when you're too young to vote, lobby

A group of teenagers is in the Capitol this week lobbying lawmakers on environmental issues. They're with the group Alaska Youth for Environmental Action (created by some teenagers in 1998), and they're from all over the state. This afternoon, they gathered around a long table in the governor's conference room and talked about plastics, renewable energy, and pollution with the governor's special assistant, Joe Balash.
They also talked politics.
A bill banning mixing zones ("dilution is the solution") in salmon streams has been stuck in House Resources, said Megan Waggoner, an 11th grader at Palmer High, and support is growing for a ballot initiative that would ban mixing zones in all streams. So would Gov. Palin support the bill -- as a lesser of two evils -- to get the initiative off the ballot?
"Um," Balash replied, thinking. "I think that one would come down to the role of the initiative process."
Balash said he'd encourage anyone looking at the initiative to consider the economic consequences it would have, and added that Palin probably wouldn't support something she opposed, even if it was the lesser of two evils. "She tends to stick by her guns on issues."
Megan, who's 17, asked another question. If you're not old enough to vote, what's a good way to leverage lawmakers and have a real impact on policy. "What would you suggest would be the best way for us?"
"Well, um, one of the easiest things for you to do is go find earned media," Balash said, adding that a member of the media was sitting right next to them (me). Fundraisers, rallies, and other events can all bring attention to an issue.
Balash smirked and looked my way. "Sometimes you have get creative to get the attention of cynical reporters."
Another student asked him what he did when he didn't agree with the governor on an issue.
Um.
A few minutes later, Balash went and got the governor, who came in beaming and walked around the table shaking hands and gathering names. One girl was from Wasilla, where Palin is from.
"What's your last name?" she asked. "Oh, I know you!"
"Nice to meet you," she said to Megan, "Love your glasses."
Palin said down and asked them about their visit. "It's great that you're down here. Y'know, most Alaskan students have not seen their capital."
She asked Balash what they'd talked about and Balash mentioned the last question.
"What did you tell them!?" said the governor.
That he doesn't often disagree with her positions, he said.
Palin offered that her staff's greatest challenge was probably dealing with her impatience.
"I'm much more impatient than they are when I see something that needs to be done for the good of the state," she said. "I'm like, 'Let's go do it.'"
Megan, in a white blouse and heels, went to present the governor with an award for stepping up on renewable energy. Palin wants to create a $250 million fund that would spin off money for renewable energy projects, and she asked the students to help win support for the idea
"Make sure to tell Senator Stedman to get with it," said Balash, referring to one of the Senate Finance co-chairs.
Other students gave the governor a reusable shopping bag. "Someone should start marketing -- right now -- some really cool grocery bags," Palin said. The one they gave her was highly compressible and bright red. "Very cool, you guys."
The students talked about various efforts around the state and world dealing with restrictions on plastic shopping bags -- in Southeast villages, San Francisco, China, and Australia.
Then Aviva Hirsch, 14, chimed in.
"It's not really paper or plastic," she said. "It's really disposable versus sustainable."
Students gave the governor some signed postcards dealing with the mixing zones. Then they all posed for a picture, and Palin helped hold up their banner.