times. I also think you perfectly impart the urgency of our situation through your projected statistic about 20% of the world being located in hot zones in 50 years. If I got this letter as a senator, it would definitely catch my interest!
ReplyDeleteI've also never read a letter to a senator before, but this was a pretty great first impression. You wrote this with an intensity that I really admire, and I hope that leaves an impact on the senator you ended up sending this to. This was a well written letter, I think it really showed that you knew what you were talking about, and the level of knowledge you seem to have is really impressive. Reading this I didn't know a good amount of what you referenced, but I'll definitely look into it. I hope the senator responds, and gives an effort to push for the change you're advocating for.
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