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Now is the time to call your community members to action when it comes to combating climate change. The local newspaper can be a surprisingly effective tool with its letter to the editor section. In fact, the letters section is one of the most widely read sections of a newspaper. You can be an activist for the earth by writing and sending in a letter, and here are tips for the best way to get your letter into print.
1. Read up: The most likely way to get your letter published is to play off of recent articles. Find an article your paper has recently published and use that as a spring board for your letter. Your letter doesn?t have to revolve around the article—you can use the article simply as a way to get started.
2. Keep it short and focused: Each paper has their own rules for a letter's length, but the majority want it around 200 words—guidelines can be found on a paper's website. While this doesn't seem like very much wiggle room, it is actually a lot of space to get your point across. Make sure to stick with one, or at the very most, two points. Back your points up with facts, but don't stray too far from the issue at hand. Doing this ensures both that your letter is understood, and that it is published.
3. Personalize it: Make your letter local. People are most interested in the things that effect them directly, and pay attention to what is in their own backyard. Even if your topic is of global importance, show how your community members can act locally.
4. Be for something, not against it: Even if you're arguing against an un-green proposition, a point of view, or a recent article, frame your letter in the positive. Talk about what you stand for, and why that is important, rather than why the other side is wrong. This makes people think, rather than go immediately on the defensive.
5. Be timely: Make sure you send your letter right away, so you?re not drudging up old news. Make it relevant to what is going on right now.
6. Include contact info: Make sure you include your name, town, phone number, and email to the paper so they may contact you about your letter prior to publishing it.
7. Follow up: Make sure you see your letter in print. If a few days have passed and you don't see it in your paper, make a friendly call to the editor and ask when you can expect to see your letter. After your letter is published, keep reading the letters section to see if there is a response to your letter.
A few suggestions for things to pay attention to that would make great fodder for letters:
Community events that focus on the environment
Complementing the groups who organize it, or congratulating your community on a job well done while adding in points about why continued daily work is vital are very likely to get put in print.
Measures and propositions on the ballot
Also important is writing during election seasons, when propositions appear on the ballot that may not have the environment at top of mind.
Articles that miss a green twist
If you see an article printed in the paper about your community that misses an important way that issue ties into the environment, be sure to write in—in a constructive way—about how that angle was overlooked.
If you take a shine to writing letters to the editor, these tips can also be applied to writing to your elected officials—here's how to get started. We also recommend reading the book Causewired for information on using the Internet to get involved in activist activities.
