It’s Getting Hot In Here

Today Boston Mayor Thomas “Mumbles” Menino announced a $63 million investment to retrofit 4300 public housing units. The plan trumps Chicago’s $43 million project as the nation’s largest energy efficiency investment in public housing.

Mayor Menino’s announcement comes after Massachusetts finalized a three-year plan to triple utility investments in energy efficiency. Boston and the State of Massachusetts are moving toward a clean energy future. But will it be enough?

An emerging coalition of faith, business, environmental, and workforce development groups are joining The Leadership Campaign in challenging the Massachusetts State Legislature to double-down on recent clean energy and energy efficiency investments by creating a task force to achieve 100% clean electricity by 2020. The campaign – The Commonwealth Challenge, launched on March 4th – is not your typical political initiative.

Continue reading ‘Commonwealth Challenge: Will Massachusetts Lead the Next American Revolution?’

A good friend (and talented organizer) recently told me that direct action wasn’t going to accomplish change on the scale that we need.  The point is that if we want national (and global) change, solutions need to be applied across the country, not in a piecemeal fashion.  For example, it’s a lot more efficient to fight for national vehicle mileage or emissions standards than trying to do the same thing state by state.  A national renewable standard would build on the successes of over half of the states in the US and apply to those states that for various reasons lack a renewable standard, creating market certainty for the growing but tenuous renewable energy sector.

Much can be accomplished through policy venues.  But we should not delude ourselves that policy alone will solve the problem.  Good policy is nothing without good implementation.  But what happens when implementation fails, when the structures we have created are broken?  What recourse do we have?  As far as I can see we have two options: 1) reform/transform political structures through further policy change and 2) take direct action to stop those failures.

These options are not and should not be exclusive; they are both necessary.

Continue reading ‘Direct Action in Our Movement’

{Written by Dan Cannon, Florida Organizer at the Southern Energy Network}

I’ve been familiar with mountaintop removal (the practice of blasting the tops off mountains and dumping them in streams to get at coal seams maybe a foot thick) for years now.  But this week it became personal.

I’m here at the 5th Annual End Mountaintop Removal Week in Washington, joining residents from the coalfields of Appalachia in meetings with our Congressmen, gathering support for the Clean Water Protection Act (HR 1310) and the Appalachia Restoration Act (S 696).  This may be the 5th year, but the momentum is tangible.  We have 166 co-sponsors for the CWPA, bi-partisan support in both Houses and committee chairmen who are receptive to moving this forward. To build even more momentum, today is a National Call-In Day to urge your Congresspeople to support these bills.  Their offices are hearing from us in person and need to hear from even more constituents.

Please, take the two minutes to call your Rep.  Below are some of the most powerful points I’ve heard from local residents to communicate with members of Congress. Continue reading ‘National Call-In Day to Stop Mountaintop Removal’

Post By Junior Walk, Whitesville, Coal River Valley, West Virginia

Hi, my name is Junior Walk, and my family has lived in the coal fields of southern West Virginia for generations.  It pains me to see my heritage destroyed and defamed, and to see my friends and family poisoned by unclean water.   So, I decided to take a little trip to Washington D.C. to put a stop to it.

Today, I’m in our nations capitol to stop the heinous practice of mountaintop removal coal mining.  I’m here with the Alliance for Appalachia, as an employee of Coal River Mountain Watch; I’m here as an environmental activist; I’m here as an affected coal field resident; but I’m mostly here as someone whom cares about people, and all other living things.

My meetings today were cordial, I met with the offices of three different congressmen.  The first one was on the fence about the Clean Water Protection Act, the second one will probably co-sign, and the third was already a co-signer.  I think we’re making serious progress here, we already have more than 160 co-signers, and we only need 40-50 more co-signers.

When this bill becomes a law, it will effectively end mountaintop removal by making valley fills illegal (which they were in the first place).  Continue reading ‘From Coal River Valley to Washington DC’

Tessa is a campus organizer for the Show Me Democracy campaign, and below is her account of the University of Oregon’s first Show Me Democracy Senate Field Office Visit!  To join us in demanding comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation from our representatives NOW, click here, and be sure to get on our Climate Bill S.O.S. leaders call tonight (Thursday, March 4th) at 9pm EST/6pm PST.

written by Tessa Barker, UO Climate Justice League Show Me Democracy Campaign Coordinator

Students at the University of Oregon want a strong climate bill now! Support on campus for passing climate legislation that would cap carbon and help to create a clean energy economy has been growing throughout the school year.  In November, we organized the regional Powershift West conference, drawing over 500 young leaders to the University of Oregon campus; in December, a delegation of UO students went to the International Climate Negotiations in Copenhagen.  And now, despite the lack of true results from COP-15, student leaders are more determined than ever to pass a strong climate bill in the US before it’s too late, and we are ready to show our community what democracy really is.

