Cross-posted from Grist.
As an activist who has been arrested for civil disobedience, organized national climate mobilizations, protested outside of coal plants and worked for Greenpeace, I am calling on my friends and colleagues to fight for the Kerry-Boxer “Clean Energy Jobs Act” and a strong global treaty in Copenhagen. On Monday Senator Barbara Boxer and Energy Secretary Steven Chu said there is a chance of passing a climate bill in Congress before the international talks in Copenhagen this December. Many of us have spent the better part of a decade preparing for this moment. While supporters of the Kerry-Boxer legislation fend off well-financed attacks by the fossil fuel industry, they simultaneously face opposition from progressive voices within the climate movement.
It’s time for radicals and moderates to come together around what are for. Being right isn’t enough. Each of us must be loud and strong and boisterous in defense of our cause. Oppose offsets and giveaways to the fossil fuel industry. But let us fight hardest for what we believe in – a strong climate bill and a stronger global treaty – than what we fear.
In November 2000 I had the privilege to be one of 200 young people from the U.S. and Africa invited by Greenpeace to lobby delegates at the UN Climate Negotiations in The Hague, Netherlands. We stood below a stage listening to four middle-aged Inuit women, who had traveled outside of their homeland for the first time. They were coming from Alaska, a place where winter temperatures had increased 6 degrees since 1950. Fighting back tears we listened as the women told us of men falling through melting ice while traversing age-old caribou hunting routes. They spoke of dwindling food supplies from altered seasons and seeing mosquitoes in a region that had never known such things. They felt the climate crisis first-hand and were reaching out to us in partnership.
Instead of leaving us in fear, the women joined together in a traditional dance. At that moment we knew what we were fighting for: a strong global climate treaty – to preserve hope, love, community, tradition. The lesson for me: in a crisis, fight hardest for what you believe in, not what you fear. While we should never be afraid to oppose weaknesses and flaws in a policy, they should not rule our agenda or define our movement.
Nine years later there is still no cap on carbon pollution and the stakes have risen. CO2 has risen from 369 ppm in 2000 to 385 ppm in 2008. Progressive opponents of the Kerry-Boxer Clean Energy Jobs Act include Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, and the recently-formed Climate SOS coalition. The Energy Action Coalition, a youth clean energy alliance that I co-founded in 2004 while serving as Greenpeace Campus Organizer, has struck a largely positive chord on the climate bill. However, several of the 50 member organizations are part of Climate SOS lobbying swing Senators to filibuster a federal climate law. These voices have real power and legitimate concerns.
Real Power
In 2008 Energy Action Coalition mobilized over 300,000 youth to sign a pledge to vote for candidates supporting a clean energy economy. Responding to student pressure, over 650 college and university presidents have committed to eliminating carbon pollution on their campuses. Students in Appalachia and around the country have fought side by side with fence-line communities against new coal plants, stopping several. The call for 80% carbon reductions by 2050 landed in Barack Obama’s climate platform and was inserted into the federal climate bill following a youth-led “Step It Up” campaign in 2007. If united, the climate movement has the power to pass a federal climate law and a strong global treaty in Copenhagen.
Legitimate Concerns
Those who follow climate science and support people on the front lines of this crisis are frustrated. By now we should have built a unified movement so powerful that in policy debates we wrangled over penalties for Big Oil as if they were Big Tobacco instead of capitulating about carbon offsets and tolerating coal subsidies. We know that the climate bill’s carbon reduction targets are not strong enough to prevent dangerous tipping points. Many polluters will buy carbon credits rather than reduce their own emissions. We will continue a long trend of wasting tax money on false energy solutions like “clean coal”, offshore drilling, and nuclear power. This is unfortunate – and we should make it clear that we do not support these things and will fight to change them. However, the consequences of inaction are much higher.
Bold actions are needed now more than ever. On July 8th, Greenpeace activists put their lives on the line, hanging a giant banner on Mt. Rushmore that reminded President Obama of his obligation to lead: “America Honors Leaders, Not Politicians. Stop Global Warming.” The President and leaders in Congress will only stick their necks out far enough if we come together to make them act.
