If you care about the air you breathe, the water you drink, stopping climate change, and reducing your family’s exposure to toxic chemicals, it is absolutely essential that you vote in the 2020 election. But with Coronavirus raging, the U.S. Postal Service under assault, and record turnout expected, many of us wonder what is the best way to vote in 2020 so we also stay safe and make sure our vote counts.

The absolute best way to vote in 2020 is actually pretty simple for most of us:

BEST WAY TO VOTE IN 2020? VOTE EARLY

Here’s how:

REGISTER: Make sure you’re registered to vote. Use this site to check your registration status if you’re unsure or need to register. In most states, it is quick and easy to register.

PLAN: Vote early in person, or vote at home using an absentee ballot. Find out how to vote early in your state here.

IF VOTING EARLY IN PERSON: Find out when your state’s polls open and pick a day to vote. Several states have already begun in-person early voting. Others will open in October. Choose your day and time. Probably mid-day during the week when others are working or homeschooling would mean fewer crowds.

IF ABSENTEE VOTING AT HOME: Request an absentee ballot NOW. Each state decides for itself how it handles absentee ballots. You can find out how to do it in your state here. This map shows early voting options state-by-state.

DROP YOUR BALLOT IN AN OFFICIAL BALLOT BOX: If possible, vote early and put your ballot in an official ballot box. You can also mail in your ballot. If you choose to mail it, mail it as soon as possible.

Why is Voting Early the Best Way to Vote in 2020?

Beat the Crowds. Presidential elections are always big events. But this year, so much is at stake, voter turnout is expected to be particularly high. Voting early will help you beat the crowds but also help state elections boards handle the huge influx of votes they expect.

Avoid Coronavirus. Voting early also could help you avoid exposure to the Coronavirus. Especially if you vote at home and then drop your ballot off at an official drop box, you will minimize your contact with other voters and limit your chances of getting COVID-19.

Help the Post Office. If you decide to mail in your ballot, voting early gives the U.S. Postal Service more time to deliver your ballot (though the USPS says it is fully committed to delivering all ballots in a timely way).

Inspire Others. Once you vote early, you can turn your attention to helping others vote. Use your social media to share links to websites in your state that help you register, get your ballot, or vote early in person.

How to Stay Safe If You Vote in Person

If you decide to vote in person, wear a mask and use hand sanitizer.

Don’t Miss:

6 Best Non-Toxic Hand Sanitizers That Kill Coronavirus

5 Plastic-Free Reusable Cotton Face Masks To Outlast Coronavirus

Stand 6 feet away from the person in front of you and behind you.

Know if advance who you plan to vote for, so when you get to the ballot box, your can quickly make your selections and leave. You can find out what’s on your ballot here.

Do not linger at the polls and around crowds of other voters. Minimize contact with other voters.

Vote For Candidates Who Support Protecting the Environment and Our Health – But Not Third Party Candidates!

No matter when you vote, choose candidates for every office – president, governor, Senator, Representative, mayor, local statehouse office holders – who are committed to protecting the environment, stopping climate change, and safeguarding our health.

Don’t miss this “open letter” to voters who might be inclined to vote for the Green Party, the Libertarian Party, or other third party candidates. This is not the year to cast a “symbolic” vote. Too much is at stake!

How Do You Plan to Vote in 2020? Please go to the Big Green Purse Facebook page and share your plan!

The post Here Is The Absolute Best Way to Vote in 2020 appeared first on Big Green Purse.

On Friday, November 4, the Paris Agreement on climate change is set to formally go into effect. It aims to stop climate change in its tracks by significantly reducing the emissions that cause global warming while increasing the amount of energy we get from clean solar and wind power.

Whether those goals are achieved depends  on who the people of the United States elect to be their next president four days later.

Hillary Clinton favors the Paris Agreement and will help America lead the effort to replace climate changing coal and oil with clean, healthy, jobs-producing renewable fuels.

Donald Trump wants to reopen coal mines and actually increase America’s use of the fossil fuels that pollute our air, make us and our kids sick, and perpetuate the natural disasters climate change has been fueling since Hurricane Katrina.

There is no doubt in my mind that all the progress we’ve made on climate change over the last eight years will come to a screeching halt if Trump prevails.

But he won’t – not if we all get out and vote, and get our friends, family and neighbors to do the same.

Facts to Keep In Mind

√ We just wrapped up the hottest summer since global record-keeping began in 1880.

√ Arctic sea ice, a key indicator of long-term climate change, fell to 28 percent below the 40-year average in September, tying 2007 figures for the lowest levels in the 47-year satellite record, reports the Natural Resources Defense Council.

√ Last year was the hottest year ever recorded. The first nine months of this year have been even hotter, a record 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th Century average.

√ Nineteen of the hottest years on record have all occurred in the past 20 years.

How does that actually affect us?

⇒  Sea level is rising, swamping our homes and neighborhoods and threatening hundreds of billions of dollars worth of property, roads and favorite vacation spots, from New Orleans to Boston, from Florida to Texas, and even along the Great Lakes

⇒ Storms are drenching us. Flooded communities in North and South Carolina are still trying to recover from Hurricane Mathew, even while neighborhoods in Louisiana still struggle from the effects of Hurricane Katrina

⇒ Drought is stretching our drinking water supplies to the limit and creating so much parched land that some of our most beautiful heritage forests are catching fire and going up in smoke.

