My first day of work, Anika asked me if I minded talking to people I didn't know to which I responded, "I'm from the South, I talk to everyone I don't know."
And hence started my work as a petitioner for Environment Massachusetts.
First, bundling up is necessary. As any true northerner will tell you, layers is the key to successful warmth. I know I look kind of like a Michelin man, but the streets of Boston are writhe with a terribly cold wind that I can't seem to get use to. After that, you just have to stay chipper. The first few hours of me petitioning, I thought that karma was coming back at me with a hard force for years of me ignoring all those people sitting so diligently on street corners, asking me to give them a few minutes of my time for a cause that I deemed unimportant. However, I'm thinking that it's less karma and more that people are busy... or just jerks.
The first petitioning I did this week was on Thursday when I stood beside a Macy's not far down from a homeless man asking the citizens of Boston to sign a petition that would stop the use of coal in Massachusetts. The goal of this petition is to tell Governor Deval Patrick that many in Massachusetts want him to enforce legislature to have all clean energy by 2020. Coal has been proven to cause asthma in humans, in addition to the ill effects that the burning and mining of coal has on the environment. As a non-renewable resource, in the long run, coal will be rendered an obsolete technology anyway simply because we won't have anymore. The first day, I got 11 signatures in an hour.
The second day, I was again petitioning against coal. I picked a position located between a food court, Downtown Crossing T Stop and a big building that had a few department stores in it. After an hour, I had gotten 25 signatures. Slowly, I'm getting the hang of picking out people who are more willing to sign the petitions. A lot of business people on their lunch breaks will be unwilling, however people who appear to be shopping will be more willing. If I have someone that has slowed down when I speak, I proceed to encourage them with facts about asthma and the potential that Massachusetts has to be dependent on clean, renewable energy.
Friday night, I got a change of pace. The movie "Promise Land," a film which explores the dangers of fracking in a way that only Hollywood can, was premiering at the local theater. Before and after the main showing of the night, we "door canvassed" which so far has proven to be the most difficult way of petitioning yet. It's really hard to get enough information out for people to bother signing, and a lot of people are late for their movies to begin with. Also, I've noticed that boys act a lot meaner when they're with their friends. When I asked a boy who I'd seen on the street earlier in the day who had been very kind while signing my coal petition to sign my fracking petition, he yelled back over his shoulder, "I LOVE FRACKING!" and all of his cohorts thought it was hilarious. But there are also a lot of good people too- a lot of people are concerned about the implications that this horizontal form of oil and natural gas drilling can do for water tables, rural areas of forest and earthquakes. To me, fracking is a sign that oil, a substance meant to make humanity better and more efficient, is being put above those it is meant to help.
On a more personal note, I moved out of the room I had rented. It was an interesting week living on Cross Street in Medford to say the least, but I'm now crashing with some friends over in Bedford. Heather Wood is a fabulous redhead who I met when I was studying abroad in Limerick. She's been living around the Boston area her whole life and she's so kindly offered to house me until I go home in February. It's an excellent thing- the stories I have from just a week of living in a project house are enough to entertain you for a good hour. And you won't be laughing with me, either. Oh no, you'll probably be laughing at me in this interesting, to say the least, situation.
And hence started my work as a petitioner for Environment Massachusetts.
First, bundling up is necessary. As any true northerner will tell you, layers is the key to successful warmth. I know I look kind of like a Michelin man, but the streets of Boston are writhe with a terribly cold wind that I can't seem to get use to. After that, you just have to stay chipper. The first few hours of me petitioning, I thought that karma was coming back at me with a hard force for years of me ignoring all those people sitting so diligently on street corners, asking me to give them a few minutes of my time for a cause that I deemed unimportant. However, I'm thinking that it's less karma and more that people are busy... or just jerks.
The first petitioning I did this week was on Thursday when I stood beside a Macy's not far down from a homeless man asking the citizens of Boston to sign a petition that would stop the use of coal in Massachusetts. The goal of this petition is to tell Governor Deval Patrick that many in Massachusetts want him to enforce legislature to have all clean energy by 2020. Coal has been proven to cause asthma in humans, in addition to the ill effects that the burning and mining of coal has on the environment. As a non-renewable resource, in the long run, coal will be rendered an obsolete technology anyway simply because we won't have anymore. The first day, I got 11 signatures in an hour.
The second day, I was again petitioning against coal. I picked a position located between a food court, Downtown Crossing T Stop and a big building that had a few department stores in it. After an hour, I had gotten 25 signatures. Slowly, I'm getting the hang of picking out people who are more willing to sign the petitions. A lot of business people on their lunch breaks will be unwilling, however people who appear to be shopping will be more willing. If I have someone that has slowed down when I speak, I proceed to encourage them with facts about asthma and the potential that Massachusetts has to be dependent on clean, renewable energy.
Friday night, I got a change of pace. The movie "Promise Land," a film which explores the dangers of fracking in a way that only Hollywood can, was premiering at the local theater. Before and after the main showing of the night, we "door canvassed" which so far has proven to be the most difficult way of petitioning yet. It's really hard to get enough information out for people to bother signing, and a lot of people are late for their movies to begin with. Also, I've noticed that boys act a lot meaner when they're with their friends. When I asked a boy who I'd seen on the street earlier in the day who had been very kind while signing my coal petition to sign my fracking petition, he yelled back over his shoulder, "I LOVE FRACKING!" and all of his cohorts thought it was hilarious. But there are also a lot of good people too- a lot of people are concerned about the implications that this horizontal form of oil and natural gas drilling can do for water tables, rural areas of forest and earthquakes. To me, fracking is a sign that oil, a substance meant to make humanity better and more efficient, is being put above those it is meant to help.
On a more personal note, I moved out of the room I had rented. It was an interesting week living on Cross Street in Medford to say the least, but I'm now crashing with some friends over in Bedford. Heather Wood is a fabulous redhead who I met when I was studying abroad in Limerick. She's been living around the Boston area her whole life and she's so kindly offered to house me until I go home in February. It's an excellent thing- the stories I have from just a week of living in a project house are enough to entertain you for a good hour. And you won't be laughing with me, either. Oh no, you'll probably be laughing at me in this interesting, to say the least, situation.
No comments:
Post a Comment