Going Green to Get the Votes

With environmentalism firmly in the mainstream, you don’t have to press your body against a sappy tree or show your toes in a pair of Birkenstocks to prove you care about protecting the planet. Campaigns can win over millions of voters with a politically neutral environment-friendly message.

Going green will distinguish you from your opponent and connect the campaign’s message to voters with an effective call to action. If you do it correctly, it’s an inexpensive and easy way to build support among your constituents. Many of the steps you take to harmonize your race with the environment will also save money, earn media attention and improve your relationship with supporters. However, do it incorrectly and your efforts will seem phony and effectively backfire.

Follow these nine rules and recommendations for the best results.

Rule #1: Going green is for both parties
There are voters you need to reach with a positive environmental message regardless of your party affiliation. A Gallup poll released in March 2009 at the height of the economic crisis shows that between 70 and 80 percent of people are still worried about environmental issues despite the poor economy.

Rule #2: Narrow your focus
Because the environment can be a broad topic, you need to limit your message to issues that can be addressed within your district. Begin your green initiative by connecting it with the values and environmental concerns that affect local voters.

Want to talk about clean energy and water? If your district is urban, consider purchasing renewable energy for your office and touring a rooftop rain garden. If your district is rural, meet with farmers who are successfully conserving water and producing renewable energy. Wherever you are located, there is something green going on that you can be a part of.

Rule #3: Going green is interactive
Begin by asking your supporters what they do to help the environment, and then schedule a campaign event that focuses on their feedback. This could be a trip to the local wetland to learn about water quality, a carbon footprint survey sent to your email list or a roadside litter clean-up outing with volunteers from your campaign. Invite your supporters to join the campaign’s effort and put a report on your blog and in a press release. By demonstrating tangible leadership, you will establish your credibility with voters and environmental interest groups.

Rule #4: Tap into more green from your donors
Analyze the action steps you can take to go green and ask donors to sponsor this effort. Most campaign donors are flooded with the same fundraising appeals every election cycle, but by asking them to sponsor specific elements of your green initiative—such as effi cient yard sign distribution, reducing paper waste with microtargeting or cutting and balancing carbon pollution—you will give them a better reason to send dollars to your race.

Rule #5: Go public with your effort
Connect the campaign’s message with voters by sending them news updates about your efforts to go green. Include tips from the lessons you have learned with your fundraising letters and relevant direct mail. Monthly emails describing your progress to use less paper, decrease your carbon footprint or help improve a local stream or park will remind voters and the media that your campaign is determined to improve your district. To maintain your green credentials, always use either 100 percent post-consumer recycled paper or paper that is FSC-certified to be from sustainably managed stock.

Rule #6: Make every event green
Whether it is your kickoff breakfast or an evening reception, use local food and produce, avoid disposable plates and flatware unless it is biodegradable and keep servings small. You can go a step further and offset the carbon emissions for your guests if this fits with your message. Use a folded note card on each table to explain your green initiative.

Rule #7: Capture the environmental benefit (and the phone numbers)
If you have purchased an SMS short code, ask event attendees to send you the distance that they traveled so that the campaign can offset the green house gasses for them. It will cost about $.35 for each attendee to make their travel carbon neutral, and the cell phone numbers you capture will help keep your database updated.

Rule #8: Go green as early as possible
Start your environmental initiative early and update it consistently to help establish your authenticity with environmental issue voters. Kathy Dahlkemper defeated six-term incumbent Phil English in Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District and began counting carbon emissions nine months before Election Day.

“I felt it was extremely important that my campaign be a carbon-neutral campaign because it clearly signifies the importance I place on the issue of becoming a cleaner, greener world,” she said. “I made this pledge early in the campaign and it resonated with voters. I believe they took this as a sign of my commitment.”

John McCain was fortunate to be able to establish his environmental message and climate change plan before “drill, baby, drill” became a campaign slogan. Any later and it would have been impossible for him to remind voters of his environmental message.

Rule #9: Follow through with your commitments
If you pledge to run a green campaign and then fail to implement and communicate the environmental improvements you have made, your campaign’s green initiative will seem phony. Avoid this mistake by putting a campaign staffer or volunteer in charge of your green initiative from start to finish. Establishing environmental credibility early in the race can preempt negative attacks, but this is irrelevant if your campaign goes green and then fades to brown.


Brendan Woodward is the president of Standard Carbon LLC, a nonpartisan environmental consulting firm specializing in climate change solutions for businesses, individuals and campaigns.