Cavechat.org

Here you go--time to act for what we care about.

https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions/! ... c/YX8Bjp3F

JSDunham wrote:Here you go--time to act for what we care about.

https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions/! ... c/YX8Bjp3F

John,
Thank you for the opportunity to sign your petition to keep caves open. I am number 5 on the list. Looks like a long way to go to meet the goal of 25,000
signatures. That is over twice the number of members in the NSS. Good luck meeting the goal. I suggest you expand awareness of the petition by posting
it's existence on every conservation and/or caving website you know of. Of the 10,000 NSS members currently active, probably fewer than half of those
ever read Cave Chat. Maybe you can get your petition put on the front of the main NSS home page. Maybe David Grimes would be willing to help if he
really is interested in keeping caves open.

There are also other cave sites that would be appropriate for your petition such as Caving News (http://cavingnews.com/) and TAG-NET (http://hiddenworld.net/tag-net/) (http://hiddenworld.net/tag-net/subscribe.php). I'm sure there are others. FACEBOOK may be the absolute
best way to acquire the necessary signatures as there are more people on FACEBOOK than probably any other online social network site. Literally
millions of users, many of who may want to sign your petition simply to keep their rights from disappearing due to groups like the CBD.

I did try to sigh the petition, but at appears that the site is down for maintenance. If you hit the help link anyway. I will see if I get an email back from them so I can finish the signing. It is a good reason for the petition. John H. is correct, asking in many other conservation sites will get great response. TAGnet will net a few, but many on there would rather caves stay closed. Facebook has some interesting conservation pages that would certainly get some responses. I am very interested in what would happen if the required signatures are met, and what the courts will do?

Posting here on Cavechat is a good start but I also agree with everyone here, a lot more needs to be done to get 25000 signatures.

It is not impossible and really not even a stretch in my opinion. In order to succeed we will need an all out viral campaign, spreading the word through every caving site possible and on all the social networking sites. It would probably be a good idea to setup a simple webpage directing people to the petition while providing a few more details then you can put on the petition website.

I will help out in anyway I can just let me know what you need. We have over 6000 members here on Cavechat currently so posting here is definitely a great start. You can also use the Facebook like button on John's post to share with your friends and help start the campaign.

EDIT: I did post a link to the petition on the Cavechat Facebook page as well.

Signed.

Here is a short URL if anyone is have trouble: http://wh.gov/UCD
To sign, you have to register with the White House petition website.

I know we don't have the numbers in NSS membership. That's why I'm also asking anyone who can to spread this around as far as possible. I have started e-mailing college outdoor programs and outing clubs that list caving on their websites and did about 150 today. I will continue to pass it on as much as I can. It may not work--but hey, it's a minimal effort to sign and maybe it'll raise some awareness for the people who get it that there are multiple sides.

Maybe we should start sending it to all the reporters who have reported on WNS, too...

Signed.. and passing it on

A well written press release would likely be a good move. Then you could distribute it to cavers everywhere to submit to local papers and online newspapers and websites. There are lots of news sites that allow you to submit your own press releases and after review they are usually approved and posted online. Yahoo news works in a similar fashion. With a little work and a lot of time you could really make this go completely viral.

Maybe if you know some good video editors you could put together a short informational/entertaining video for Youtube.

Also, I signed earlier today.

I see that the petition is now up to 93. I signed at 5. Things are happening. John, I think you may have started a tidal wave. They start small and grow.
See if you can get it on Facebook. Others have also made good suggestions. But we need a huge amount of signings to have an impact on the
President of the United States. CBD only needs their clout and money. We need honest opinions and petition signers. Keep at it.

Your right tncaver, everyone who supports this needs to send this to all their Facebook friends even if they are not cavers. Lots of people will support this because they do not like the government limiting how they can use public property, others will support it to support their caver friends and some will even support it because they did the research themselves and came to the only reasonable conclusion.

Without everyone sharing this petition there is no hope so keep on spreading the word everyone. I also wouldn't expect the same momentum over the weekend since a lot of people are out caving or doing other things so don't get discouraged if the signatures slow down over the next couple days.

Kudos for making the effort John. I was discussing this with another caver today. The point was raised that the wording of the petition is basically worthless to anybody who doesn't already understand what WNS is, and what this petition is really about. In it's current forum it is written more like a direct rebuttal to another recent (and much longer-worded) petition, but there is no direct reference or correlation to that other petition. I realize brief is usually better, but in this case Joe Public really needs a cover letter to explain the problem more thoroughly from the caver's responsible-stewardship-of-caves perspective.

I did sign the petition, and shared the link via Facebook along with a substantial explanation for those who aren't already in the know.

There was a pretty nice explanatory article listed with the petition reference on Caving News as well. I also have been trying to explain the petition a little clearer to my non-caving friends.

This is one of the reasons I mentioned setting up an informative website for the petition with a thorough explanation. I did just realize today that the petition must have 25,000 signatures by sometime in May so really there is not a lot of time to start over and I don't know if the wording can be changed on the petition website.

I signed it and when I put it on my FB page I explained WHY I thought it was important, not just that I thought it was important.

319 and passing it on.

I'm pushing it pretty hard. It seems taking the "even if you don't give a shit, it takes 5 minutes" route works the best on my non-caver aquaintences... Whatever works, just get some sigs. I've noticed the number of signatures can grow VERY quickly.