The normally picturesque reflecting pool on the National Mall was witness to a grisly scene today, as we floated fake corpses face-down in the shallow water. A water-borne banner reading “Obama, Climate Change Kills / Earn Your Prize in Copenhagen” floated amongst the bodies, symbolic of the 300,000+ annual climate-related deaths estimated by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s think tank.

CO2 Kills-Obama Earn Your Prize

The mass of bodies was nothing short of what appeared to be a devastating climate change induced crime scene.

The United States is posturing to take on more global responsibility with Obama now attending the final days of the Copenhagen climate talks [instead of just when it's convenient to also receive a Nobel Peace Prize]. While the conventional wisdom leading up to Copenhagen suggested that this climate conference was doomed to failure, Obama’s change in travel plans shed a new light on the potential for greater success.

As David Roberts with Grist commented, “Coming to Copenhagen at the climax of the talks, specifically to push negotiations “over the top,” as the White House statement says, is a risky move for Obama. He’s got skin in the game now; he’ll look foolish if he rides in at the last minute and fails to broker an agreement.”

Nobel Peace Prize Send Off at the Reflecting Pool

The move was attributed to recent climate commitments from China and India, and signals that a Real Deal is a possible outcome of the conference.

Unlike the casualties of climate change in the reflecting pool today, the treaty negotiations in Copenhagen are very much alive.

As the only Democratic Senator to vote “no” on the bill as it was marked up in the Environment and Public Works Committee, Baucus continues to mire progress in hearings that are antithetical to the success of the bill. Today featured industry and conservative lobbyists testifying before the Finance Committee on “Climate Change Legislation: Considerations for Future Jobs”. Included amongst the pro-nuclear and coal representatives was our friend Kenneth Green from AEI (side note: he remembered us interrupting him at the adaptation hearing. Success?)

Brad Johnson on Wonk Room called out Baucus on his indefensible submission to the “polluter lobbyists”, sharing the same sentiments as us that this hearing was supporting nothing more than the same empty rhetoric that has been spewed “time and time again for the past 10 years”.

The action factory shifted into high gear, deciding that we had to bring Finance Committee Senator’s attention to youth demands and constituent calls for global climate action.

John Kerry accepts our 350 tie

We arrived shortly before the hearing began, with some of us dressed in our now infamous Astroturf suits and others as real people demanding bold action on climate change from our leaders. As Senators approached the Finance Committee hearing room, our real people for global climate action approached the Senators, handing them a 350 tie and a glossy photo from a 350 international day of action in their respective home state.

We were lucky enough to have constituents in our group for conversations with Senator Cantwell (D-WA) and Kerry (D-MA), who both gladly accepted our pictures and ties. Kerry even scolded our Astroturfers, saying that there is already $10 million worth of provisions for the coal industry in the bill (yeah…great).

Action Factory takes on Senator Roberts

Not all Senators were as receptive, though. Senator Roberts (R-KS) took a tie but argued against wind turbines in defense of migratory birds (yes, we also thought we would never hear that misnomer of an argument again). We also caught Senator Baucus on his way out of the hearing, and while he gladly accepts money from dirty energy lobbyists would not take a 350 tie from us. After saying he “supported climate change”, we challenged him, asking if he supported bold action against climate change. His response is best summarized by the title of this post- a lot of talk behind inconsistent action.

Today’s Congressional hearing shone light on the fraudulent letters sent to three congressmen on behalf of Bonner & Associates just days before the vote on the House energy bill (ACES) this past summer.  In short, we investigated astroturfing. The unfortunate tactics employed by the opponents of clean energy to blatantly co-opt and misrepresent members of already marginalized communities- the NAACP, seniors, and women, amongst others – and undermined genuine grassroots efforts.

In the same way that big tobacco once masqueraded the toxicity of cigarettes, Bonner & Associates led elected officials to believe that the groups most effected by the unjust realities of climate change and dirty energy were against passing provisions in the House to stop climate change and create clean energy jobs.

While politics have never been pretty, there are certain lines you just don’t cross. Until today.

