I wrote my semi-regular emails to politicians. And I'm writing about it here to maybe inspire a few of you to write another email to your politicians about any of the many things that need fighting right now. It's one of those things that is important in aggregate, so keep doing it, even though it sucks.
May 14, 2026, 11:43 PM@sundogplanets what politician reads their letters?
@jpuck My thoughts are that they are conducting sentiment analysis, so while one email won't mean much, if enough of the same types of messages come in then it could in theory move the needle.
At least that's what I tell myself every time I send an email and get a response arguing with me on why I'm wrong.
@jpuck @sundogplanets
The politicians that get a crapload of letters they don’t like.
@jpuck @sundogplanets I wrote to my Republican and Democratic representatives on the bipartisan issue of selling our natural land to private buyers and one of them wrote back to me a very nice and insightful letter. I'll let you guess which party that rep belonged to.
@sundogplanets thanks for the reminder. It’s so annoying. But we do need them to hear from a lot of people to feel the pressure.
@sundogplanets I regularly send emails using Resistbot. They send me texts and a couple of clicks later I've emailed both Senators & the Rep. I usually do 4-6 a week; occasionally if they're sending me lots, more.
@sundogplanets Sometimes it feels like it would be easier to write "Everything's wrong. Fix it."
Also, that *I* should send them fundraising mail instead.
@sundogplanets I tried for years. We never heard back or got real responses.
My group has moved on to direct action: provisioning services directly and 'governing' them with basic accounting and becoming the local elected. Waited 20 years for a different set of adults in the room and they never showed. Turns out services are cheap when functional and not means tested.
'Human needs what? On my way'.
@dobetterinstitute Amazing work!! I mostly focus on public education, but still trying to occasionally shoot emails/phone calls at elected reps.
@sundogplanets honestly, I appreciate the reminder.
May 15, 2026, 3:21 AM@sundogplanets How do you do this? Do you do email or paper mail?
I've been meaning to do this for a while but don't really know how to get into it
@joey I looked up my MLA's email address and emailed it to him. (There's also this handy "How to address fancy people in Canada" guide which is funny but also useful: https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/protocol-guidelines-special-event/styles-address.html)
I also emailed the shadow minister for environment and the shadow minister for AI [and a whole list of other things], because in my province the shadow ministers are much more likely to respond than the actual ministers.
But I don't really know what I'm doing, if others have advice I'm happy to listen!
@sundogplanets yes, this!
@sundogplanets I never get replies.
My most recent effort. Seems like a reasonable question, but it’s disappeared into the aether.
