When Environment Council of Rhode
Island member Dave Brunetti mentioned at a meeting that he wanted to get the
state to ban a class of insecticides called neonicotinoids, Audubon’s director
of policy, Meg Kerr, and her predecessor Eugenia Marks expressed their support
and offered to help. Concerns about the decline of bees have made news around
the world, and neonicotinoids have been implicated as one probable cause. Since
pollinator protection is high on Audubon’s list of priorities, Kerr and Marks
joined with Brunetti in speaking to legislators and meeting with beekeepers and
other interested stakeholders about the issue.
The idea of a ban on neonicotinoids
met with resistance from many in the farming and landscaping industries,
however, so one legislator offered to convene what Kerr called “a listening
workshop” to bring together experts and interested parties to share their
perspectives. It was an emotionally charged meeting, and it soon became clear
that there was little support for an immediate ban on the insecticides.
Instead, a compromise was reached
and legislation was passed to establish a Pollinator Working Group under the RI
Department of Environmental Management to investigate the many
“We all agreed that it was an
opportunity to bring people together, learn about the condition of bees and
other pollinators in our state, evaluate how pesticides, climate change and
habitat changes are impacting pollinators. We wanted to identify strategies the
state could consider to move forward in a productive way to address our
concerns,” Kerr said.
Many people think that
environmental advocacy, like Audubon’s work to protect pollinators, all takes
place at the State House. They imagine Kerr and others testifying at
legislative hearings, persuading legislators in one-on-one meetings, and
occasionally catching the ear of the governor in a fight for strong
environmental policies. But that’s only one small part of the process, as
Audubon’s involvement in the Pollinator Working Group suggests.
“It’s a difficult process to pass a
bill, but passage doesn’t change anything,” Kerr said. “We need to continue to
advocate for full and proper implementation of the bills that we work to get
passed. Almost always the bill is asking a state agency to do something, and
the agencies are all short-staffed and already have full plates.”
“And just because it was our
priority and we were able to convince the legislature to make it a priority,”
she added, “that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a state agency priority or that
they have the funding for what we want them to do.”
For example, Audubon fought for two
years for passage of amendments to Rhode Island’s Green Buildings Act to add metrics
for ensuring that the property around new state buildings is as sustainably
designed as the buildings themselves. The bill that passed gives the state an
opportunity to pilot test the new metrics on four projects.
“We are now part of the
implementation team, helping the state successfully select and implement the
four projects” said Kerr. “Once a bill passes, advocates always think about how
we can help the state be successful.”
The same was true of the Resilient
Rhode Island Act, which established greenhouse gas reduction goals and programs
aimed at state agency coordination. Advocates like Kerr who worked to get the
bill passed continue to remain engaged to make sure that the state does what
the bill directed.
“The point is, our job is not to
pass bills. Our job is to make the environment better in Rhode Island,” Kerr
said. “Simply passing bills doesn’t do it.”
The good news is that Audubon is highly respected at the
State House, thanks to decades of advocacy by the late executive director Al
Hawkes, Marks and others long before Kerr was hired. While Kerr has been an
environmental advocate for more than 25 years, she was pleased to see...
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