It’s Getting Hot In Here

The below article is an attempt to use a satirical historical comparison to demonstrate how we have drifted away from moral messages that convey our values and the seriousness of the situation in favor of treating a societal evil (emitting greenhouse gases) as a trade-able commodity that has a rightful place in our society.

“Cap and Trade Bill Passes House, Democrats Attack as Assault on Economy”

June 26th, 1859

The United States House of Representatives, in a victory for the nascent Republican Party, narrowly voted to substantially reduce the amount of slaves in the United States by the turn of the century.

“This is a great victory for freedom and equality” said Rep. Daniel Webster, Chairman of the Committee on Commerce of the House and lead author of the bill.  ”By the end of the century, about 80% of the slaves alive right now will be free.”  Webster worked closely with long-term ally Henry Clay to draft the legislation. Continue reading ‘Sacrificing the Moral Highground: A Satirical Article on How We Got to Where We Are’

Posted on behalf of Jay O’Hara, Co-Coordinator of the Mass Climate Summer Program of Mass Power Shift (MAPS).

Wow, Waxman-Markey narrowly passed last week; truly a historic occasion.  This is cause to have a  celebration – a chamber of congress has finally passed a bill aimed at reducing carbon emissions.  The question of course is: what happens next?  For many, that question is simple to answer – move on to the Senate to try to get it strengthened and sent on to the President.

Here in Massachusetts, we have a different approach.  The window of opportunity we have leading up to Copenhagen is too important to miss.  This summer 19 college and graduate students are devoting two months to bike through the state in Mass Climate Summer, a project of Massachusetts Power Shift, building a bigger, bolder, and better climate movement.

If 388ppm is leading to wildly accelerating feedback loops in the arctic (tundra methane and carbon release, rapidly heating ocean endangering Greenland’s ice sheet, etc.) it’s not too hard to realize we need to have a number lower than that, something around say, 350.

But how do we get there from here?

Continue reading ‘Shifting Gears, Building a Movement: Biking through Massachusetts to bring it to the grassroots’

On Wednesday, June 10th, Representative Nikki Tsongas (D-MA) officially congratulated both houses of the Massachusetts State Legislature for passing a resolution written by Mass Power Shift student leaders in partnership with State Senator Marc Pacheco and Representative Frank Smizik in a statement in the congressional record.  

In her statement, Representative Tsongas highlighted the efforts of Mass Power Shift in helping secure the passage of the resolution that called on congress to RePower America with 100% Clean Electricity in the next 10 years.  MAPS Campaign Co-Coordinator Nick Dahlberg, a rising senior at Boston University, expressed his gratitude to Representative Tsongas: “We really appreciate the Congresswoman’s recognition of our hard work and persistence.  It’s good to know that congress has officially received word about our efforts here in Massachusetts.”  His fellow Campaign Coordinator, Meredith Annex, a rising junior at Williams College, adds: “But we could not have succeeded without strong leadership in the State House.  We are really grateful for the partnership our network has established with Senator Pacheco and Representative Smizik, and look forward to continuing our work with them in the years ahead.”

Massachusetts Power Shift is continuing forward with its campaign towards 100% Clean Electricity within the next 10 years, seeing it as a serious solution to a serious crisis.  This summer, the network has twenty students bicycling around the state, spreading awareness about the climate emergency, and the 100% Goal.  They are also proud to partner with students at Clark University, who are hosting Summer of Solutions – Worcester.  Stay tuned to itsgettinghotinhere for updates!

For more stories on the RePower America Resolution and other Mass Power Shift successes, please visit www.masspowershift.org/media

Combining Urgency with Hope will get us to Victory.  Compromise and long-term, complex goals will not.

The situation:
Right now, congress is struggling to pass a carbon cap and trade bill that will reduce our emissions 80% by the year 2050. President Obama, congressional leaders, and even environmental advocates are talking about needing to compromise – doing things like giving away pollution permits for free to dirty energy, providing public money for the mythological “clean coal,” and weakening the 2020 targets well below the already absurdly weak 20% below 1990 levels. They say such compromises are the only way we’ll get a bill passed.

Why we’re losing:

Take a look at our message:

Global warming is a major problem that will be disastrous for our country. So we need you to call your congressperson, and tell them to vote for a bill that will implement a cap and trade system that will reduce our emissions 80% by 2050. (Insert more detailed, complex, techno-babble here about auction permits, renewable portfolio standards, CCS, REDD, and the like).

See the problem? This message is horrible, and its making us lose for two primary reasons:

1) We’re proposing a band-aid for a gunshot wound, so people think we’ve got a paper cut.

There is a cognitive dissonance in our messaging. Our proposed solutions aren’t as serious as the problem, so people think the problem isn’t serious.

Continue reading ‘Why We’re Losing (And How to Win!)’

Close to two hundred students and community members came from across Massachusetts to rally for 100% Clean Electricity in 10 Years outside the Massachusetts State House in downtown Boston yesterday.

The Massachusetts Power Shift-sponsored event had a celebratory mood, after the Massachusetts State Senate passed a RePower America Resolution on Thursday, calling upon the federal government to RePower America with 100% Clean Electricity in 10 Years.  

The resolution, drafted by members of Massachusetts Power Shift, will head to the Massachusetts State House sometime next week.  Assuming it passses as expected on the house side, copies of the joint resolution will be sent to Massachusetts’s Congressional Delegation, relevant cabinet members, and President Obama.

