Thanks for your reply. I think I might have introduced a bit of confusion here, as I'm making two points in a bit of an implicit way.

My first point is a bit of a refutation of the OP. It's basically the same as you've heard from any other political non-profit: "you can make a difference with just 5 minutes of your time! It doesn't matter if you're broke and struggling under late-stage capitalism just like the rest of us, your voice matters!"

There is both truth, and deception in that statement.

The truth is that small actions do make a difference. I've seen the link between how getting more contacts from my district to congressional offices helps me set meetings with the office. Anyone can pick up the phone and call Congress, it doesn't take a special skill, or money. Similarly with the postcard thing -- if someone felt like doing it, and if postcards & stamps were provided by the group, it wouldn't take a lot of extra time or money to do like a couple dozen, and I'm sure that person would feel more involved and empowered. I'm not trying to say everyone should do it, just that it takes less effort than you might think to make a real noticeable difference, even if you're struggling under late-stage capitalism.

The deception is thinking that it is enough for a movement to rely solely on these actions as a strategy. It is not enough on its own and leads to slacktivism, and is probably part of why most of us have felt so burnt out for so long on the idea of making changes -- we've been burned before (remember Net Neutrality?)

Therefore, my second point, and the reason that I shared a bit more about what I've been doing, is that I'm trying to give people a little bit of hope. I'm trying to build on the first point (it's easier than you think to take a small action). And what I'm building on that to say is: "don't worry that you (person who has very little time/money to contribute) aren't doing enough, because I'm here to pick up the rest. I've got this. We are a team, so pass the ball to me, and put me in the play".

What I'm trying to say is, a movement needs both pieces. Again, movements that have the first (popular pressure) but lack the second (volunteer development, engagement, active lobbying, etc.) tend to fizzle out like the Net Neutrality movement.

On the other hand, some movements have heavily dedicated and invested volunteers, but can't convince an average American to do things like regularly contact their representative. The feedback we get in my state from congressional offices is something like 100 contacts per month, every month on a particular issue will cause them to start taking it more seriously. Without meeting that threshold, a movement will never get traction no matter how enthusiastic their core volunteers are. Nobody will take them seriously.

I'm sure that many will be thrown away, and the cynical take sounds logical at face value. But that's not what the data shows:

https://www.environmentalvoter.org/results

Postage costs were spread around among volunteers. Some people have more time than money, some have more money than time. Personally, I paid for about 250 postcard stamps, and got a roll of 100 from the group. Others got more or less rolls of stamps.

Cynicism among folks who care about climate change is understandable, and widespread, which is a big motivation for sending postcards targeting climate voters. The data shows that we tend to vote less than the average voter. If we really want the political changes that we say we do, then we need to show it and take action.

It's entirely possible that it is too late to do anything about climate change. But if we act as if it's true then we make it a certainty, where now it is only a probability.