This is a hard year for state governments across the country as they look to balance budgets and Texas is no different. Or perhaps we are; the legislature is only in session for five months every two year term. So now is time when most of the work of the state gets done. Your local government practices may differ.
Two years ago, and closer to the end of the session when things are rushed to get them passed, I wrote to several legislators across the state in protest of an addendum to a bill that would limit who could practice lighting design in the state. It was a rather large lobbying effort in a short amount of time that swamped phones in Austin and resulted in the language being dropped. I generally get annoyed by the idea of lobbying groups (so often it's about money and "pork"), but it was truly exciting to be involved. Anyway, because of that, I was added to the mailing list for my state representative. And generally, that's been neat.
My representative sends out a monthly update email of her activities when the legislature is not in session and weekly ones while it is. It's a quick blurb to keep her constituents updates on what's going on and what she, specifically, is involved in. Whether or not I agree with her positions, I appreciate her effort to stay in communication with the folks "back home" and decided to test her claim (in every email) that she wanted to hear back from us, the voters.
I learned about a gathering by the Organic Consumers Association in Austin to spread awareness and raise support for a bill to label food products that use GMOs. It's an interesting issue. A growing number of crops in our country are genetically modified to "improve" them in some fashion - make them more resistant to fungi and diseases, increase yield, make them resistant to specific herbicides for easier weed control, and similar ideas. The difficulty in this is that it's not clear what effect, if any, these modifications have on us when we consume GMO products. (It shouldn't take much web-searching to find arguments saying that these products are safe and are dangerous!) Furthermore, most Americans do not realize how much of their food is affected by GMO use; GMOs are used extensively in soybeans, canola, cotton, and corn crops, and are starting to gain acceptance in things like sugar beats. (Proteins aren't exempt, either.) The campaign is to alert consumers as to what products contain genetically modified organisms so that they can decide whether or not they want to buy them. Companies using GMOs worry that such awareness will decrease sales and be similar to putting a poison sticker on the side of the container. If that's true, doesn't that mean they already know what consumers want? I don't mean to oversimplify; it really is a complicated question and one that quickly moves from "Do I feel this is a safe ingredient for me and my family?" to "Who has the big pockets that are benefiting from this?" and questions of ethics.
So...I decided to send my representative a note about the upcoming event in Austin and encourage her to consider Truth in Labeling legislation as well as GMO labeling. I wanted it to be something on her radar, realizing there are a lot of balls in the air right now (and some of them, like balanced budgets, education, and arts funding pretty important ones, indeed). What I did not expect was a letter in a the mail within a week thanking me for sharing my views. It's a brief six sentences but specific to my topic and shows that at least someone in her office read my email and took the time to let me know. "I will consider your views...Please continue to communicate your thoughts on issues that are important to you." Perhaps a bit of a throw-away sentiment, but not something that needed to be sent to me at all. I doubt that anything will come from this particular contact (there's no such legislation in the works for Texas right now), but it leaves me feeling encouraged to stay engaged. (And the letterhead says "The State of Texas House of Representatives", which is pretty cool.)
So, my hope for what you take away from this - a representative government will only represent you if you take the time to try to let it. Get in contact with your state and federal representatives and learn what they're doing. And, consider letting them know what you'd like them to do, too.
I'll talk more about food in other messages. Here are some resources in the meanwhile:
World Health Organization on GMOs
Organic Consumers Association
FDA on voluntary labeling
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