The truth is Kerry-Boxer, by itself, will not solve the enormity of our climate issues. No matter the outcome, we will have work left to do. Nevertheless, Kerry-Boxer is an important step forward and its overall impact will be overwhelmingly positive.
Because of a four-month fight from a coalition of civil rights and labor groups led by Green For All, the Clean Energy Jobs Act includes important equity provisions. These provisions would provide access to quality green jobs and job training for under-served communities through funding for the Green Jobs Act and a first-of-its-kind Green Construction Careers Demonstration Project. More than words, the climate bill represents legal action that will force change.
- The declining cap on carbon will send an undeniable signal to banks and venture capitalists that carbon is not the future.
- The playing field for renewables and energy efficiency will begin to level out with new standards and new markets.
- Working class people and people of color in every state will gain access to middle class careers in the green economy.
- Other countries will know that the United States is serious about carbon reduction and will race ever faster toward clean technologies and stronger policies.
- The climate movement will have serious political and legal backing when fighting new coal power plants and working for green collar jobs and zero carbon communities.
There is a principle that says to change people’s hearts you must first meet them where they are at, not where you would want them to be. As much as we would like to believe everybody in America is part of the climate movement, it is not the case. People want clean energy and they want change, but they are afraid of a weak economy and rising energy bills. An army of powerful, moneyed forces with short-term interests is playing on peoples’ fears to kill any action on climate change.
In this defining moment in our history, I am calling on fellow climate activists to fight for a federal climate law and a strong global treaty in Copenhagen. Let us be a generation of “Yes we can” instead of “We should not.” If noise gets attention, let our noise be solution-rich. Let’s win real change for real people and build upon each success as a foundation for something better.
Thank you Josh. If there was ever a time to work for victories and build momentum and movement, it is now. This is really tough stuff and there’s a shit-ton of discussion about how we actually bring about change.
I had dinner with an old professor last night who researches carbon sinks, reforestation and indigenous rights in Africa. He was pretty pessimistic about the ability to have any progress in Copenhagen. He said that programs would remain under funded, politicians would still punt this around, and that maybe something could happen next year or the year after. And he observed, rightly so, that there needs to be a massive civil society rise up to hold our leaders accountable and demand a lot more. I said, yeah, we’re trying to do that, its freakin’ hard.
It is hard. Its one of the hardest things that anyone has ever tried to fight for. It means a new system of global accountability. It means a new bottom-line for businesses. It means acknowledging that our security is based more upon cooperation than force.
My professor wasn’t very optimistic, but I am. Maybe that’s why young people are so often at the lead in the charge for change. We’re able to stay optimistic longer than older people, take on more, and get shit done.
Josh,
Thank you for writing this, and especially for sharing your story of the moment you realized what you — and we all – are fighting for. The moment we realize that “not making perfect the enemy of the good” is not merely a slogan is the moment we understand whose real, flesh-and-blood lives are at stake from inaction.
And thank you, both Josh and Morgan, for giving empathy to how truly difficult and confusing it is to know what to do, and what to advocate for or against, in these times.
I’d love to hear further dialogue on this from other voices in the movement.
I agree that the “perfect should not be the enemy of the good.” But I don’t really think this is even a “good” bill. Our emissions reductions targets have been scorned by Germany, the UK and India. I’d like the US to be able to take something to Copenhagen that will show us to be a nation taking real leadership! From an on-the-ground standpoint, the giveaways that would increase coal mining don’t look good to the folks who face living with mountaintop removal or open-pit mining, and the grandfathering of dirty coal plants aren’t helping folks who live within breathing distance of them. Not to mention the threat of bargaining away EPA authority over CO2!
That said, I agree that this is an extraordinarily complex issue, and I respect everyone who is working so hard on it. In my opinion, we shouldn’t be taking the scraps that are handed to us, we should be demanding a stronger bill NOW. Not “well, we’d like it to be stronger but… we’ll take it anyway.” Polls show that the majority of Americans want a climate bill. We ARE a strong movement with lots of amazing voices, and that’s not a position that showcases that strength.
