Description
Writing a persuasive letter to your elected officials ( Seattle Washington) on an environmental concern you have in your community. Template attached. You are writing on behalf of yourself as a stakeholder on this issue this week. You will need to propose a plan of action and/or request help and give reasoning for needing such help or change. Consider the following questions and advice to help you. Briefly introduce yourself and why you’re writing this letter. Where is the community you researched (provide a city and state)? What is the environmental issue in the community you’ve chosen? What facilities (current or historical) might be responsible for the release of pollutants into your community? Is this problem spread throughout the community or located in one area? Be sure to reference which case study you chose. What impacts could these pollutants have on: Children and families? Wildlife and resources? Is there any important or crucial demographic data you need to mention (i.e., vulnerable populations)? Describe any potential environmental justice concerns. What is most important to you in terms of rectifying this? What do you want to see your elected representative do about it (e.g., carbon drawdown solutions)? Discuss any short-term and/or long-term steps and outcomes. Write a hypothesis on what you think would happen if this problem was solved. Who holds the authority to make this happen? Tell them you look forward to receiving a reply on what can be done?
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[Assignment Template]
(Month) (Day) (Year)
The Honorable (First name) (Last name)
(Room Number), (State Capitol/building name)
(city), (state) (Zip Code)
RE: (state the topic or include the bill number, author and subject of why you are writing to the
elected official)
Dear (Assembly Member/Senator) (Last name),
(Introduction): My name is (your first and last name), and I am a regional center consumer
(family member/service provider/advocate/community member) who resides in your district. I
am concerned with (your environmental concern) in our community. There (is/is not) currently
any citizen action surrounding this issue, and there are (list who all are affected by this
challenge) affected by this challenge.
Scope of the problem: Historically, this environmental challenge is being exacerbated by (where
is the pollutant coming from. Who is responsible for the release in your community? Provide
details in the next couple sentences). This problem is (spread throughout the community in
regions XXX / isolated to one area, specifically XXX. Include a personal story of being affected if
you have one).
These pollutants have impacts on (state who is affected. Which people? Which wildlife? What
resources? If there is demographic data such as effects of this on poorer communities primarily,
describe that here). This poses environmental justice concerns because (describe justice
concerns). (Describe why clean-up is so important based on who is impacted).
Legislation: I noticed that there (is / is not) current legislation on this problem. (State why you
support or oppose the legislation or other issue here. Choose up to three of the strongest points
that support your position and state them clearly. Tell your representative why the issue is
important to you and how it affects you, your family members and your community. State how
the elected official should help rectify the situation).
In the short-term, the community/contributor to the pollutant should (indicate short-term
solutions). Long-term goals should include (indicate the long-term solution to the problem). If
this problem were to resolve, we could see (rest of hypothesis here).
Conclusion: (Write a short concluding statement. Indicate if the elected official holds the
authority to make changes happen or indicate who does have this authority here. Tell your
representative how you want her / him to vote on this issue and ask for a response). I look
forward to seeing how you can improve this problem for this community. Thank you for your
time and attention to this.
Sincerely,
(First and last name)
● The paper should be 750 words not including any title page or references.
● Ensure that you include APA-style references if you are referring to research you did on
the subject. This strengthens your argument to someone if you have scientific data to
support your concerns and claims.
● Always use the proper salutation, for example, The Honorable (first name) (last name)
informative in your communication.
● Always be polite and courteous in these letters. You want someone to enact change and
advocate for you, not be offended by what you say to them.
● Use this resource below to help you imagine how the flow of your letter should go but
remember this example doesn’t include everything in the rubric so ensure that you
complete the blanks in the template above:
○ Alliance For the Great Lakes. (n.d.). Writing a Letter to an Elected Official.
https://greatlakes.org/wpcontent/uploads/2018/11/AGL_PlasticsToolkit_FS04_ElectedOfficial.pdf.
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