Question #3 to Mike Levin, asked by Reese Walsh (’23) on behalf of Journalism & Media Studies 2.

“How can you reconcile being a strong advocate for the environment with the way so much paper is being used to send direct mail to residents of the 49th District in connection with your election campaign?”

So I hate that we have to use so much paper. However, it is effective, particularly for people that are not on social media or are not watching visual ads on Youtube, and you have to meet people where they are and people are still reading a lot of literature and information in their mailboxes. And remember we are all voting by mail now in California. So I look at it as a cost-benefit, the cost of course there is an impact on using that paper, but the benefit is if candidates like me win the environmental footprint I think will be exponentially less than if the other side wins. And so I see that amount of paper that was used, which hopefully can be recycled whenever possible, as a drop in the bucket compared with the massive difference, the massive greenhouse gas difference, the massive criteria pollutant difference. The long-term health of our planet will be dramatically different based on who you elect, so like everything else you have to balance the equities and you have to go out and communicate with voters.

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