SierraScape December 2002 - January 2003
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by Jim Nyberg

Melissa Blakley (EVEC) organizer

The Sierra Club in Missouri is fortunate in having had Melissa Blakley share our Eastern Missouri Group office in Maplewood for several months preceding the November 5 election. She was the Conservation Organizer for the Environmental Voter Education Campaign (EVEC) to inform voters about the performance of the candidates for U.S. senator from Missouri on environmental issues.

Her initiative, spirit and hard work have provided impressive results. She and her volunteers educated voters throughout Missouri in television and radio news casts, newspaper articles, interviews, printed letters to editors, and distributed literature. The emphasis was on the candidates' performance in legislation and the accuracy of their campaign statements concerning clean air and water. This contributed significantly to bringing these issues to prominence in the U.S. senatorial election campaign. Legal constraints on EVECs permit only education of the public on issues, not campaigning for individual candidates.

The group of volunteers Melissa organized will be a lasting asset in future environmental activism. Thanks, Melissa.