⇒ Poison ivy is getting worse as it thrives in the hothouse conditions that global warming is causing.

⇒ Mosquitoes are posting a bigger threat, too, as they spread farther north, live longer as the seasons extend, and spread diseases that used to be restricted to a narrow band in the tropics.

The threat is clear. So is our choice on Election Day.

Vote to Stop Climate Change

Hillary Clinton has been a strong proponent of stopping climate change since the first day of her campaign.

She has vowed to clean up dirty power plants and switch to solar and wind.

She supports building the next generation of energy-efficient cars, homes and workplaces.

And she knows that we can create millions of good-paying American jobs by becoming the clean energy superpower of the 21st Century.

Donald Trump is one of those people who has been discredited by over 99% of the scientific community: a climate “denier.”

He’s called climate change a “hoax” and is eager to roll back decades’ worth of climate progress.

He would squash President Obama’s signature climate change program, the 2015 Clean Power Plan. The Plan will reduce the carbon pollution from the dirty power plants that account for 40 percent of our nation’s carbon footprint.

He wants to “cancel” the Paris climate accord, which would not only be a set back for our own country, but would seriously tarnish our standing on the world stage, too.

He would actually try to accelerate how much coal and oil we burn. It would be HUUUUUGE.

You can stop climate change – by stopping Trump.

If you can still vote early, do it (here I am about 5 minutes after I voted!)

If you can volunteer, sign up here. You can help by canvassing, phone banking, and otherwise working to get people to the polls.

If you plan to vote on election day, know where your polling place is. You can plug in your zip code here to find the right location.

If you have friends, neighbors or family who need help getting to the polls, offer to drive them or get them a ride.

If you’re a lawyer, get trained in voter protection and staff a polling place to prevent voter intimidation.

If you’re active on Facebook and Twitter, encourage your communities to vote.

In other words, whatever you can do, do it.

But first and foremost, vote.

The post On Nov. 8, Vote to Stop Climate Change appeared first on Big Green Purse.

In Donald Trump’s world it is. Trump is in the process of trying to bulldoze one of Britain’s very last stretches of wilderness and turn it into not one but two golf courses. You’ve Been Trumped, a powerful new film shown on opening night of the D.C. Environmental Film Festival, tells the tale from the moment Trump’s jet lands in Aberdeen, Scotland with the Donald and his coterie on board, to the sorry affair that exists today: wilderness gone, wildlife habitat destroyed, and the lives of local villagers irreparably harmed by the development.

Here’s the back story, taken from the movie’s synopsis: Billionaire Donald Trump has bought up hundreds of acres on the northeast coast of Scotland, best known to movie-lovers as the setting for the 1983 classic film Local Hero. And like the American oil tycoon played by Burt Lancaster, Trump needs to buy out a few more locals to make the deal come true. In a land swimming with golf courses, Trump is going to build two more – along with a 450-room hotel and 1,500 luxury homes. The trouble is, the land he has purchased occupies one of Europe’s most environmentally sensitive stretches of coast, described by one leading scientist as Scotland’s Amazon rain forest. Local residents don’t want it destroyed.

Initially, the project was rejected by the region’s government. But mysteriously, the national Scottish Government overturns its own environmental laws to give Trump the green light. Bulldozers spring into action. Water and power are cut off; it takes some homeowners ten days to get the developers to restore these basic amenities. Land disputes erupt while the developers destroy the homeowners’ private property. In one mind- boggling incident, bulldozers pile up thousands of tons of dirt next to the homes of private citizens who oppose the project.

The local police ignore citizens’ complaints and instead arrest the film’s director, Anthony Baxter. Donald Trump is awarded an honorary doctorate from a local university while his tractors turn wild, untouched dunes into fairways.

Donald Trump could not appear less sympathetic, especially in this “Occupy” era. He insults local residents like Walter Forbes, right, calling them “pigs” and worse, while claiming his project will bring strong economic growth to this part of Scotland – even though the region is prospering and has less than a 2% unemployment rate. He worries far more about his helmet of hair, which is getting blown about in the wind, than about the women and men whose heritage the development is destroying. He ogles Miss Scotland, who is on hand for a press event, embarrassing her by telling her how pretty she is, as if he has sized her up for a job in one of his casinos.

It takes a long time for the citizens to mount a community protest against the project. “It’s not in their blood,” said Anthony Baxter, when he spoke with the audience after the screening. Baxter is appealing to Americans to help raise awareness that will stop further development by helping him get the film into more theaters. He’s also posted links on the film’s Take Action page that make it easy to tweet the Donald or send a letter to the Scottish minister who approved the project.

This being Washington, D.C., the audience offered some additional ideas to Baxter. One person suggested that people write to the Scottish ambassador to the U.S. and urge the project to be shut down. Another suggested Baxter organize and “Occupy Trump Tower” in New York.

Baxter appreciated the suggestions while warning Washingtonians to beware: Donald Trump has just gotten the contract to redevelop the historic Old Post Office in D.C. It’s located on Pennsylvania Ave, right in between the U.S. Capitol building and the White House.

“You could be Trumped yourselves,” he cautioned.

Don’t miss other great films in the D.C. Environmental Film Fest.
Here’s a calendar of showings between now and March 25.

The post “You’ve Been Trumped” – the Donald Occupies Wilderness appeared first on Big Green Purse.