Local Policy Goals

There are many ways we can help the environment by changing our own habits, and these changes are very important in our fight against the climate crisis and other environmental issues, but even more impactful are larger scale changes and legislation. It is harder for us to influence legislation on a national or even state level, but we can definitely influence local, citywide legislation. One of the best ways to do this is to create and publish a list of policy goals for your city and/or environmental council.

You can present this list to your local city or environmental councils for their consideration and urge them to act. City and environmental councils will likely be glad to hear the youth perspective on such issues and will, at the least, consider your goals. You can also publish the list on your organization’s website, if you have one, as a resource for other clubs and organizations to refer to when creating their own plan for their councils.

The first step in creating your set of goals/action plan is research. Look for what other cities have done and compare to your city. You can also refer to other organizations’ goals and action plans. It would also be helpful to look into what legislation your environmental and city councils have already passed, so that you can better gauge what goals they might accept. Although you might have more ambitious goals in mind, it might be more realistic to aim for smaller goals that are more likely to be accepted.

Once you’ve done the research, the next step is to create the timeline and means by which you want your council to achieve your goals - these are usually the legislative steps. For example, if your goal is to ban the use of plastic straws in restaurants in your city by 2030, a step could be to create a ban on plastic straws in sit-down restaurants that would be effective in 2024 (side note: plastic straws have already been banned in sit-down restaurants in California). This will give your plan some credibility, and will make it easier for your councils to implement.

The third and final step is to actually share your plan and goals with your city and/or environmental councils. At the beginning of each meeting (usually once a month), there will be a section for public comments. You can fill out a form on your city government’s website to ask to speak for 3 minutes during this time.