Go to the John Edwards for President web page recently, and one of the first things you’ll see, after the entry page with the photograph of Edwards’s smiling family, is a link to a “pledge to conserve energy in your home and life”. It’s given under the big title of National Day of Energy Action, with an explanation that “John Edwards has said it’s time to ask Americans to be patriotic about something other than war.”
That sounds great, and it appears that the John Edwards campaign’s One Corps members were encouraged to take concrete action to promote conservation on that National Day of Energy Action, January 27, 2007. Good for them.
Still, what’s with this pledge to conserve energy? John Edwards asks you to “sign” it, but all you’re really doing when you fill out the form on his campaign web site is putting your name, address, and email into the Edwards for President supporter database. That will enable the John Edwards campaign to send you letter after letter after letter over the next two years, asking you for money and your vote. That’s not conservation.
If what you’re interested in is conservation, you have a better option. Back in the 1940s, Outdoor Life magazine created the Conservation Pledge. In its present form, the Conservation Pledge now reads, “I pledge to protect and conserve the natural resources of America. I promise to educate future generations so they may become caretakers of our water, air, land and wildlife.”
Here’s how you take the pledge. You say it. You don’t send money to anyone. You don’t give anyone your name and contact information. No one sends you a letter, or a certificate. You don’t get a free gift along with it. You just say it, and mean what you say.
Want to take action? Conserve. Insulate your house a little better. Consolidate your shopping trips, and try to buy a little less. Buy products made with recycled materials.
