The Better World Project: Week 3 Actions
9/26/05: My friend Alyssa Bittenbender is in the Peace Corps in Zambia, and is currently working with another Peace Corps Volunteer to start a library in the village where they live. Their hope is to significantly boost the literacy rate of the villagers in Lunga by providing regular access to reading materials, which does not currently exist. The success of the Lunga Library Project depends on the donations of money and books from their friends and family in the United States, and so I mailed a bag of appropriate books to Zambia.
>> See 10/4 for more
9/27/05: I checked the pressure of all of my car's tires, and inflated them to the proper pressure. Since there is a 1% loss of fuel efficiency for every 2 PSI under the maximum level, properly inflated tires reduce gas usage (as well as pollution).
>> Read about a tire pressure study at Carnegie Mellon University
9/28/05: I supported my local public library as well as Goodwill by donating books and other items to them, which they will then sell to fund their organizations. Every time I move into or out of my house, I dig through my things to see if there is anything that I no longer need.
9/29/05: Since I was about to embark on a long car trip to Washington, D.C., I checked out an article by The Center for a New American Dream titled "Treading Lightly in Your Travels." I wanted to know who I should buy gas from, and they report that "BP Amoco, Sunoco, and Shell have consistently been leaders in their industry on environmental issues." On the flip side, the Exxpose Exxon campaign claims that ExxonMobil has the worst environmental record of all major oil companies. On my way to Washington, I bought my gas at a BP station, and will not be buying gas from ExxonMobil stations for the duration of this project.
>> Learn more about The Center for a New American Dream
>> Learn more about the Exxpose Exxon campaign
9/30/05: After years of supporting the work of the American Civil Liberties Union by signing their petitions and sending letters to my congressmen, I finally joined the ACLU as an official member. The ACLU participates in lobbying and takes on thousands of court cases every year in order to preserve the rights of all Americans: First Amendment rights, equal protection under the law, due process, and privacy. They are generally viewed as a liberal organization (and rightfully so), and I don't always agree with their positions, but I have found them to be an ambitious, professional, and highly committed organization that ultimately does help to protect important rights.
>> Learn more about the ACLU
10/1/05: In August of this year, Jean Schmidt was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives to represent Ohio's 2nd district (my home district). After the election, Congresswoman Schmidt sent me a letter thanking me for my service to the country through AmeriCorps*NCCC. I decided to respond with a personal letter that briefly described my AmeriCorps experiences, thanked her for her support, and encouraged her to take any necessary steps in the coming years to help strengthen the national service movement. Although I have sent numerous letters to my Senators and Representatives over the years, they were always generic letters provided to me by various organizations, which were undoubtedly read once and then simply tallied. I suspect that this letter will actually be read by the Congresswoman, and may influence (in some small way) her decisions about AmeriCorps-related legislation in the future.
>> Find the contact information for your elected officials
10/2/05: Much like yesterday, I wrote a letter to President Bush in support of AmeriCorps since I had received a letter from him thanking me for my AmeriCorps service. By no means do I expect that anyone remotely close to the President will read my letter, but at least I will be marked down in some sort of tally as supporting AmeriCorps, which in aggregate will hopefully influence the decisions that the White House makes.
>> Contact the White House