Write Your Elected Representatives
During Earth Science Week!

A key goal of Earth Science Week (October 10-16) is to raise public awareness of the geosciences and their value to society. If we are to reach that goal, no sector of the public is more important than elected representatives at local, state, and national levels. With that in mind, AGI's Government Affairs Advisory Committee encourages all geoscientists to take time this week to contact their representatives with the message that the geosciences deserve their support and that geoscience information and analysis are a critical input into the decisionmaking process on issues relating to the environment, resources, and natural hazards.

The American Geological Institute (AGI) initiated Earth Science Week in 1998, the institute's 50th anniversary, as a way to achieve its mission to educate people about Earth, the earth sciences and the importance of earth scientists' work in solving the challenges we face as the planet changes. AGI has acted as a clearinghouse of information for schools, museums, state geological surveys, businesses, colleges and universities, libraries and the many organizations running events in their communities during Oct. 10-16 for highlighting the earth sciences. A list of activities and supporting organizations, along with an Earth Science Week press release, can be found at www.earthsciweek.org/.

As part of this broader outreach effort, please take a minute to write a letter so that our elected officials will hear from their own constituents about why the geosciences are a valuable investment in our nation's future. Or visit your state and federal representatives in their local district office. Invite them and their staff to visit your school or research facility and get a first-hand look at what is happening in their district. And if you do, please let AGI know at: AGI Government Affairs Program, 4220 King Street, Alexandria VA 22302-1502; voice 703-379-2480; fax 703-379-7563.

Some letter-writing ideas and an example letter follow:

• Write to your representative and senators in Washington. Congress is right now in the midst of crucial deliberations over appropriations for geoscience-related agencies in fiscal year (FY) 2000. The House and Senate have in many cases adopted very different spending levels from the President's request for agencies such as the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Geological Survey, NASA, and the Department of Energy. In September, AGI joined with twenty-four engineering, scientific, and business associations to send letters to all members of Congress drawing attention to the role of federally funded research in the growing economy and the need for continued investment. A copy of the AGI letter can be seen at http://www.agiweb.org/gap/legis106/approps_letter999.html. A follow-up letter from a constituent that emphasizes the value of geoscience agencies and programs in your state can help shore up support in Congress. For more on the current status of appropriations, see http://www.agiweb.org/gap/legis106/appropsfy2000up.html.
• For those in states with Earth Science Week proclamations, write to the governor and thank him/her for their effort and explain the many roles that geoscientists play in their state and the kinds of problems that geoscientists can help to solve. A list of states with current proclamations can be found at http://www.earthscienceworld.org/week/. If your governor has not signed a proclamation, send a letter encouraging them to do so next year.
• Write to your local or state school board. Emphasize the importance of earth-science education so that our kids can grow up to be scientifically literate citizens able to make better informed decisions on the environmental and resource issues of the future. A number of states have recently been debating issues relating to earth-science education, and state school boards are voting on standards that will have a major impact on how or whether earth science is taught in the state's schools. The recent crisis in Kansas over the elimination of evolution and the age of the Earth from state-level testing is just one example of how the decisions of these boards can impact the future of our science.

The AGI website contains helpful tips on Communicating with Congress as well as links to contact information for senators and representatives at http://www.agiweb.org/roster/howto.html. The site also contains background information on many environmental, resource, natural hazards, and fiscal policy issues related to the geosciences at http://www.agiweb.org/gap/gaphome.html.

Example Letter to Member of Congress

The Honorable __________ U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 OR The Honorable ___________ U.S. Senate Washington, DC 20510 Dear Representative/Senator _________: I am writing to you during Earth Science Week to ask for your support of strong federal investment in earth-science programs that develop information and analysis which are critically important to our ability to make wise decisions about the environment, resources, and natural hazards. LIST SPECIFIC AGENCIES OR PROGRAMS. As just one example of the issues addressed by the earth sciences, the recent earthquakes in Turkey and Taiwan and the flooding in the eastern United States in the wake of Hurricane Floyd are powerful reminders of the need to better understand the forces that produce natural disasters. Federal investments in earth-science research and monitoring today can help to save lives and property in the future. DESCRIBE LOCAL OR REGIONAL EXAMPLES OF EARTH SCIENCE ADDRESSING SOCIETAL ISSUES SUCH AS RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT, ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, OR HAZARD MITIGATION. If you or your staff have any questions or would like additional information on any of these issues, please feel free to contact me at __________. Thank you for considering my request. Sincerely yours,

Special update prepared by David Applegate, AGI Government Affairs Program

This special update goes out to members of the AGI Government Affairs Program (GAP) Advisory Committee as well as the leadership of AGI's member societies and other interested geoscientists as part of a continuing effort to improve communications between GAP and the geoscience community that it serves. Prior updates can be found on the AGI Web site under "Government Affairs". For additional information on specific policy issues, please visit the web site or contact us directly at or (703) 379-2480.

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