Awesome!

     Thanks SO much to the people that have put towards effort to supporting Mission 001 and signing the petition! ALTHOUGH, 2 people haven't come forward and claimed their signature, so I can't write you down on the list that I've been keeping on who has signed it. Please let me know that you have signed it by replying to the email or commenting on this blog! Thanks everyone who has let me know! lol 

     I have gotten a total of 18 people to sign the petition! Yay! That excites me so much :D

Thanks!

Sign the Petition then let me know you did! :D

Now We're Talking!!

     Yay! I finally am getting people to sign the petition! So exciting : ) So far today, from the 80-people email I sent out, I've had 5 signatures! Thanks so much to those people! If you look on the petition, the signers from 1,142 to 1,146 are all my doing! Except for maybe one person that won't live up to their signature quite yet. If you haven't let me know that you've signed the petition yet, please do! I love taking pride in having people sign it because of me. I'm also keeping a record of people that I have gotten signatures from for project-sake. So if you are that mysterious signature.... reply to the email or leave a comment now! 

     Thanks so much to everyone! 

Sign the petition... then let me know that you did! :D

Hello Again!

     So I haven't been doing much for Mission 001, sadly. Been so busy! Although, I have sent out 80 emails which hopefully will bring in 80 more signatures! But even that is wishful. 

     It's been a week and a day since I sent out the letters to Rep. Boswell and Sen. Harkin and I have not gotten any replies back. Darn. So I sent one to Senator Grassley, hopefully I get support from him and eventually Rep. Boswell and Sen. Harkin! I'm looking forward to their replies. 

     1,141 signatures for the petition! Yay! It's doing good, but is isn't 23 signatures a day like it was a few weeks ago, sadly. Hopefully we'll go back to that! That was awesome! To help that, please sign the petition! Thanks!

Sign the petition (then comment to let me know that you did!) :D

POA 3.29

Plan of Action as of 3.29.09

Tasks to Do-
1. Get more signatures
2. Write reflection paper
3. Post up flyers at school

Accomplished-
1. Everything from the past
2. Sent the letter to Senator Grassley
3. Sent out 80 emails to people

Recommendations-

- 80 emails sent to family and friends

Thanks!

Sign the petition! :D

POA 3.22.09

Plan of Action as of 3.22.09

Tasks to Do-                                                                                         
1. Get more signatures by sending emails and giving flyers                                                                

2. Maybe research more facts                                         
3. Write reflection paper                                                   
 

Tasks Accomplished-

1. Everything that has been on the POAs in the past

2. Wrote and sent letters

3. Did research

Recommendations:
• One church person signed (gave a flyer out to her)
 

Thanks!  

Sign the petition! :D

The Letter!!

     Here is the long waited for email that I sent to both Representative Leonard Boswell and Senator Tom Harkin! Which is the reason why I put in ( and  )'s because I did send it to both of them. I also put ( and ) around my personal information. Enjoy the letter! I think that I did well. : ) I hope that I get a response from both the Representative and the Senator!  

Amy DeHaven
(My home address)
Des Moines, Iowa (Zip code)
Home Phone Number: (number)
Email: (Email, if you have any questions, I might give you my Email, just leave a comment with the question on it and if I feel like I need to Email you, I will)

The Honorable (Leonard Boswell or Tom Harkin)
(Address of office building in DC)
United States (House of Representatives or Senate)
Washington DC, (20515 or 20510)

Dear (Representative or Senator):
     The first idea stated in the Constitution is “We the People.” That idea is interpreted in many ways. One way is that people should have the right to be involved in what the government does. As a 13-year-old government class student in Iowa, I am using this right along with the freedom of speech to express my concerns and ideas about today’s world. My topic of concern is based on recycling and a National Bottle Bill.
     I created Mission 001: Broaden Bottle Redemption, which is what my project is called. Mission 001 was a product of a government class project meant to get the students directly involved with public policy. The purpose of Mission 001 is to help and lobby to get a National Bottle Bill passed. As part of the project, I must contact representatives from our state to express our concerns and ideas on how to help the community. While researching, I found a petition already made on the Care 2 Petition Site that was exactly what my project was about. I quickly signed it and started lobbying for more signatures.
     As I learned from my textbook, lobbyists are an important part of the government because they provide a great deal of information regarding their topic to receive support on their views and ideas. As a lobbyist, I shall do the same. While researching, I found a website dedicated to the National Bottle Bill, and something surprised me. The thing that surprised me was a widget that was continually counting the number of water bottles being wasted. The number was rapidly growing and growing! On the other hand, alternatives can be put into action to help slow done the number of bottles wasted. One alternative is getting a National Bottle Bill passed.
     A National Bottle Bill will allow all beverage containers except raw cider and dairy products to be redeemed for a certain redemption price. Some states do have such bottle bills, including Oregon, Maine and Connecticut. The statistics on how the bottle bills have helped these states should not be ignored because they show that a greater number of recycling happens in those states and it has helped the communities by creating jobs and by reducing litter. Other benefits of bottle bills are that they promote recycling, receive public support, provides incentives for recycling, target all beverage containers, complement curbside recycling, create more opportunities for recycling, and encourages producer and consumer responsibility. All of these benefits are important to consider, especially the benefit of creating jobs, which is what America needs in this time of an economic crisis. I also learned that 40 to 60% of all litter is composed of beverage containers, and a bottle bill can help reduce that amount. By passing a National Bottle Bill, it will be a step in the right direction for America and it will help create a healthier world for future generations.
     To learn more about Mission 001: Broaden Bottle Redemption, please see my blog dedicated to my project at http://mission001broadenbottleredemption.blogspot.com/. My blog provides information on the progress of my project. Also, the petition that I referred to is at http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/support-a-national-bottle-bill. So far, I have lobbied for 9 signatures and I hope that I can get more in the near future. I would appreciate support on a National Bottle Bill from you by learning more about it or maybe introducing it again to the Senate. Thank you for taking the time to listen to me and to learn about Mission 001.
Sincerely,
Amy DeHaven
Central Academy
Des Moines Public Schools

