Earlier this week, in a not-altogether-surprising new development, snowmen across the nation joined a growing coalition in raising their voices calling for stronger action on global warming.
“I’m tired of people only talking about polar bears being in trouble,” commented one participant. “We snowmen are going to be severely endangered if global warming continues unabated.”
Well we all knew this time would come.
By Glenn Hurowitz
Cross-posted from Democratic Courage
While the Senate is debating whether or not to give people cash in exchange for buying a Hummer, the State of Virginia could be poised to take significant action to bolster the economy and help the climate by passing an energy efficiency bill introduced by State Senator Donald McEachin.
Here’s the catch. Doing smart, easy things like energy efficiency that create jobs and prosperity isn’t so easy in Virginia, where Dominion Power runs the statehouse. Dominion Power operates several coal-fired power plants in the state and uses the proceeds to hand out campaign donations almost as fast as it hands out asthma attacks.
The biggest single recipient of Dominion’s largesse? State Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw of Springfield (in the DC suburbs), who received a whopping $85,000 in campaign contributions between 2004 and 2009, more than any other legislator. So what’s that money getting Dominion? Seemingly, a whole lot…
Saslaw could be the poster boy for the Commonwealth’s culture of coal-fired corruption. Even though Northern Virginia is one of the most polluted areas in the country, and Saslaw’s constituents are very pro-environment, it’s unknown whether or not Saslaw will support the efficiency bill or continue to carry Dominion’s toxic ash-laden water around Richmond.
Perhaps if these were normal times, this would be just another story of polluter influence. But in these extraordinary – and extraordinarily tough – times, it’s something more. Article XI, a great new Virginia blog, reports that the bill would “save Virginians approximately $15 billion on electric bills by the year 2025,” creating thousands of jobs. Investing in energy efficiency produces more than two and a half times the number of jobs as investments in coal.
Opposing energy efficiency means killing jobs – something that Saslaw will have to take home to his constituents if he opposes this bill. The good news is, however, that this bill has a chance of passing this crucial subcomittee vote on Thursday, February 5th, if another Dominion campaign cash recipient, Todday Puller of Mount Vernon finds the strength to defy Dominion and vote for a clean environment and good jobs. You can contact Puller at (804) 698-7536.
See the sleeping child in the photo? He’s my son, Sasha, and he’s 11. He’s all you need to know about me. He’s the reason I give my life completely to the fight for a safe climate. In this photo – a random photo, so ordinary — he’s conked out after hiking and swimming in the Appalachian Mountains near our Maryland home. I look at it and I feel it all over again. The love. Like nothing else I’ve ever known. It has no boundaries, my heart, for Sasha.
Our children – all children – are so vulnerable. So we must wake up, right now, to the challenge of saving our life-giving climate. This Valentine’s Day, show your leaders in Congress the real face of the fight for clean energy – the ones we love. Show them that we don’t act because of distant ideas, we act so that the ones we love will have a safe future.
That’s why I just sent this photo of Sasha to Congress. Will you join me?
With help from our partners, we are reaching out to people across the nation and asking them to share their story. Visit our website www.iheartcleanenergy.org to upload a picture of the person or thing you love most. Then send an email to Congress letting them know that you’ve joined thousands of others across the nation in showing your love for clean energy this Valentine’s Day.
Take action at www.iheartcleanenergy.org
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Senator McEachin’s bill 1447 (SB 1447) lives through subcommittee to be heard before the whole Commerce and Labor committee in the near future! Woot Woot! For those that don’t know SB 1447 is a large stride forward towards an energy efficiency economy here in the Commonwealth. This story is still developing… stay tuned.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch
The Virginia economy is in full-on crisis. Businesses statewide are hurting, state employees are being laid off by the thousands, and the state is cutting core services in the face of a $3 billion budget shortfall.
Tomorrow in the Virginia General Assembly, a senate sub-committee will vote on Sen. McEachin’s energy efficiency bill (SB1447).
Last Saturday at the Prince George’s County Green Power Awakening, politicians, business leaders, and local citizens came together to talk about their vision for a “greener” PG county – one that creates new jobs, protects waterways, diverts new growth in smart and green ways, and helps head off climate change by reducing carbon emissions. It was pretty amazing, actually, the discussions that all of these diverse stakeholders were having about how going green would benefit all of us. I’m not going to go too much into the details of the event itself, since the Gazette had a great write up of what happened.
Instead, I want to focus on the keynote speech given by Rev. Lennox Yearwood of the Hip Hop Caucus. There were the anecdotes about how far the Hip Hop Caucus has come in building community power over the last four years – going from protesting outside the White House to drinking tea and eating cheese on little sticks inside building with President Obama.
But what really stuck with me was this phrase, which reminded me once again why I do the work that I do: “If you don’t do politics, politics will do you.”
I’d never put it that way before, but the desire to not let politics “do me” is why I started going to anti-war marches as a college student. Why I get so excited about working for CCAN every day, as we’re continually doing politics here in MD and keeping our leaders accountable. Why I’m willing to risk arrest on March 2nd because it will mean sending a clear message to our elected leaders that it’s time to power past coal – that we cannot keep building and maintaining dirty coal plants that spew global warming pollution into our atmosphere.
In writing this, I realized that the sentence about doing politics also applies to global warming in a way. If we don’t step up and start drastically make changes in the way we get our energy and commute to work and build where we live, global warming is going to start to do us – all of us – in a major way.
Ok, so this is a little bit overdue (though, honestly, MD enviros are awesome all the time, so this may not even be news). But on Monday, they showed up in full force in Annapolis once again to make sure that all of MD’s legislators know that we’re watching them as they consider a bevy of environmental bills.
This year, priority legislation includes the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act (of course), a package for Smart and Fair Growth, Defunding the ICC, and greening the budget. For details on all the priorities, MD League of Conservation Voters is a great resource.
Also in the works are a BUNCH of bills that will help MD reach the reduction targets of the GGRA in a swift and effective manner. So stay tuned also for updates on:
1. Energy Efficient Buildings
In the third of the BBC series, ‘Moment of Change’ Katty Kay investigates the hurdles that the Obama administration will have in implementing a successful environmental policy by focusing on global warming and the Chesapeake Bay.
“Take a boat into the Chesapeake Bay and the effects of global warming on Maryland’s 3,000 miles of coastline are everywhere. THis house used once stood back from the Bay, now the water is lapping at its foundation. This island was once connected to this island, which was connected to this island, which was connected to the mainland.”
