Climate control group seeks citizen support
Posted on Monday, May 19, 2008
SPRINGDALE - Arkansas is among the states making a step toward legislation dealing with climate crisis. On Sunday, members of Gov. Mike Beebe's Commission on Global Warming said they wanted to get every Arkansan involved in the process, while the Omni Center for Peace, Justice and Ecology unveiled a way its members say will help to do that.
Members of the commission and the center discussed strategies during a meeting at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, which re cently installed wind turbines to help supply the building with electricity.
Matthew Petty, co-chair of the Omni Center's Carbon Caps Task Force, showed the People Legislative Alert Network Project. He said it is an online database set up for people who are interested in knowing what policy-makers are doing. He said Arkansans can register to receive e-mail alerts that let them know when specific bills are being presented to the Arkansas Legislature. They can then call their local representatives and push for their support on the bills, he said.
"It will amplify Arkansans' voices," Petty said. "We hope to keep Arkansas beautiful and that the work of the community will not be in vain."
Petty told everyone the project won't do any good if people don't get involved.
"Environmentalism can no longer be exclusive to reformed hippies and enlightened scientists," he said.
With the federal government at a standstill on the issue, it's up to the states to become legislative laboratories for their parent legislature to learn from, and the commission is one of Arkansas'first experiments, said state Rep. Kathy Webb, D-Little Rock, who is a member of the commission. She said the presidential candidates have made commitments to take action on global warm- ing, and she thinks that at its next session Congress will address the issue.
Webb and Petty agreed that if Arkansas wants to be one of the states handing out advice to the federal government when it's making policies on environmentalism, the state Legislature and citizens must work together to help the commission succeed.
"We hope the commission can create a number of policies that (Beebe ) will put in his legislative package next session," Webb said.
Most of all the group hopes that communities across the state start pushing for local representatives to support the changes and help make Arkansas an environmentally friendly place.
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