This Earth Day, exercise your freedom of speech. Share your environmental concerns, ideas, and solutions with your local, state, and national elected officials. Talk to them at an Earth Day event or call their office. Interact on social media. Send a letter or an email.
Dear Mr. President – 10 Letters
Did you know President Obama reads 10 letters from Americans each day and hand writes responses to some of them? Your letter could be one of them.
In an August 2009 video, Mike Kelleher, former Director of Presidential Correspondence, talked about the correspondence received by the White House:
- 65,000+ paper letters a week
- 100,000+ emails a day
- 1,000 faxes a day
- 2,500 to 3,500 calls day
Check out the video below entitled “Inside the White House: Letters to the President” to get a behind-the-scenes look at how those 10 letters make it to President Obama’s desk.
Engage and Connect with the White House
The White House Engage and Connect web page contains information about how to contact President Obama and the White House via mail, phone, and email. A fax number isn’t listed anymore. Links are included to social media sites including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Google+, LinkedIn, Foursquare, and Vimeo.
There is sure to be at least one communication channel that meets your preference and geek level. This Earth Day, write, post, tweet, email, or call President Obama and let him know what environmental issues are on your mind.
Me? I sent a letter via snail mail asking President Obama to demonstrate U.S. commitment to renewable energy by fulfilling his 2010 promise to install solar power at the White House. Click to read my letter to President Obama regarding solar power at the White House (sans my personal information).
Update 08/16/2013 – Solar Power is being Installed at the White House, Again
I don’t think President Obama personally read my 04/16/13 letter about installing solar power at the White House, but a White House correspondence staffer did. I received a response on White House stationary dated 07/16/13 thanking me for writing and containing a 2-page canned response about the President’s “all-of-the-above” energy strategy. Click to read page 1 of the White House solar power response letter. Click to read page 2 of the White House solar power response letter.
Surely the White House staff categorizes and maintains a database of correspondence received by the President for purposes such as identifying topics of interest to the American people, trending issues, threats, and who knows what else. My letter probably resulted in a tick mark in the Americans interested in solar or renewable energy column.
Today, I read an article by The Washington Post, White House solar panels being installed this week. Although the wheels of the White House procurement process were probably already slowly grinding at the time I wrote to President Obama and my letter wasn’t the deciding factor, it’s still gratifying to read solar power is finally being installed at the White House, again.
Related Posts
- 5 Ways to Go Green on Earth Day 2014
- 10 Ways to Go Green for Earth Day 2013
- Earth Day 2014 – Mr. President, Go Green
- First Earth Day and Earth Day History
- Green Legislation – Lincoln Administration
- Green Legislation – Nixon Administration
- Green Legislation – Roosevelt Administrations
- Solar Power at the White House
Resources
White House – Engage and Connect (link inactive January 2017)
Although I don’t think my letter actually tipped the scales in favor of installing solar power at the White House again, it is indeed happening. Read my 08/16/13 update.