Sen. Warner Fights Global Warming, Chairman Connolly Digs CCAN

So the surprising news from yesterday was that Virginia Senator Warner (R) has finally come around and become a vocal supporter of global warming solutions. The Senator, who stayed relatively mum on global warming for years, has now been quoted as saying: “In my 28 years in the Senate, I have focused above all on issues of national security, and I see the problem of climate change as fitting within that focus.”

CCAN has targeted Sen. Warner numerous times in an attempt to convince him that global warming deserves his attention. As recently as two weeks ago, CCAN hand delivered over 50 hand written letters to the Senator asking him to support a national renewable energy standard. These letters were written at the June 13th CCAN organized “Cooling the Commonwealth” Town Hall Forum that featured speakers Al Weed, Mike Tidwell, Dr. Shukla, and Fairfax Co. Board Chairman Connolly. Chairman Connolly cited CCAN and the great success of the event in his blog… So did Chap Peterson, the Democratic Challenger to the 34 District State Senate seat… NoVa, we are rocking this world… or at least Fairfax…

The Weak Senate Energy Bill

Many enviro groups have been touting the Senate Energy Bill that passed last week as a victory. I’m not impressed. In fact, I’m somewhat appalled.

Yes, the Senate passed a bill to increase fuel efficiency standards (from 25 to 35 mpg) for the first time since 1975 and yes, they managed to beat back some really bad amendments (including the amendment to promote dirty coal-to-liquid technology, which USCEC was heavily involved in advocating against). But defeating bad amendments does not mean we’re advancing, it simply means we’ve managed to avoid going backwards for the time being. And that it’s taken us over 30 years to increase our CAFE standards to a relatively low 35 mpg is nothing to be proud of.

Thomas Friedman summed it up in a NY Times Op-ed on June 24:

The whole Senate energy effort only reinforced my feelings that we’re in a green bubble

Greening New Orleans

If you’ve never had the opportunity to travel to the Big Easy, now is THE time to go. I know it may be hot and humid, but this summer in New Orleans is truly inspiring to the climate movement. After so much struggle and heart-ache, the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans is making a positive comeback. This week’s cover story in the Gambit describes how the decision to rebuild “green” has finally brought the community back together. The climate moment and the new consciousness to use green methods to rebuild the neighborhood in a way that works with the land and not against it gives the residents a new found hope and comradery. New Orleans finally has the right energy to power the rebuilding movement.

So Others Might Eat: The Climate Emergency Fast

Yesterday the U.S. Climate Emergency Council sent out an alert to all of its members calling on people to join a nationwide fast on September 4th. Notable signatories include (but not at all limited to), Bill McKibben, Van Jones and Dave Robinson of Pax Christi USA. The response was good: 50 people had registered within just 10 of blasting our list.

This morning Jon Rynn, a Gristmill blogger who received our call to fast, critiqued the fast saying that the goal of the fast was not specific enough:

The problem as I see it is that in the past, direct action and protest have had very clear achievable goals, whereas in the case of global warming, we know we want drastically reduced carbon emission, but the devil is in the details.

Rynn had two propositions: 1) That the fast be linked to some piece of legislation and 2) That the fast tie global warming to other issues, job creation for example.

Unfortunately, there is no piece of legislation that goes far enough. A discussion I was part of at the Climate Crisis Coalition’s annual strategy meeting in New York last summer came to a complete standstill over this issue of specific legislation. Some thought we should focus on the best legislation out there (which at the time was the McCain-Lieberman Stewardship Act) while others could not stand advocating for such a flawed and weak bill.

In the end it just doesn’t seem honest to me to say that we are in the midst of a climate crisis and then rally behind a piece of legislation that doesn’t go far enough. According to George Monbiot, we might need as much as an 87% reduction by 2030 and there is no piece of federal legislation that goes nearly that far.

So, although we will not be fasting in support of specific legislation, the fast will not be without specific demands:

What will we be calling for? Three things: no new coal or coal-to-liquid plants; freeze greenhouse gas emissions and move quickly to reduce them; and a down payment of $25 billion for energy conservation, efficiency and renewable energy.

