Can Twitter Change Chipotle's Paper Bag Usage?  Image credit:
Nesster/Flickr  Jamming phone lines, fax machines or e-mail
boxes with messages has been a key tactic ever since I first
became an environmental activist. I remember one Senator telling
me in 1994, before the internet existed as we know it today,
before Facebook and Twitter and mass e-mails, that his staff was
literally weighing the letters on a scale that we were sending
from Sierra Club members to gauge the interest of his
constituents. It was back during the fight to save the
California Desert. All of those letters did their part, and we
eventually passed the California Desert Protection Act, creating
Joshua Tree National Park and Death Valley National Park.
Organizations like perfected this tactic in the wake of Clinton
impeachment scandal and those of us who cared, started sending
e-mails to our members of Congress and signing petitions that we
hoped would do something.But over the last few years it's become
something of a nasty little secret