Show Up and Speak Up for Climate Change Legislation

by: Heather TaylorMiesle NRDC Action Fund

Tue Aug 10, 2010 at 02:17 PM CDT

Legislative inaction must be more tiring than I realized.

Still, I don't view this month as a cooling off period. If anything, it's time to turn up the heat.

Over the next few weeks, Senators will be holding "town hall meetings" in their states. Last year, these meetings came to define the health care debate. This year, they could help us reshape America's energy policy.

If you are like me and you are still stunned that the Senate refused to pass a bill that would have created nearly 2 million new American jobs, put our nation at the forefront of the clean energy market and helped end our addiction to oil, then go to a town hall meeting and tell your lawmakers what you think.

Tell them that it is in America's best interest to embrace clean energy now.

And while you are at it, please tell them to block attempts by some Senators to weaken the Clean Air Act-the 40-year-old law that has saved hundreds of thousands of lives-in an effort to further delay reductions in global warming pollution.  

Some naysayers claim that voting on visionary legislation is a risky proposition when we are this close to an election. They are wrong, and history proves it.

As I wrote in a recent blog post, 13 of the most powerful environmental laws were passed during the fall of an election year or in the lame duck sessions following elections.  

We can pass comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation this fall, but only if we demand it of our lawmakers.

Use this August to make your voices heard. You can find your Senators' schedules by checking their Senate websites, as well as their candidate websites - Republican or Democratic.

Energy Action - The Truth for Everyone

by: Austin MoveOn

Mon Jul 20, 2009 at 00:15 PM CDT

When:  5:30 to about 7:00 PM

Who:  MoveOn members and any like-minded individuals who are tired of the same tripe from conservative talking heads and their supportive media.  Kids are welcome!  This is a great opportunity to show them what activism really means.

Agenda:  we will be gathering near Senator Cornyn's office, using the intersection of two one-way streets and a busy sidewalk at getting-out-of-work time to educate the public on the myths being propagated by those opposed to a green energy economy.  We will have several visuals to include large signs depicting 100 new coal-fired energy generation plants allowed by the recently-passed American Clean Air and Security (ACES) Act.  It  passed the House by a vote of 219 to 212, but was so watered down by both Democratic and Republican Congressmen, that it barely defends our environment and hardly makes a dent into the joblessness in Texas and the country.

One particularly onerous provision is that this bill allows the construction of up to 100 new coal-fired energy plants in the future.  There is no such thing as "clean coal," and these plants will only contribute to the environmental mess we are presently in.

You can also help by handing out our recently-developed informational flyers to passersby and motorists.  These flyers take the more in-your-face, false statements that attempt to convince people that a green energy economy is too costly and counter-productive for our country and present the truth from past studies and scientists and economists about what the real effect will be if we don't do anything.  

Please join us.  We are inviting the press to a release of this document and want Austin to understand the stakes in not doing anything.  We can't allow Texas' and our country's economy and environmental future to be determined by Big oil, Dirty coal and the Senators and Representatives they buy with their political contributions.

Please sign up using the following link:

http://pol.moveon.org/event/ev...

Thanks so much for your support, and we'll see you out on Thursday.

Bill Hamm
Austin MoveOn Council Coordinator