Honorable Sir or Madam,

I am writing to ask you to support our proposal urging the Obama
Administration and Congress to lead our country and people in developing
and implementing a National Strategy for Sustainability.  The proposal is
supported by the Citizens Network for Sustainable Development and was one
of the top ten ideas (out of 7875 ideas and 675,943 votes cast) in
Change.org’s Ideas for Change in America competition.

Our country and world confront an economic crisis as well as social and
environmental trends threatening not only the health and security of our
citizens today but also of future generations. We need to reverse this
situation with strategies and actions that will improve the quality of
life for everyone. This requires different thinking and methods from those
that created these crises. We need a National Sustainability Strategy --
an approach not based on short-term fixes but on a long-range vision.

President Obama pledged that the United States will provide global
leadership under his Administration. During his inauguration he said,
"Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin
again the work of remaking America. We will harness the sun and the winds
and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform
our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new
age."

We had already begun this work of remaking America when the concept of
"sustainability" officially entered the American language in 1992 at the
historic Earth Summit Conference. We continued this work in town meetings
across the country hosted by the President's Council for Sustainable
Development. Let’s go on with it again.

Many families, businesses, cities, schools, churches, and quite a few
states are already taking action to adopt sustainable practices. Yet much
of the business of government, industry, and everyday consumers remains
fixed on the habits, standards and priorities of the past. As the
president has said, "we can no longer afford to ignore suffering outside
our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to
effect."

A National Strategy can provide the means to create a sustainable economy
that will improve the quality of life for everyone.

It is time to return to our journey into the new frontier of a sustainable
future and a Sustainable America. We need your help and leadership to make
this happen. Please support our call for the Administration and Congress
to lead our country in developing and implementing a National Strategy for
Sustainability.

[Your name here]