Agenda 1. Changes to Andyland activism section 2. Air quality news ------------------------------------------------------------------- Andyland's activism section has been reworked. In order to maintain the focus on art at artcontext.com, political activist news and information is being housed at the andyland.net address. Much of the ongoing work is organizing existing materials (and hopefully people!), but there are new articles and updates, too. The site currently includes numerous directories for information on topics from the environment, to labor struggles, to media analysis. It should be noted that these tools are interactive: you can add to the database of links to related sites. Various information has been added about the Linux operating system. Although not a traditional category for activism, there is reason to believe that monopolies like Microsoft are not good for the freedom of information. Andyland wants to contribute to the surprisingly strong body of online information about Linux, so that it can emerge successfully as a viable alternative to Microsoft operating systems. In short, andyland.net is committed to providing news, links, information, and inspiration for activists. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Air Quality In June of 1999, I received an email concerning budgetary allotments for clean burning buses. I believe that state representative Tom Duane was responsible for sending it, but in any case, it urged people to contact their public representatives about the issue, providing addresses and further information. Because air quality is an issue that concerns me, I took some time to draft a letter and sent it to several important politicians, including George Pataki, governor of New York. Since then, I have received fairly detailed responses from the governor's assistants, from the office of the Mayor of New York City, and from officials at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The letters indicate that steps are being taken to improve the emissions of city owned buses using either compressed natural gas or newer, cleaner-burning diesel engines. The detail of these response letters also indicates either that many people have written about the topic, or that letters written to state and local officials are still being read for their content (whereas my experience with letters to the president and many national senators has been that the responses are very formulaic and irrelevant.) On October 14, 1999, it was reported on WNYE radio that the governor is pushing for legislation to clean up New York's air--putting air quality on the conservative agenda for the first time ever, to my knowledge. Although it is impossible to trace the chain of influence that has led to this move, I think it is an encouraging sign that contacting your public officials can work. Andy Deck --------------------------------------------------------------------------- This letter has been sent as a service to people who have registered an interest in activist announcements. If you would like to unregister yourself, you can unregister your email address at: http://artcontext.com/list/