[gwbrooks]

Policy guy here. Big, broad brushstrokes:

* You can go bottom-up or top-down. Some theories of change and some movements focus on developing a critical mass of grassroots/voter/public support to make change happen; others focus on getting the technical/specific policy right and then finding (or creating) the political window for adoption. Sometimes, that takes months; other times, it takes decades. A good read on this concept would be anything walking you through the Overton Window.

* It's hard to overestimate the value of in-person, informed conversations, particularly if you're talking to local or state officials. Show up at the right time (i.e., not the morning something's being voted on) with factual considerations/arguments that aren't outside the law or what's possible. A local example of how not to do it: Showing up at the planning commission to bitch about a new project affecting your view (for example) when the city doesn't have anything on the books about protecting views.

* No politician anywhere ran on doing nothing -- if your proposed solution to something is to do nothing, you're pushing a big rock up a big hill. Better to recommend things that allow politicians to feel like they're taking action.