Letters to my politicians...

The other day, I decided I would let our Senator and our President know how I feel about their actions (or, rather, the lack thereof) on environmental issues.
Here's what I wrote to Sen. Bennet:
Senator Bennet, I am a registered independent and my views are such that I refer to myself as an environmentalist republican. However, you won my vote in the last election because you took a strong stance on environmental policy.
Well, welcome to the 110th Congress. It's past time for action on the environment. It's time for a cap-and-trade bill to regulate carbon and create jobs through a carbon market (similar to the sulfur dioxide cap-and-trade system introduced by Republicans in the 1980s). I recognize that there are many important issues in front of our political leaders currently. However, doing nothing (or very little) to halt and possibly reverse climate change makes all other issues moot. We won't have to worry about child welfare or education or war if we make the environment unlivable by humans.
So, I'm sending this to you to respectfully request your immediate action on the Waxman-Markey Climate Bill.
Thank you.

Here's what I sent to President Obama:
President Obama,
I first want to congratulate you on your presidency (and, hopefully, a second term) and the progress you've made thus far. It's been a remarkable ride.
I appreciate all the hard work you face every day and I do not envy you the decisions and compromises you must make.
However, I have been very disappointed in one aspect of your term - the environment. You campaigned on the premise that massive change would take place in regards to the environment. We would take steps to reduce and/or eliminate our need on foreign oil, invest in renewable energies, and make our current technologies cleaner and safer. But, I haven't seen any of that action yet. In fact, I've seen the opposite. You've opened up drilling off the US coastline, let oil companies bypass new environmental regulations and massive subsidies and tax breaks for oil and gas companies continue regardless of the fact that they are the most profitable companies in the world. On top of that, the EPA carbon-dioxide regulation has been bypassed and the Waxman-Markey Climate Bill has all but died.
The environment is the most important issue to ever face humanity. If we don't stop (and hopefully reverse) climate change, we'll make this planet uninhabitable by humans. Action needs to be taken now.
I would enjoy voting for you in 2012, assuming action has been taken on this issue.
Thank you.
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I did not expect to recieve any responses at all. However, I did get this back from Sen. Bennet:
Dear Friend:

Thank you for your e-mail message. Keeping in touch with Coloradans is important to me. Due to the high volume of messages my office receives on a daily basis, I ask for your patience as I work with my staff to respond to your concerns.

I want to hear your thoughts on the issues that are important to you. The best ideas come from people in Colorado, not from politicians in Washington. That’s why it’s so important for me to hear your thoughts on how we can build a better future for Colorado and our country, together.

While we work to respond to your request, I invite you to read blog updates http://bennet.senate.gov/about/updates/, check out the latest news from your region of Colorado http://bennet.senate.gov/, and subscribe to an e-mail newsletter that will provide you with regular updates on my work on behalf of Colorado http://bennet.senate.gov/contact/. If you want to know more about issues and specific bills before the Senate, please visit our issue pages. If you’re having trouble with a federal agency, visit the constituent services section http://bennet.senate.gov/services/. Scheduling requests may be e-mailed to scheduler@bennet.senate.gov or sent by fax to 202-228-4083.

Thank you for contacting me.
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As for the President, it seems he saved his response for the State of the Union address tonight. I can't wait to see how much of his promises tonight make it through to real action. I'm looking forward to it. In addition, I'm not going to sit by and do nothing - I'm committed to raising my business levels to meet our needs.

2011

Here we are in a new year... again. As we all have realized, time speeds up with age. An unfair phenomenon, to be sure. But, until we evolve past the point of "needing" a clock and, therefore, realizing that time is just illusionary, we may as well make the most of it.
So, what are you doing in 2011 to make yourself and/or the world a better place? I'm not going to bring up that word that everyone hates - resolutions - but let's talk about goals. I'm about to start my yearly goal-setting session and thought I'd write about it here. Do you set goals? If so, great! If not, why not? For me, it's more than the mere resolution that's forgotten in a couple of weeks, it's a clarification of the direction of my life. As the cat in "Alice in Wonderland" said, if you don't care where you'll end up, it doesn't much matter which direction you go. If you know where you want to be, then make some plans to get there. If you want to better the world, then find something simple and start. There are lots of resources to help out, including myself.
What's the point I'm getting at? Well, we all have free choice. We can do whatever we want with our lives. So, no, you don't have to make goals. You don't have to do anything. My only point is that we all have the choice to control our destiny or let a destiny happen to us. Which choice will you make?