Climate change and the United States' dependence on foreign oil are among the top challenges facing the federal government. But many voters are unaware that their state leaders also play a key role in solving the energy crisis. That's why the New York League of Conservation Voters Education Fund (NYLCVEF) teamed up with Neighborhood Network and Renewable Energy Long Island (RELI) to create our Vote Clean Energy NY campaign.

This nonpartisan outreach effort, supported by the League of Conservation Voters Education Fund, helps voters get the facts about energy use in New York State. The campaign then urges voters to find out where their elected officials and political candidates stand on clean energy and, finally, to cast their ballots based on their own findings.

Last fall, Vote Clean Energy NY focused on the Town of Brookhaven, in Suffolk County, Long Island. The issue of energy has particular resonance there, according to Gordian Raacke, RELI's Executive Director. "Climate change will result in sea level rise, increased severity of storms and hurricanes, loss of important wetlands and beaches - all of grave concern for anyone living near water," Raacke says.

Demosthenes Maratos, Neighborhood Network's membership coordinator, says that Vote Clean Energy NY targeted 15,000 new and low-frequency voters. The campaign canvassed 10,000 households, and mailed to an additional 5,000 voters, asking them to pledge to consider candidates' positions on energy when voting and cast their ballots in the state legislative races.

We also launched a Web site, www.votecleanenergyny.org, to offer online educational resources, additional information about the campaign and contact information for all of the candidates seeking to represent Brookhaven in the Assembly and Senate in the 2008 elections. According to Simon Delekta, Director of Voter Education and Civic Engagement for NYLCVEF, Vote Clean Energy NY received more than 1,100 responses to the petition - an extraordinarily high response rate he attributed to an outstanding canvassing team, led by Neighborhood Network.

In the coming months, Vote Clean Energy NY will remain an important part of NYLCVEF's nonpartisan voter outreach efforts. We are developing programs to keep our new Brookhaven supporters engaged on sustainability issues and to make clean energy a top voting issue. "Hopefully, this program will show future candidates for office that voters want them to have a clean energy plan. We look forward to rolling out similar programs across the state," Delekta adds.

- Samantha Caravello

Newsletter Issue

• Ecopolitics -- Spring 2009