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The Wave

Published by , October 25th, 2008 Government , United States Closed

I was inspired by the recent post on the first 100 days of LBJ and FDR. In case you missed it, both used a strong majority and strong vision to quickly legislate a series of far reaching policies and programs which shaped our country for decades.

For 8 years, or for 28 years, the progressive movement – the people who take responsibility for the challenges of the world and work to address the most pressing among them – have struggled to make incremental changes and fought hard for partial victories. It is becoming more and more possible that we will have a political window in which a lot will happen.

Thousands of Power Vote leaders across the country, the mountain justice community, 1 sky, we, breakthrough, the pickens army and every other group that has an eye for national policy is working towards this window.  Here are a few of those priorities as I see them.

  1. A comprehensive federal energy plan that includes a) an investment of 500 billion or more over 5 years for RnD and deployment of renewables/efficiency/infrastructure, b) 100% cap and auction carbon credits to hit 80% by 2030, c) green jobs training programs that truly target those that need the jobs the most, and ensure a just transition for those employed by fossil fuel industries.
  2. Creation of a Green Corp trained in energy efficiency technology and community organizing to carry out an overhaul of our national housing stock and given leeway to creatively pursue more advanced energy solutions.  This would rival the CCC on scale, the Obama campaign on organizational intelligence, and the climate movement in terms of the bold change we ask our communities to make.
  3. Immediate moratorium on all new fossil fuel power plants, with provisions to drastically reduce fossil fuel use in other industry (cement, steel, etc)
  4. Leadership in the global community.  We need to transfer technology to developing countries that makes it far easier to build clean energy than dirty, that empowers rural areas to become energy and economically self-sufficient instead of dependent on globalized cities.

Is this too much to ask for? I don’t think so.

About Morgan


Morgan is a wandering climate activist, a job well suited to the editorial board of this site. He organized at Williams College until his aprubt and unfortunate graduation in 2008. There, he was a Chinese major, student body co-president and one of the leaders of Thursday Night Group, the campus climate action group. Since graduating, in no particular order, Morgan has worked on a community energy efficiency campaign in western Mass, co-directed NH SPROG for the SSC and worked on Power Vote in Cleveland. He spent traveled in China, networking with youth climate activists and learning about the solar hot water business. He worked on Long Island for a solar and wind company doing home evaluations and sales. And he spent the better part of a year in DC at the Avaaz Action Factory causing trouble for a good cause.

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