Letter to Legislator

Letter to Legislator
Individual action is useful and important for implementing sustainable changes in the way we impact our environment, but only governments have the power to establish and enforce laws that establish large scale environmental policy.
In a democratic, representative society, government officials are elected to represent their constituency by passing laws to protect citizens and provide social services. Individual constituents influence governmental decisions by voting but can have more influence by communicating with elected representatives either individually or collectively.
For this assignment, you will compose a letter to your state representative or senator, requesting they vote to support a pending piece of legislation.
Your letter should be about an issue that is relevant to your state or area of residence.
It must include evidence from credible sources that will support your argument. While citing references in a letter is not a requirement in the real world, you will be required to correctly cite at least two sources for this letter:
o At least one from a popular news media site.
o At least one from a scholarly source: a scientific research
organization, educational institution, or government organization.
A sample letter is attached to show you the correct format and give you an idea of what is expected. Do not plagiarize any part of this or any other letter. The letter will be assessed for academic integrity by Turnitin and must show less than 15% similarity in the report. You will see the report once generated; if it is higher than 15%, you will either re-write and re-submit or get a grade of 0%.
You will start by identifying an environmental issue that you are concerned about. Then you will find a piece of legislation (a bill) that addresses this issue.
To research environmental legislation, go here: Congress.gov | Library of Congress and browse current legislation or search using a keyword for your area of interest. You will find either a summary or text of the legislation.
To find your member of congress, do a search by zip code or state here: Homepage | house.gov or here: U.S. Senate. When you find your
   
senator or representative, visit their homepage to find the preferred method of writing to them.
To find your legislators environmental voting record, go here: League of Conservation Voters (lcv.org) and click on “LCV Scorecard”. This site also has ideas about issues and legislation you can write about. Note that you cannot copy a letter or template from here or any other source; you must compose an original letter.