Wednesday, 27 Feb 2002

WASHINGTON, D.C.

First thing this morning, I was scheduled to do some recruitment work. One of the responsibilities of a Green Corps organizer is to replace himself or herself with a new organizer in the next Green Corps class. So today I called several professors at my alma mater and asked them to recommend candidates for the program. I’ve already asked plenty of campus leaders to provide recommendations and spoken to dozens of graduating seniors about Green Corps, but I don’t want to miss any potential candidates.

At midday, I joined the Green Corps Clear the Air team’s conference call. We exchanged advice and asked questions about planning our campaigns. Campaign planning and research will be important tasks this week, but we’re also all going to be doing some actual outreach to start trying to meet campaign goals.

With that in mind, after the call I spoke to the director of the Sierra Club’s Virginia chapter; I had heard that he is extremely active on air quality issues. He agreed to send an action alert about the Clean Power Act to the Sierra Club’s Virginia activist list, and to consider sending an organizational letter to Sen. Warner urging him to support the bill. I also called the director of the American Lung Association’s Virginia chapter, and she agreed to send a letter to Sen. Warner on behalf of her organization.

After doing more research into groups that might be interested in working on the power plant issue, I began calling some of the students that had been recommended as candidates for Green Corps to talk to them about the program and the application process. Talking to candidates is always exciting. There are plenty of people out there who really want to help protect the environment, empower citizens, and make democracy work, but don’t necessarily know how to get started. When I reach a student like that, I smile, but I also wonder, “How many people like this are we missing? Where do they go? Do they become temps? Consultants? Baristas?”

As I like to explain to candidates, I would probably not be involved in Green Corps if one of the program’s organizers hadn’t contacted me directly. While I had always been interested in environmental issues, I was thinking about a career in journalism when an organizer in last year’s class called me and told me about the program. Coincidentally, the call came on election night, 2000. As I watched the absurd political drama that unfolded over the next few months, and saw George W. Bush ascend to the presidency, I realized that our environment and perhaps even our democracy were in serious trouble. (That is, more serious trouble than usual.) I decided that I wanted to do something immediate and effective to protect the values I believe in, so I applied to Green Corps.

The longer I’ve spent doing this kind of work, the more I’ve come to believe in the power of grassroots organizing to protect those values, and of the need for more trained organizers. That’s what I try to convey to potential Green Corps organizers, and it’s also what makes me love working on campaigns like Clear the Air. As usual, recruitment calls have me enthusiastic about work tomorrow.