Thanks!

Sign the Petition! :D

Sorry About That!

Wow, I'm so sorry that i haven't posted a blog for a long time! It's spring break, so everything has been crazy! Even though I've been home most of the time, I've been working on other things and not doing any homework. (I better start soon!) I really wanted to work on Mission 001 for hours this break, but I've found myself outside for hours. No time! Once again, I am sorry! 

I won't do a POA this week since I haven't really gotten anything done. Most likely, there will be one later next week.

Until then, Bye and Thanks!

Sign the Petition! :D

Btw- 1,106 signatures! Yay!

POA 3.8.09

POA as of 3.8.09

Tasks to Do-

1. Research facts

2. Write letters

3. Keep blog

4. Keep POAs

5. Get more signatures

6. Send more emails

7. Hand out more flyers

Tasks Accomplished-

1. Signed petition

2. Chose representatives

3. Set up binder

4. Designed flyer and logo

5. Got more signatures

6. Kept POAs, blog, activities log

7. Started research

8. Made a blog

Recommendations-

Church people (11 flyers)

Grandma 

Mom and Dad

Thanks!

Sign the Petition! :D

 

Please Help!

Hello! This is me and my cool display at church to get my church people involved in Mission 001. I need all the help I can get! :D I had a paper tent thing that actually got people to come over to me that said "It takes 450 years for a water bottle to decompose in a landfill. Stop this now! Ask Amy about Mission 001" but obviously you can't see it and the tent was on top of a pile of flyers. So far, one church person has signed the petition. Yay! I handed out I'm guessing... 11 flyers. Most people I handed it to seemed really interested in Mission 001 so hopefully the petition will get 11 more signatures! Hey, better than nothing! Thanks to you if you were one of the church people I gave the flyer to! 

One person at my church brought to my attention that Dalh's has been throwing away bottles that aren't redeemable! I was absolutely SHOCKED. If people bring in their water bottles and other non-redeemable containers to Dalh's to redeem and find out that they don't work, they just see a trash can and...BAM! Throw them away! That is so wrong in many ways! So I probably will send a letter to the manager of the closest Dahl's to me and hopefully it will get passed on. And yes, I will post it up here along with the letters that I'll be writing to Sen. Harkin and Rep. Boswell. I figured that you would like to read them. : ) I must do research first though. So hopefully in a few weeks, we'll see.

I want to ask a favor to everyone (I know that I've asked a lot by asking you to sign the petition) but I'd like everyone to do two things for me. Number one, please let family and friends now about this project and the petition and let them know how important it is that we pass this bill. And number two, I'd like everyone to please comment on a blog entry or tell me in person if you know me, if you have signed the petition! I would like to keep a list of people that have signed it so I can keep track of who has. It would be great if you could do this for me! I thank you all! Thanks!

Sign the petition! :D

Logo!

Here is my lovely logo for Mission 001! And yes, I designed this myself. 

Progress is Happening!

Hey everyone! I have been working hard on my binder to keep all of my stuff for Mission 001 in! This picture is proof! It is a picture of the cover for my binder, which looks awesome! Sorry about the fact that it's sideways, that was the only way I could get it totally into the picture. 

I have been thinking about what to do at my church to get my church people involved. So I've decided to have a table there after church and tell people about Mission 001! I printed 30 copies of flyers! : O 

I have been trying very hard to work on this project, including the main portion of it. That portion is researching data and writing letters to Iowa's representatives. I'll keep working hard! I just want to know that I thank everyone who has signed the petition, all 1,068 of them! Thanks!

Sign the Petition! :D