A Key Sustainability Skill: Writing Public Comments
I’m a newbie at this but determined to learn
If you care about sustainability, you’re probably saturated on all the usual advice about recycling, composting, and the works. There is nothing wrong with doing these, but they aren’t the whole picture.
I would argue that the more important sustainability skills are about advocacy and influencing policy. Recently, I’ve been trying to get better at one advocacy skill in particular: writing public comments.
What are public comments?
When government agencies proposes a new policy, they often open a public comment period, where members of the public (hey, that’s us!) can respond to the proposal.
The agency is required to read and consider all comments it receives. They also post the letters on the agency website.
The Public Comment Project says:
In accordance with the Administrative Procedures Act, federal agencies are legally required to respond to every unique, fact-based comment. These responses are published, along with the final rule or action, in the Federal Register.
Recently, I’ve been getting calls to action from the environmental advocacy newsletters I’m on (which I will list in the…
