The following appeared on another list serv. Wally Taylor We have to frame our issues in ways that are inclusive rather than exactly fitting a specific problem. Global warming is a good example. I wrote an essay last year directed at Sierra Club leaders titled The Coming Train Wreck about energy that discussed the coming energy debacle and how I thought we were asleep at the wheel. I never mentioned global warming or climate change but instead pointed out the following in response to someone's comments: ======================= I crafted my message specifically to suggest a way around mentioning "climate change," "global warming," or any of these buzz words. I would hope we could consider stressing: -energy independence -energy conservation -job creation -patriotism (thru energy conservation) -national security -wildlands protection -entrepreneurialism -clean air Now it just so happens that the above items more than likely result in reducing climate change. Imagine that! ======================= They said that it was impossible to make an energy campaign that did NOT mention global warming because, get this, "there are Club activists who won't work on such a campaign if it isn't called "global warming.' " Even though the term "global warming" turns some people off and pushes the hot buttons of others like Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe who claims there's no such thing as global warming, Club activists didn't seem to understand that we MUST frame our issues in order to get the most traction. I wrote a letter to the editor about energy, published a week ago Friday. An acquaintance who I know is a Republican and voted for Bush, and he knows I'm an environmentalist, said it was a great letter and he AGREED with it. The letter is below and I think it's an example of how we need to be framing our issues in order to get more people on board. Drusha ===================================== LTE Published 5/6/05 in Bozeman Daily Chronicle: _http://www.bozemanchronicle.com/articles/2005/05/06/opinions/mayhueenergy.txt _ (http://www.bozemanchronicle.com/articles/2005/05/06/opin ions/mayhueenergy.txt) Friday, May 06, 2005 We need an energy bill that is not business as usual We need an energy bill that is truly visionary and farsighted. The current energy bill, approved by the House of Representatives, maintains business as usual -- 12 billion taxpayer dollars in tax breaks, handouts, and subsidies to energy companies. We're poised at the top of the downside of the bell curve of oil supply. Developing countries such as China and India, with 2.4 billion people between them, aspire to the same oil-dependent lifestyle as Europe and North America. The United States alone with 5 percent of the world's population uses 25 percent of the world's resources. There simply isn't enough oil and gas for everyone to live as Americans and Europeans do. We need to lead the rest of the world in setting an example by conserving more and guzzling less gas. We cannot continue to drill ourselves to energy independence and national security by maintaining the status quo in a world of increased demand and shrinking supply of oil and gas. Tax breaks and subsidies for energy companies and electric utilities that rely on the same old technologies will fail us. Rather than subsidize the status quo, let's insist that our tax dollars help fund research and development in renewable energy rather than tax breaks that reward energy companies for resisting change, that Americans are employed in good-paying jobs in the energy field, that fuel economy standards are increased for each new car built to get more miles per gallon, that our air gets cleaner, that our last best places remain unspoiled, and that American entrepreneurialism is fostered. Energy independence ensures our national security. Now that's patriotic! Make sure our senators know what you think about the energy bill coming to the Senate this year. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Sign up to receive Sierra Club Insider, the flagship e-newsletter. Sent out twice a month, it features the Club's latest news and activities. Subscribe and view recent editions at http://www.sierraclub.org/insider/