Just a reminder. This is the Power Vote platform that I and over 300,000 other young Americans signed (and which you mention as the source of the Energy Action Coalition’s real power). I can respect an appeal to political pragmatism. But please try to square the principles the youth climate movement purports to stand for with the legislation you are asking them to rally around, the bills passed by the House or now moving forward in the Senate, where “regulated” firms will be able to purchase so many offsets they can continue on their merry way with business-as-usual practices and pollution for at least another decade, where the bill’s “progressive” champion John Kerry pens an op ed saying we’re going to expand offshore drilling, restart the nuclear industry, and make the U.S. “the Saudi Arabia of clean coal,” and where investments in clean energy are just a tiny fraction of what someone like the Apollo Alliance calls for, just a few billion per year for truly clean sources (and billions more for CCS and likely nukes in the Senate bill)…
THE POWER VOTE PLATFORM:
1. GREEN JOBS NOW
Invest in millions of new green jobs, strengthen the American middle class and create new pathways out of poverty for millions more. By retooling our factories, revamping our schools, and rebuilding our communities, we can create a sustainable, just, and prosperous future for all.
2. INVEST IN A CLEAN ENERGY ECONOMY
Unleash American ingenuity and launch a new wave of affordable clean energy technology. We need more federal and private investments in public transit, ultra-efficient vehicles, and renewable energy like wind and solar.
3. CUT GLOBAL WARMING POLLUTION NOW
To ensure our health, prosperity, and security, scientists tell us we must rapidly drive US global warming pollution towards zero. We can and must accomplish this transition to a clean energy future in an equitable and just manner.
4. END OUR DEPENDENCE ON DIRTY ENERGY
Enact an immediate moratorium on new coal, oil, natural gas, and nuclear plant construction and infrastructure, while phasing out existing plants and fossil fuel extraction and ensuring a just transition for the workforce and communities
5. RE-ENGAGE AS A LEADER IN THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
Global warming requires a global solution. We must shift the focus of American foreign policy from military intervention to international cooperation and join the world in pursuing peace and international development, thereby offering assistance to vulnerable and impacted communities.
6. TAKE DIRTY MONEY OUT OF POLITICS
It’s time to make government accountable to “We the People.” Put voters first and refuse campaign contributions from dirty energy interests.
Carrie: Demanding a stronger bill NOW is exactly what we should be doing and what many people are doing. The point is, not enough are precisely because of the problems they see. I think Josh is trying to encourage more people to demand a stronger bill now. I would hope its possible to say that and *push* rather than *trample on* and *dismiss* allies in this fight.
Thanks for the thoughtful post Josh. Like all of us I’m torn by the moment we now face. We’ve all collectively been building towards the day when federal climate action and an international climate treaty are in reach for years. But as that moment of truth gets so close, I’m more and more struck by the realization that we have failed.
Even in the “success” you describe, we risk undermining nearly everything we said we stood for (as “PowerVoter2008″ reminds us). In calling “victory” a bill that establishes a framework for the next decade or so that will deliver very little real change in the U.S. energy system while further expanding and entrenching the coal, nuclear and oil industries and doing very very little to spur clean energy, I fear we’ve lost sight of what we’re fighting for, or at least what victory really looks like.
In my darker thoughts, which are more frequent than ever these days, I also fear that there is no real path to victory left at this point. We’re too committed. We’ve given far far too much away already. And the deadline for action in Copenhagen is all but past. We of course went to battle with the army we had ready, which was apparently not large enough by a long shot. We lacked a real coalition of clean energy interests, and so our Congressional “leaders” instead did deals with the coal, oil, utility, gas, and nuclear industries and called them our “friends.” We went to battle with a strategy dictated by leading environmental groups, which was destined for failure from the start it would seem. The question I find myself wrestling with now, more and more, is not how do we “win” in the next two months, but in what way should we fail, and how does that course of action best set us up to salvage as much power and momentum for the fight ahead. Whether a bill passes or dies, whether Copenhagen yields progress or not, it seems apparent to all, that we will face a continued fight to truly secure a clean, just and prosperous energy future. How do we best prepare for that fight ahead? Sorry for the depressing yet honest thoughts. And thanks for pushing ahead. In solidarity,
Jesse Jenkins
That ‘is not how do we win, but in what way should we fail’ really resonates with me, but I’m not discouraged by it. This has always been an uphill fight with no guarantee of success. As federal climate bill and an international negotiation are still not the end all be all of climate work. They are important steps, but even once they go into place we need to be there to make sure they are implemented, kept from becoming corrupt and responsive to changing global climate and economic situations. The thing is, we need to work on this for the while to come and every change we make now makes it easier to make larger changes in the future.
