This summer I had the pleasure and privilege of interning at the Environmental Voter Project (EVP). It’s an organization that’s not even a year old– just two full-time employees and some interns sitting in the corner of an office in Boston, trying to save the world. At first glance, EVP doesn’t seem like the leader of a revolution. Running around the city and talking to apathetic people during the hottest months on record doesn’t exactly feel like the lord’s work. But EVP is taking an innovative approach to environmental action; it isn’t trying to convince anyone that the environment matters.
EVP is a non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to increasing voter turnout. Its mission is based on the following question–one that environmentalists ask themselves every day: in the year 2016, why do we still lack the political will to pass urgently needed environmental legislation? Well, the answer is depressingly simple–politicians listen to people who vote, and voters consistently rank environmental issues among their lowest priorities in every election.
But just because voters rank environmental issues among their lowest priorities doesn’t mean nobody in the country cares about climate change. There are actually plenty of Americans who are deeply concerned about environmental issues; those people are just less likely to vote than their fellow citizens. Using data analytics, EVP has identified 15.78 million individual environmentalists who do not vote consistently. Over 5 million of these environmentalists aren’t even registered to vote. These people may not be the environmentalists you’re picturing in your head. They don’t all hug trees and sing kumbaya. But they care deeply about environmental issues, a fact that would be reflected in political action– if they actually voted.
These 15.78 million inconsistent environmental voters present both a problem and an opportunity. It turns out that we may not actually need to persuade people to care more about the environment. That’s good news. As I’m sure you know if you’ve ever had a political conversation with anyone ever, it’s really hard (and expensive and time consuming) to change people’s minds. The future of the environmental movement may be as simple as getting more of our existing environmentalists to vote. In the era of big data, that task isn’t as daunting as it seems. Sophisticated political campaigns now have the tools to: (1) identify individuals according to the issues they prioritize and then (2) dramatically increase their likelihood of voting. These tools give EVP the ability to get millions of silent environmentalists to vote.
Using cutting-edge behavioral science that is proven to dramatically increase voter turnout, EVP makes use of canvassers, phone bankers, mailings, and digital campaigns mobilize identified environmentalists amid upcoming elections. Although EVP has been around for only a short time, it’s efforts have already produced results. EVP, conducting its own self-analysis, scored an 89% accuracy rating for its ability to identify non-voting environmentalists. Its mobilization efforts are increasing turnout among non-voting environmentalists by a striking 5.1%, a number with huge potential to transform the electorate. If scaled to the national level, even for just one election, these results would translate into an additional 804,751 new voters. This increase in voter turnout would change not only the results of individual elections, but could transform the electorate and the ways politicians are forced to view it.
As I’ve mentioned, politicians still, despite the real and perceived dysfunction in the political process, must listen to voters. Even taking into account all the power that big money yields, voters ultimately decide whether politicians keep their job and whether a political party stays in power. Even if certain politicians care deeply about the environment, they aren’t going to spend their political capital on an issue that voters haven’t prioritized.
Politicians are also going to define “voters” rather narrowly. They aren’t going to waste time and money trying to figure out what matters to people who probably won’t vote or who haven’t even registered to vote. They’re going to spend time and money figuring out what matters to likely voters. And political campaigns know exactly who those likely voters are. Although who you vote for is private information, whether or not you vote is a matter of public record.
You can look up your voting history. I can look up your voting history. Your sister’s friend’s aunt’s dog walker can look up your voting history. And so can your elected officials. Political campaigns have access to databases that collect the voting history of every registered voter in America. Because technology is amazing and scary, campaigns can sort and re-sort all that data, make lists and groups, and score Americans according to their likelihood of going to the polls. If you care about getting your voice heard, you better hope that you have a high score. Since political campaigns are running on limited time and limited money, they don’t care about your opinions if there’s only a small chance you’re actually going to show up on election day.
And that’s the real beauty about what EVP is doing. Other political organizations seek to influence the passage of environmental legislation by working to elect specific candidates. They are doing necessary but short-term work. The Environmental Voter Project, by contrast, is talking to and turning out people that no other political organization cares about. Once these new, environmentally conscious voters turn up at the ballot box, they appear as “voters” in the public voter file, and dozens of well-funded campaigns will begin to target them. The voice of these voters, the environmentalists, begins to matter. EVP is taking the long-term, electorate-transforming strategy that might just save the planet.
So what’s the most important thing you can do to help combat climate change? It turns out the answer is simple — vote. Don’t just vote in November (although definitely vote in November) or in a few other major elections. Vote all the time. Vote for your Senators, your governor, your attorney general, your state representatives. Become a consistent voter–a voter that no politician can ignore. Make your voice heard in every election.
For more information about the Environmental Voter Project or to pledge to be a consistent voter and receive election reminders, head to environmentalvoter.org. (Please do it. We’re going to want a planet to live on when we’re old and and gray.) •
