Students at Pacific University, Linfield College, and University of Portland are organizing to generate 100 phone calls to Oregon’s US senators within approximately one week, asking them to push for a strong American Clean Energy and Security Act. Though both Senator Ron Wyden and Senator Jeff Merkley are likely to vote for whatever version of the ACES bill is finally adopted, we’re pushing them to take up a leadership role in crafting a bill that:
• Grants at least as much funding to clean energy technologies as to fossil fuel industries
• Devotes $15 billion per year to clean energy research and development – a goal set by President Obama
• Preserves Environmental Protection Agency authority to regulate global warming pollution under the Clean Air Act
• Ensures we make real reductions in pollution here in the US, instead of buying pollution “offsets” in other countries
With 1Sky pushing to generate 10,000 calls to senate offices nationwide in the next two weeks, the efforts of these three Oregon colleges – participating in the call-in week as the first major project of the Northwest Fossil Action Fall campaign – fit right in with the national push to produce a strong ACES bill that helps steer the US to a clean energy future. Now college campuses across the country need to duplicate these efforts.
A lot of activists are saying that the current version of ACES is a weak bill that will do little to curb US global warming emissions. Well, they’re probably right; but the only way that’s going to change is if we get down to work and organize young people to contact their senators with the same energy that brough hundreds of thousands of us together to sign the Power Vote pledge last fall. Pacific University, Linfield, and University of Portland are doing now what colleges across the nation need to do over the coming month: organizing students to call their senators through tabling events, call-in get-togethers, and more.
Hats off to the student organizers at these three campuses making this happen. Now, want a stronger ACES bill? Get some folks together, reserve a table on-campus, and start chalking up the phone calls!
More updates on the Oregon call-in coming later this week.
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I just wanted to say that it is really great the folks are getting organized. Having worked in government, I know that the phone calls are significantly lopsided against us. However, phone calls aren’t all that effective. My suggestion would be to set up a face-to-face meeting with either the Senator (not likely) or their staff (much more likely). I hope that you are able to turn this event into a broader campaign. Our school (Macalester) is in the process of setting up meetings with our Senators as I write this.
Great thinking, Robert. As it happens, in-person meetings with our senators’ field representatives are already in the works, as a follow-up to the call-in week. Phone calls are only the beginning!