Beyond Electoral Politics- BCGP meeting 6/5/05

At our monthly meeting last night Larry Menkes spoke about working effectively toward sustainability inside a political entity, but outside of elected office.
About 2 years ago Larry was asked to participate in the newly formed Warminster Township Energy Advisory Committee. There he has been able to advance a number of environmental programs under the banner of "cost savings" and "fiscal responsibility." He's showing the township how to save a bunch of money by installling fluorescent bulbs and LED traffic lights and purchasing hybrid vehicles. Larry does this not simply out of idealism. He describes his motives as "enlightened self-interest:" he wants to keep his local taxes as low as possible.
For many of us, working outside electoral politics is preferable to the boredom/anxiety of elected office. Until our species reaches a moment in social evolutionn where cooperation becomes more important than competition (Green value #7), most of us will probably be more effective working behind the scenes. Although both strategies are valid, educatiors are more important than agitators right now.
Fewer people have been more influential in this millennium than Carl Rove and Paul Wolfowitz. Neither, to my knowledge, have held elected office. There are many other examples of influential non-officeholders, most of them-- unfortunately-- bad ones. Ralph Nader is one good example. Nader did most of his work outside electoral politics, and ran for office only when he saw that public interest groups were completely losing access to elected decision makers because of the rising influence of corporate money.

Larry's advice for local action is to start at home. Replace all of your incandescent bulbs with fluorescents and immediately save over 75% on your lighting bill. You will also save on air-conditioning since fluorescents produce much less heat. Another inexpensive and important first step is to tighten up your house. Insulate of seal off any places where there is too much air transfer from inside to outside-- where hot air escapes in the winter or enters in the summer.
When you finish at home, find out if your township or borough has an EAC (Energy Advisory Committee). If they do not, then suggest they start one. Use Warminster Township as a model. To find out if your township has an EAC: http://www.greentreks.org/eacnetwork/eaclist.asp