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IN THE COMMUNITY

PUT YOURSELF IN THE PUBLIC EYE. Got an environmental platform or plan? Run for town council, state senate, or a position in a civic organization. In 2006, Allison Rogers, who had graduated from Harvard two years before, decided to spread the word by competing for the title of Miss Rhode Island. She surprised the pageant circuit with her unusual cause - the environment - and won the crown. She spent her yearlong reign making presentations about global warming to students, businesses, and other groups; she even marched in parades instead of waving at crowds from a car. "You hear that the environmental movement is preaching to the choir," says Rogers, who now works for the Green the Capitol Office of the US House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. "I wanted to reach out to a new audience."

JOIN AN ADVOCACY GROUP. Organizations like the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Environmental Working Group lobby and run awareness campaigns for a broad range of causes. Other national nonprofits, such as Surfrider Foundation, focus on single issues, such as ocean protection; that group's regional chapters hold beach cleanups. Strictly local organizations - like the Massachusetts Audubon Society, which works to preserve the region's natural heritage, and the Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow, which advocates in Massachusetts for the regulation of environmental health hazards - tackle issues close to home.

SHAKE UP YOUR TOWN. Taking action locally can be more rewarding - and more immediate - than trying to foster change higher up the chain. Attend town or city meetings to bring up pressing environmental issues that aren't already on the agenda, or speak out on those that are. Many town and city council or board of selectmen meetings have dedicated time for citizen communications; if yours doesn't, contact your representative or a member of the energy, recycling, solid waste, or other municipal commissions to request that your cause be placed on the docket. Kate Abend, climate change outreach coordinator at the Union of Concerned Scientists, a national scientific research and advocacy group with headquarters in Cambridge, suggests sending a handwritten note or calling local politicians to add a personal touch. "Be as specific as possible: Is there a global warming reduction target you want to achieve? Did a problem affect your child? Tell the story of why you care, because that's what's appealing.

REACH OUT TO YOUR NEIGHBORS. Know something that other people in your community don't? Trying to get a local ordinance passed? Set up panels, lectures, or start a community task force to spread education and awareness. Cambridgeport resident Steve Morr-Wineman, who works for a human services nonprofit, cofounded the GreenPort neighborhood group a year ago. Today, the group educates and empowers the local community to make changes concerning transportation, home energy, and food choices by bringing in speakers, handing out CFL bulbs donated by NSTAR, and sending representatives to local government hearings where decisions about environmental causes are being made. "The common thread among everything we do is community building," says Morr-Wineman.