If you really care about the environment, you might already do a few important things.
You might spend two minutes recycling each day. Maybe you take 19 minutes to bike to work. Perhaps, you even put in two hours a week maintaining a vegetable garden.
But how often do you take the mere 14 minutes that are necessary for the average American to vote?
Before you answer that question, consider this: we already know the answer.
That's right -- we already know whether you vote or not. Who you vote for is secret, but whether or not you actually voteis public information, so if anybody wants to, they can just go to town hall and look up who votes and who doesn't vote.
And most environmentalists don't vote.
In fact, our research at the Environmental Voter Project reveals that 15.78 million Americans who deeply care about climate change and other environmental issues never (or almost never) vote.
That's a big deal.
Only 129 million people voted in the 2012 Presidential election. Barely 83 million voted in the 2014 midterm elections.
By taking just 14 minutes out of their day, climate voters could change everything.
And here's the really big news: your vote matters regardless of who wins or loses.
Why? Because politicians don't lead; they follow. Politicians spend all their time polling voters to see what they care about...and then they fall over themselves trying to appeal to those voters' preferences in order to get elected.
But if you don't vote, politicians know it (remember: whether you vote or not is public information), so then they never poll you and they never appeal to the issues you care about.
But once you start voting, then every politician competes for your attention. So simply by filling out your ballot, you (and your political preferences) become really, really important to politicians.
Imagine if 15 million environmentalists decided to take 14 minutes and vote next Election Day.
It could change everything.
Take the first step: click here and pledge to be a consistent environmental voter.
Not registered to vote? Don't worry -- you can take care of that right here.
And the final step: take 14 minutes to vote...and change the world.