Three action factory fellows showed what today was really about: the coal lobby and their astroturf operation.  The few supporters of Bonner and Coal were sitting just to our right, undoubtedly sweating as Jack Bonner and Steve Miller (President of American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity) were tirelessly grilled by Sen. Ed Markey and Rep. Jay Inslee.

We couldn’t help but smile every time Rep. Inslee interrupted Jack Bonner, requesting for the umpteenth time that he simply answer the question about whether he told his employees to lie. Steve Miller was similarly full of hot air as he stumbled between “ums” and “uhs”, attempting to dig himself, and the coalition he represents, out of a significantly deep pit of lies.

Watch Jack Bonner lying under oath here and read more on Mother Jones:

It was suggested to Mr. Miller that in retribution for his company’s deceitful actions (and equally as harmful inaction) that he make an office visit to Senator Inhofe-a climate legislation obstructionist-lobbying for progressive climate legislation in the Senate. Or perhaps run a full page advertisement in a political publication supporting energy independence instead of clean coal technologies that don’t even exist. Hilarity ensued as both Bonner and Miller were left speechless by these suggestions, and the coal lobbyists to our right looked nervously at their feet.

While the legal penance of the Bonner & Associates “hoax” has yet to be determined, the action factory fellows visibly exposed the astroturf efforts of these companies, complete with signs reading “Coal Lobby Poisons Democracy”.

Until we can actually keep CO2 safely sequestered, we should keep the same big coal lobbying efforts locked away – and nonexistent.

Arriving to the location of our event, I grew excited seeing three different TV stations already set up and speaking with our media. The event grew larger as time passed, with more and more reporters looking to find out what had brought so many dedicated citizens to this park corner on a Monday afternoon.At 12:10 I put on my robe and crossed the street with our version of Gordon Brown (I wore the Merkel mask), and we met up with our President Obama and laid down in the middle of the park, snoring loudly while the world waits for international climate action. The photographers and cameras gathered around, clicking away so loudly that I wouldn’t have been able to sleep on the job even if I wanted. At 12:18 exactly the alarms sounded, and we were quickly surrounded by masses yelling “wake-up! climate action now!” Myself and the other two leaders rose to our feet, and instructed the crowd to call our Senators and our President, carrying out a literal call for strong climate action this December. We further thanked Gordon Brown for rising to this unmet challenge.

The media was as abundant as the participants, and we ended by walking to one of Pittsburgh’s historic and iconic bridges to take one last group photo. This event was covered by many media outlets including live TV broadcast which you can see here!

Our own footage of the event will be streamed in the global premier of The Age of Stupid tonight, another massive wake-up call event.

So much excitement, and to think- it’s only the beginning of the G20 week. Stay tuned and stay safe.

At noon tomorrow, scores will gather on the corner of 7th and Penn in downtown Pittsburgh, all with their alarm clocks set to 12:18. At that time, a cacophony of noise will sound, and the crowd will rush forward to the sleeping leaders–President Obama, Chancellor Merkel, President Medvedev, and Prime Minister Harper–who will be located in the middle of the brick square, sleeping on the job with their country’s

flags as blankets. The crowd will literally wake-up the G20 members and demand that they take bold action this week on climate policy that will lead us into a promising and productive Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this December [the last day of this being 12/18].

Immediately following the flash mob wake up, everyone gathered will place calls to our Senators in Washington, demanding that they gear up to work diligently on climate and energy policy this fall, thus making a loud and strong flash mob on Monday (along with the 2,000+ other wake up calls worldwide) more important than ever.

The action is promised to be a fun, exciting, and easy way to plug into the many events going on in Pittsburgh this week, and will last approximately 30 minutes.

Tomorrow’s going to be huge, all over the world. Our wake up call is one of over 2,000 events around the world. This amazing coordination happens through the Tck Tck Tck campaign, which you should read about here if you haven’t heard of it yet. Also check out Kevin Grandia of Desmogblog writing about just how big and lout this is going to be.

Part of the reason this even is so huge is that its paired with a global movie release. The scary view from 2050 about just how stupid we are acting right now as a the hilarious and chilling independent movie, the Age of Stupid.

As of Today, there are 77 days until Copenhagen, and the action is only going to keep on increasing.

Keep your eyes and twitter feeds on the lookout for the Senior Citizens March to end MTR and 350.org day of action.