Hi there,

There’s a chance you missed my email last week, so I’m following up to remind you that OLCV is collecting Sustainability Stories! We’re looking to hear stories from our supporters about a conscious choice or change you have made recently to use clean energy, diminish your contributions to climate change, or live in a more eco-friendly manner, and the positive impact this shift in your consumption, lifestyle, or energy usage has had on your life. We’ve already received over a dozen amazing stories, and we’re so excited to read more! To submit yours, email anywhere from 1-5 paragraphs telling your story to [email protected] using the subject line “Sustainability Stories.”

The options for what you could write about are very broad, so I thought I’d share an example from my ife to help spark your ideas for your own story.

Growing up in Los Angeles, I wasted so much of my life in traffic, waiting in an idle gas-powered car for hours on my way from point A to point B, and generating tons of pollution in the process. Upon moving to Oregon, I vowed to live a different, car-free life, and bought an old, purple Motobecane bicycle from the 80s after my first Christmas in the Pacific Northwest.

For almost four years, my bike has reliably gotten me from place to place. I love cycling in comparison to driving, because riding around in open air rather than a heavy metal shell allows me to feel more connected to, and appreciative of my community and surroundings. Further, using my bike is emission-free, and every commute offers natural exercise whenever I ride it, which makes me feel mentally refreshed and physically renewed every time I reach my destination and dismount.

Most significantly, I found that the simple choice of riding a bike instead of owning a car has saved me THOUSANDS of dollars in gas, insurance, repairs, and car payments that many of my peers are plagued with, offering me not just superior mental health compared to when I got around via car, but higher amounts of expendable income to spend on things that bring me joy than most drivers I know. Overall, I’ve never been happier on my commutes since making the switch to riding a bike, and in my years since doing so, my primary mode of transportation hasn’t contributed a single carbon emission towards climate change.

This story comes straight from my experiences, but we’re also in need of stories from folks who yearn to live more sustainably, but feel as if they cannot due to personal or systemic barriers in the way. These types of stories are equally, if not more important than hearing about positive changes, as they illustrate the way clean energy and sustainability are often made inaccessible to low income and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) communities, and the policy work that must be done to increase access to these groups.

Whether you’ve bought a heat pump to cool your house during summer heat, switched to all-electric appliances, or chosen to exclusively ride public transportation – the possibilities for your stories are endless. Submit them to [email protected] via email under the subject “Sustainability Stories,” and we’ll continue to broadcast our favorites by posting them on social media and our website. We also plan to share the most convincing submissions with Oregon’s elected officials in hopes that your stories will sway them to vote for legislation acting on climate change by illustrating the benefits that clean energy and environmental sustainability offer to the everyday people of Oregon.

Thank you, we can't wait to continue reading your submissions!

Will Bertellotti
Communications Coordinator, OLCV

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Dear supporter,

As the 2022 midterm election looms close on the horizon, OLCV needs to hear from you more than ever. Specifically, we’re looking for any “sustainability stories” you might be willing to share with us, as our elected officials need to know about the positive effects that clean energy or sustainable practices have had on the lives of the everyday people of Oregon just like you.

Stories stick with people. They persuade people better than any facts or figures ever could, and with your stories, we hope to convince our lawmakers that climate legislation is not just good for the planet, but for people as well! Share your story by emailing it to [email protected] using the subject “Sustainability Stories.”

Have you: switched to a heat pump to control the temperature of your house and felt far more comfortable this summer because of it? Made the transition from a fossil fuel-burning car to driving an electric vehicle, riding a bicycle, or taking public transportation to and from work, and seen a difference in your budget or mental health? Replaced your heavy polluter methane gas stove with an electric induction stove, and found that it cooks like a charm? Installed solar panels on your house and noticed how efficient of a power source they are? Taken up the habit of composting to feed plots at your community garden with strong nutrients, leading to a delicious harvest? Made concrete efforts at your small business to diminish its output of emissions?

Or, have you been itching to live more sustainably or switch to clean energy, but felt that there was something holding you back?

Then you’re exactly the type of person whose stories we want to hear! In short, we’re looking for your positive experiences with making a switch to clean or electric energy, or more broadly by integrating environmentally sustainable practices into your life. However, we also want to hear from those who yearn to live in a more eco-friendly manner, but are unable to due to personal or systemic barriers preventing them from reasonably making such changes. The more compelling stories we are able to collect about how clean energy and sustainability have positively impacted lives, as well as testimonies about the structural blocks in place preventing access to such choices, the more likely we'll be to sway lawmakers in the direction of removing those blocks and prioritizing climate.

Ultimately, our personal choices alone cannot stop climate change— a crisis caused largely by corporations that can only be truly addressed by systemic change. However, if we can collect enough stories to share with our elected officials, we’ll have a better shot at passing meaningful climate action in Oregon by showing them how much we all have to gain through a just transition to a clean energy economy.

To submit your tales of sustainability, clean energy, making the switch to electric, or the barriers you’ve faced in pursuing these changes, email [email protected] using the subject line “Sustainability Stories” with anywhere from 1-5 paragraphs describing your experience, including details about the lifestyle shift, why you made it, and how it’s positively altered your life – or if you’re writing about the challenges stopping you from taking up greener consumption habits – describe what factors are in your way, and why we need to get rid of them to guarantee equitable access to an eco-friendly living for all.

We will be accepting story submissions for an extended period of time, and will put your stories to good use by uplifting them on our website and social media platforms. We also plan to share our favorite stories with elected officials to illustrate the immense benefits Oregon’s population could reap from substantive legislation to protect our climate and shift our state towards 100% clean energy.

Thank you, we can’t wait to hear your stories!

Will Bertellotti
Communications Coordinator, OLCV.
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Oregon League of Conservation Voters
321 SW 4th Ave Ste 600
Portland, OR 97204
United States

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