USE THE POWER OF E-MAIL

step #27

“The journey of a thousand saved rainforest trees might begin with a single click.”

UNKNOWN

You can continue to educate your children by allowing them to observe you sending manufacturers and elected officials e-mails letting them know your concerns about issues affecting tropical rainforests. Now with Facebook and Twitter, you have a new forum to let your voice be heard. Make use of electronic media!

THE SCOOP

Feedback via electronic media is hugely important to elected officials as well as manufacturers. It gives them a pulse on what’s important to their constituency or customers—the people who literally keep them in office or in business. This is power you hold and can use for the good of rainforests. Nearly every major rainforest conservation website has a place where you can e-mail a prewritten letter to governmental representatives or corporate leaders asking them to stop rainforest destruction. The prewritten letters are often associated with specific campaigns—perhaps a call for sustainable palm oil, a government policy to end destructive oil extraction or the preservation of an endangered tropical animal. It’s an effective method of getting the attention of governmental and corporate decision makers.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Use your power. Send an e-mail today. Do it regularly.

By the simple action of hitting a send button, you let leaders know you want them to take action on ending rainforest-destructive practices. Visit a few rainforest conservation group websites that have active campaigns and use the power of e-mail to make your voice heard. One click of the button, and you’ve taken an action toward change. It doesn’t get much simpler than that.

You can also go a step further by taking the initiative to communicate your concerns directly to your elected officials and corporations that may be participating in rainforest-destructive activities.

In the United States, you can go to Congress.org to determine who your elected officials are. E-mail them and let them know your concerns about the disappearing rainforests and that you wish for them to support legislation that will support and ensure their survival.

For corporations, you can usually find contact information or a customer service/feedback e-mail address on their websites. They usually send a response right away letting you know your e-mail was received and then a more specific response later.

As you read through this book, you’ll become aware of a host of goods you consume or use on a regular basis that may be contributing to rainforest destruction. Perhaps your favorite brand of cookie has palm oil as an ingredient. This is an excellent opportunity to start practicing this step. E-mail the manufacturer. Tell the company your concerns. Let it know you will no longer be eating its cookies until it can assure you that the palm oil comes from a sustainable source.

When Greenpeace released its condemning report “Slaughtering the Amazon” in June 2009, one of our Green Patriot Working Group members took note of the shoe manufacturers that were unwittingly sourcing leather from cattle raised on recently cleared Amazon rainforest land. She contacted this recognizable athletic footwear company and received a message a few weeks later that announced the manufacturer’s commitment to transparency in its leather sourcing and its policy of zero tolerance for rainforest leather. She was part of the solution.

Every e-mail counts. It puts pressure on corporate leaders to be transparent and responsible in their sourcing choices. And in turn, it puts pressure on the suppliers to offer certified sustainable product.

When you craft your e-mail, keep these tips in mind:

• Avoid blasting recipients with rage and anger. This only serves to lose your important message. They are much more likely to listen to feedback that comes from someone who communicates rationally.
• Be specific. What is the specific problem that you have with their products or practices?
• Tell them what you’d like to see them do. Stop using palm oil? Ban rainforest wood use? Switch to sustainable sources? Be very clear.
• Let them know you are a customer or constituent. Tell them that they are losing your business or, in the case of an elected official, your vote. This is what matters to them most. It is your leverage.
• Be brief.
• If possible, sign with your full name, city and state. It lends credibility to your message, and it is a great thing to fully stand behind what you believe in.

So go ahead, hit that send button!

RESOURCES

Congress.org
www.congress.org