On February 18^th, students from the UO’s newly founded Climate Justice League and I rode our bikes to the courthouse for the first of many lobby days as part of the national Show Me Democracy Campaign.  At the heart of this campaign to develop broad-based support for a strong climate bill is community outreach.  From day one, students in our group have been working to build coalitions with members of the wider community, ranging from business leaders, to farmers, to faith-based groups.  The goal is for representatives from each of these groups to eventually join us in lobbying our senators.

Continue reading ‘University of Oregon Students Bike to Eugene Senate Field Office to Engage in Democracy!’

Rising sea levels. Stronger storms. Melting ice caps. Increased famine, disease, and drought. This doesn’t have to be our future – or our legacy.

Our planet is in peril and we need our Senators to pass a strong climate bill this year. We are at a critical moment, not only for our planet, but for our country. A new bipartisan proposal is taking shape, and may be introduced in the Senate as soon as this week.

The question is, will this bill create the clean energy economy we need, or will it fall victim to lobbyists from Big Oil and Coal who will fight tooth and nail to maintain our addiction to dirty fuel?

Today, we are joining with dozens of organizations across the issue spectrum to launch a massive grassroots call-in campaign: 72 Hours for Clean American Power. Together, we will flood Senate phone lines to make sure voices for clean energy are heard over the special interests.

Join in! Add your voice to the call for comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation.
Continue reading ‘Earth to C02ngress: Act on Climate NOW!’

The discussions about how to Define Our Decade are taking off in communities around the country. The Weeks of Action are coming up in 2 weeks, but already young people are having discussions about how they want to define their decade, and taking action to make it happen; this past week dozens of young people turned out at a student-called hearing at Michigan State University.  While preparing for the hearing, they had a discussion about what they want to see in the next decade, and then the next day hit the streets calling for MSU to be powered by 100% clean energy by 2020.

All of this comes at a time when the U.S. Senate continues to try to figure out how to proceed with climate and energy legislation. In a Sunday op-ed penned by Thomas Friedman titled “How the G.O.P. Goes Green,” one of the leading figures in crafting legislation, Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina acknowledged that he is inspired to take up climate and energy legislation because of young people on college campuses. Graham correctly points out that young voters are driven by deeply-held environmental values, and more lawmakers would be wise to wake up to this, but Graham’s solutions of nuclear and offshore oil-drilling are both counter to our values and economic interests. Every dollar spent on the dirty energy economy, is a dollar that could have created more jobs in the clean energy economy we must create. That’s why in the coming month it’s essential that we, as the Millennial Generation, further define what our vision for a clean energy economy really is.

Already dozens of events are being hosted around the country that will help us do just that. Check out the event registration page for the full listing and see a couple of highlights below: Continue reading ‘Graham is right, for young people “climate is no-debate.” Let’s make sure we show him our solutions’

In 2009, millions of people came together around the world to pressure leaders to sign a legally binding and ambitious deal in Copenhagen. Although the final result in Copenhagen was a failure, 2009 was the year that the climate movement exploded. This energy will carry forward and we will continue to build in numbers until sustainability is achieved. This multimedia piece looks at the growth of this movement throughout 2009.

Take a moment and watch hundreds of those around the world taking action and inspiring others in the fight for climate justice.

All images (unless provided by 350.org) ©Robert van Waarden,
Music – “Open Road Kisses” by Small Affairs

“How’s that hopey, changey stuff working out for you?”

These are the words of contempt Sarah Palin aimed at the Obama Administration two weeks ago, but she may as well have taken shot at the climate movement.

The Copenhagen negotiations were largely a flop.  Climate legislation has stalled out in Congress.  Red States and Fossil Fuel Corporations are suing the EPA to revoke their authority to regulate emissions.

In 2008, millions of Americans were inspired by the message of Hope: hope that government can change, hope that yes, we can change the direction of this country.  Many of those people have now become disappointed, jaded, disengaged.  They hoped for change and they didn’t get it.  But as Mrs. Palin so eloquently reminded us, that hopey, changey stuff isn’t working so well right now.

Why isn’t it working?

Continue reading ‘When Sarah Palin is right’