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ADVOCACY 101: How to be a renewable energy advocate

What does renewable energy advocacy mean to you?

At ReNew Mexico, we often talk about advocacy work and how you can get involved in your community to support renewable energy. However, we realized we rarely explain all of the ways that you can make a difference. So without further adieu, we’re excited to announce the launch of our new series called “Take Action Thursdays,” where we plan to break down the how-tos of advocating for renewable energy.

So, what is advocacy anyway?

Advocacy is any action done by a person or group with the intention of influencing or changing a given cause or policy. The most powerful and influential kind of advocacy is done in collaboration with others, in an organized effort to bring attention to a specific cause with a clear action that can be done to solve the issue at hand. 

How does this relate to renewable energy, though?

In New Mexico, we have had several policies passed over the years as a result of many organizations and advocates working together to push for these changes. Thanks to this work, New Mexico was the third state in the country to pass legislation mandating a move to 100 percent clean and renewable energy in the next few decades! Beyond the state policy level, advocating for renewable energy is also important at the local level. Influencing local decision-makers by highlighting the environmental and economic benefits of renewable energy is the key to getting projects approved! 

How can I get involved?

You might have already seen some examples of how on our pages! Below are a few examples of how you can engage in advocacy work at any time:

  • Signing petitions

The easiest and most deceivingly simple way to highlight an issue is to sign petitions. We have often heard people wonder whether such an easy action has any real applications or impact and we can say it absolutely does! A hundred people showing their support for a specific cause demonstrates to decision makers that their constituents care about it and they should pay attention.

  • Writing Letters to the Editor (LTE)

The opinions page of a newspaper is one of the top read sections. A letter to the editor is a short opinion piece, usually 300-400 words long, that draws attention to a given cause of issue. Anyone can submit one to their local newspaper at any time and they are a powerful way to share your personal story about why an issue matters to you specifically.

  • Sharing our posts on social media

In the current digital age, it’s important we don’t sleep on how impactful a tweet can be. We have influence over our own personal circle of peers, but that influence can easily be multiplied to hundreds more with just a few shares. Decision makers are increasingly turning toward social media to get insight on what their communities are talking about as well as how often they are being tagged in these posts.

  • Making videos 

Similar to sharing through social media, creating a short 30-second video about why you care about something and why others should also care is becoming a norm. This action has the added benefit of putting a face to the cause unlike text posts and graphics that allow a certain degree of depersonalization of the cause.

  • Speaking at public hearings

This action combines several of the benefits previously mentioned with advocacy tactics. While you may sign up for public comments at your city council, commission, and public regulation meetings to speak and bring attention to something in your community, the more common ways public comments are used involve speaking on behalf of a decision being made on the agenda. You have a time limit as to how long you can speak, but doing so allows our decision-makers to get an insight on what you/their communities value.

With that, we hand the torch to you! Your voice and your story is the greatest advocacy tool in existence, and if you are interested in learning more on how to use any of these tactics please reach out at info@renewmexico.org

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