Would we rather go to Copenhagen with nothing? With the United States still stuck in deadlock and unable to take any steps forward? For all that this bill is majorly flawed, it does represent a step forward. We’re trying. It may not be good enough yet, but we’re trying. And we have more momentum now than we have before – there is no guarantee that the momentum will continue if Kerry-Boxer dies in the Senate. Rather, the opposite is likely to happen. Without domestic plans in place, the Senate is very unlikely to sign a treaty which would then require changes in our energy use.
So what happens after this bill goes through Congress? What happens after Copenhagen? We won’t all suddenly have the solution and be able to go on vacation for a few months. We need to set ourselves up creatively so that we can still make progress. The tendency will be for some legislators to say “we just addressed climate, why are you asking us to do more?” So what are those things we can do that allow continued national maneuvering? We have the DOE, the EPA, the Transportation Bill, the allocation of funds for clean energy manufacturing, adjusting business codes to make our country and states more attractive to clean tech ventures, educational funding to train clean tech engineers and scientists, etc. There are a whole load of things that we will need to work on whether or not a Senate bill passes and whether or not a global treaty is developed. But these things will be a lot easier if we have some form of institutional commitment to clean energy.
Look. We need somebody to slap us in the face. They need to say something like, “Hey! It’s not your fault we don’t have a climate law yet. I know you’re frustrated, but we need you now. Corporations are finally starting to see the writing on the wall and are jockeying for position. We need the youth climate movement to get to the table and show us what a good first step looks like. Don’t tell us twenty different things. Demand a strong bill and hold the line on what’s most important.”
Let’s unite to pass a strong climate bill and global treaty. And let’s do it with our eyes wide open.
We have not failed yet. Our leaders have let us down. The moment we give into fear and stop fighting for what we believe in, we will have failed.
The end of Copenhagen should be day one of the clean and just energy future we seek. On day two, no matter what, we’ll have plenty of work left to do. But first, let’s come together for day one.
i duno, i’d rather call all radicals to unite for overthrowing the american government
..not.. support them? if you’re uniting over a politician and their apparent solutions to the mess they’ve created, you’ve lost the meaning of being a radical
“But these things will be a lot easier if we have some form of institutional commitment to clean energy.”
What commitment is that exactly?
This is a fascinating conversation, and clearly one from people who are trying their hardest to do the greatest good for the greatest number. There is some disagreement about the means, but all agree on the end of having a stable and just society for people here in America and across the world.
Jesse, I would like to push back against the idea that we have failed, though. To my knowledge, not a single mainstream environmental organization has yet tried to actually pass a truly science-based policy through congress. That is worth noting.
I believe a big part of the reason we have failed is because we have not tried. When we compromise, people doubt that we really believe as much as we claim to. If we are so quick to fold, then what we’re talking about is not that serious.
Also, I hate to break it to people, but passing a bill that the “Sierra Club” or “Greenpeace” says is a great bill is a MUCH HARDER ask of a swing state senator than passing a bill that the Sierra Club and Greenpeace say is too weak.
We would indeed be doing a service to the movement by speaking the truth about this bill, and doing a service to our allies in congress by coming out and declaring our opposition, and giving some breathing room to those who want to be in the middle.
If we want them to pass this sad excuse for a climate bill, then we should let them be in the middle, and pass this piece of garbage. Don’t make them be on the left to pass this piece of garbage.
My two cents,
-Craig