Elect Yourself.

Leading up to the election, 95% of my email inbox has been full of dramatic panic messages from various elected officials and their endorsed political hopefuls needing donations tonight or risk losing the entire election.

SUBJECT LINE:

"Hytes, we need just $5 to finish the job."

"Please, Hytes, democracy is on the line. Donate $10."

"I hate doing this Hytes, but we were outraised last night and need immediate funding..."

Earlier in the year, I was happy to donate small amounts every month to campaigns and organizations that I aligned with and thus, gradually got put onto a ton of email lists. I understand the need for their aggressive email campaigning and am not naïve to the necessity of fundraising as much as possible to get an official the best chance of being heard and understood prior to an election, but have worn down to the point where these emails go unopened and immediately trashed. The message that this donation must be given ASAP or all hope of change is futile had once been persuasive enough to get me to panic-donate. Afterward, I would sit back in my chair relieved and satisfied, as though I had done something useful or important.

That is, until I -- like many others in the U.S this year -- lost my job. As an unemployed voter, desperate for a stable income or a stimulus check or any glimmer of hope that the economy will bounce back, it was easy to become resentful to the idea that big money owns the votes. That votes don't get people elected, voters' donations do. And therefore because I could no longer give, I could no longer participate meaningfully in the movement.

This virus of a mindset came to a head one day when this email popped up in my ibox:

What sweet Pete was really asking, as I discovered by opening the email, was actually, "have you given all the money we can coerce out of you?" The email made no mention of "doing" anything beyond clicking the "Donate Here!" button.

But to answer Mayor Pete's rhetorical question-- no. I haven't done anywhere near everything to participate in the movements I care most about. Being an American citizen is a 24/7, 365 day-per-year job. It is not something we can participate in one November day every 4 years, and then forget about the other 1,459 days until the next election rolls around.

So, here is my plan to help enact change myself-- completely free of charge.

I'm becoming an ambassador for OneTreePlanted, an environmental-based charity dedicated to reforestation. Their goal is simple: for every dollar donated, a tree gets planted. In 2019 alone, 4,010,962 trees were planted through them. Here's their mission:

Started in 2014, we have more than doubled the number of trees planted year over year. Fast-forward to today, we now work with awesome reforestations partners in North America, South America, Asia, and Africa who help us get trees in the ground to restore forests after fires and floods, create jobs, build communities, and protect habitat for biodiversity.

So far, I have:

- Fundraised to get 34 trees planted in the Appalachia region -- in part which holds my hometown. Every time I know another donation has been made, I do a little fist-pump in the air.

- Signed up to volunteer at OneTreePlanted's event in my current home community of Brooklyn next month to physically plant new tree saplings.

- Begun the "31 Day Zero Waste Challenge" via goingzerowaste.com

Planting trees won't get me my job back. Planting trees around the world and in my own community likely won't benefit me personally, but that's the point. It's about doing everything I can for anyone at all outside of my own little world. It's about electing myself to roll up my sleeves to do some good, rather than throwing donation money at others in hopes that they do something. It's about going beyond the vote, beyond my bank account, beyond myself and individual needs to do what we want to see our elected officials do for us.

Doing this isn't everything, Pete, but it's a good start.

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As a post-script, if anyone reading this wants a tree planted in their name and has $1 to share, consider donating below:

https://onetreeplanted.org/collections/united-states/products/appalachia

(I chose the Appalachia region but you can pick any available area that means the most to you, including California, Oregon, and Washington in areas devastated by forest fires.)

Here, you know exactly where your $1 is going AND you get a cute virtual certificate. It's a little green for a lot of GREEN!