The RePower America Rally was co-sponsored by several community organizations, including the Massachusetts Climate Action Network, the Massachusetts Coalition for Healthy Communities, the Massachusetts Green Jobs Coalition, the Massachusetts Chaper of the Sierra Club, and Clean Water Action.

Continue reading ‘Hundreds Rally for 100% Clean Electricity in 10 Years’

Tomorrow night, thousands of students will gather around their own personal computers and in larger viewing parties to hear the words of one of the leading climate campaigners in the world.  Al Gore will probably say many things, including thanking us for our work on Power Vote, asking us to mobilize around Get-Out-the-Vote, and perhaps even hint at the need for Obama to win the presidency.  I fully agree with all of these points, and believe them to be important.

But Gore will (or at least should) say one more thing:  that we should rally behind his goal to RePower America to obtain 100% of our Electricity from Clean Sources by 2018. The Massachusetts State Network (Massachusetts Power Shift) is rallying behind this goal.  We encourage others to join us.

I am writing to lend him some strong pre-emptive support for this policy ask, and compare it to the ask that has risen to prominence among many climate change activists – 80% reductions below 1990 levels by 2050.

Our Generation’s Policy Demands for Climate Solutions

More specifically, I will lay out:

A) What we want in a target,

B) Why 80% reductions below 1990 levels by 2050 fails in almost all of these criteria; and

C) Why 100% Carbon-Free Electricity by 2018 meets almost all of these criteria.

I will then hope to alleviate any remaining concerns by addressing:

D) The Political Feasibility and Technological Feasibility of the 100% by 2018 goal.

Continue reading ‘What Al Gore Will Say and Why We Should Listen: Answering a Generational Call to Action’

www.masspowershift.org     REGISTER TODAY – EARLY REGISTRATION CLOSES MARCH 1ST!!!

This past weekend, fifty students and young profressionals from across Massachusetts descended upon the University of Massachusetts-Amherst to continue the planning efforts for Mass Power Shift.  This second planning meeting drew upon the strength of an earlier planning meeting, which saw 70 students, community members, and young professionals from around the state attend.  (Amherst is a bit tougher to get to for Boston area students). For the second meeting in a row, the excitement of the planning team was captured on film by a professional documentary maker.

 Our planning efforts are well on our way, with space confirmed at Boston University (including the Track & Field Center with seating for up to 5,000 and 50 classrooms for workshops and strategy sessions) and on the Boston Common for our exciting rally Soul Purpose Live, an event we are partnering with local band Melodeego to put on.  We’ve already scored our first press hit, and have successfully engaged environmental and community organziations from across the state to join in our planning efforts, including the Sierra Club, Clean Power Now, Clean Water Action, MassPIRG, Massachusetts Interfaith Power & Light, the American Instittue of Architects – Central Massachusetts, the Worcestor Immigrant Coalition, and many many more!  Workshops are getting confirmed and our planning team continues to grow.

 While we are targetting our recruitment at folks within the state as we will be lobbying in favor of the Global Warming Solutions Act on the House side (the Senate is voting today on this important 80% by 2050 bill), students and community members from anywhere and everywhere are welcome to attend.  For more information, check out our website at www.masspowershift.org or contact Craig Altemose at craig@masspowershift.org

Widely reported in the news today is the fact that Hilary Clinton’s campaign “planted” a question in the audience.  What was the question the Clinton campaign was so eager to have asked?

“As a young person, I’m worried about the long-term effects of global warming. How does your plan combat climate change?”

Tuesday, November 6th, 2007.  The DAY AFTER POWER SHIFT.  The day after we take to the nation’s capital to demand action on climate change, the leading democratic candidate for president has a question about youth and climate change planted at her Iowa rally. 

The coverage of Presidential elections in the American media is sadly more about appearance than substance.  I’ve scoured the web looking for her answer to this question.  All I can find is this:

“ Well, you should be worried.  You know, I find as I travel around Iowa that it’s usually young people that ask me about global warming.”

NONE of the sources I find actually go into her plan to combat climate change.  NONE.  OK.  A question was planted.  Clearly she had something she wanted the people to hear.  What was it?  The press didn’t seem to think that was important.

 It seems like this might be a solid opportunity for some Letters to the Editor.

 The press missed the real story:  youth are demanding climate solutions, and politicians are paying attention.  Let’s help them see that.

Remember, Remember

The 5th of November

The Day the Youth Cried Out

I Know of No Way

Power Shift Lobby Day

Will Ever Be Forgot

This week marked the first national gathering of visionary leaders in the Campus Climate Movement. No fewer than 285 College and University Presidents have now signed up to the Presidents Climate Commitment, pledging themselves to 100% Climate Neutrality. They came together to Washington, D.C. on Tuesday to congratulate each other on their boldness, and prepare for the road ahead. (A similar gathering of students – at a much larger scale – will take place October 19th-22nd…be sure to check it out!)

I am proud to say that the President of my undergraduate institution, Eckerd College, is among those to have signed the agreement. Unfortunately, my graduate school, Harvard University (along with Stanford, Yale, and Princeton), have shown a tremendous lack of leadership and vision, especially given the enormous amount of resources at their disposal.

Continue reading ‘How Real Presidents Show Leadership….’