And as for tying global warming in with another issue, this fast ties global warming to the biggest issue of all: Morality.

To draw attention to this threat and its moral implications, we are calling on thousands of Americans to voluntarily give up food for one day…Fasting is a simple yet profound way of combining the spiritual and the political. Mahatma Gandhi called it “the sincerest form of prayer.” It communicates seriousness and urgency without violence, thereby focusing peoples’ attention on the issues of the fast.

It’s no surprise that many in the faith community, including the national Catholic peace movement, have gotten behind this fast. Global warming, as Al Gore tells us in An Inconvenient Truth is not a political issue. Global warming a moral issue and focusing on this morality is the ultimate purpose of the fast on September 4th.

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CCAN's Tom Owens and "Local Greens" Featured in local paper

CCAN’s own Tom Owens (Virginia Campus Organizer ) received a great feature story for his great work on the Campus Climate Challenge in the Altoona Mirror, his hometown Pennsylvania Paper. Congrats TOM!

Very rarely do climate activsts get features like this. Feeding the homeless, saving kitties from trees, planting trees – these are things that receive a “what a great guy” feature story. But the times they are a changin.

“Area teen joins celebs on global

Fighting Virginia's Coal-Laden Status Quo

Environmental Groups March in Richmond to Protest Coal Development in Wise County

There is no doubt about it these days in Virginia: Dominion is the one and only name that matters in the electricity generation business and it’s not one to shy away from its power. The utility flexed its monopolistic might this legislative session and squashed any meaningful discussion of mandatory and widely-supported renewable energy requirements for the Commonwealth. The monopoly basically ensured that, for the near future at least, the ball will be in its court when it comes to making decisions about what sources of energy will be used to deal with Virginia’s rising energy demands.

And what is Dominion’s first choice for electricity? Coal, coal and more coal. Right now coal is the most plentiful and most cost-effective energy source out there. It is, however, the dirtiest of all options. The greenhouse gases and mercury pollution due to coal are well-documented, and Dominion feels no need to shift from the status quo because legally, they don’t have to.

Massey Energy, which is in the dirty business of coal extraction, is another another benefactor of Virginia’s continued reliance on coal. Massey Energy does a lot of business in the Appalachian Mountains and have been able to maintain and even increase their activities extracting coal due to the lack of legislation forcing renewable energy in the Commonwealth. Thus the devastating practice of mountaintop removal mining for coal does not look like it’s going away any time soon.

To protest this “cradle to the grave” stranglehold that Dominion and Massey have on our energy industry in Virginia, several environmental justice organizations including the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN), Mountain Justice Summer, Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, and the Sierra Club of Virginia participated in a march from Massey to Dominion Headquarters in Richmond on Monday June 25th. Through effective signage, handouts, skits, and classic music from the mountains, we were able to effectively send a message that the idea of a new coal plant in Wise County, VA should be put to rest. Changing the status quo in Virginia starts with “no new coal plants” and subsequently replacing the energy that would have been supplied by coal with clean, renewable energy. It is the only sustainable way forward now that global warming, ecosystem loss, energy demand increases have combined to create a crisis-like scenario for humans and the planet we inhabit.

Musical Protest outside Dominion

Protesters play classic mountain music in front of Dominion’s headquarters in
Richmond, Va. demanding that the huge utility stop its plans to build more
polluting coal-fired power plants in Wise County, Va.

There are plans in the works for another march through Richmond in the fall and it promises to be even bigger and better than what we saw on Monday.

New Jersey Sets National Precedent – Maryland no longer "potential # 2"

It’s official. Maryland can no longer be #2 for state climate leadership… we’re going to have to vie for #3.

Itsgettinghotinhere.org reported that “Yesterday, June 21st, Trenton voted to overwhelmingly pass the Global Warming Response Act, ground-breaking legislation that will set an economy-wide cap on greenhouse gas emissions to bring levels down to 1990 levels by 2020 and 80% below 2005 levels by 2050.”

Sounds familiar… except Maryland voted it down last year. The GOOD NEWS? It gives us all the more momentum to rock out this legislative session in Maryland. Read more…

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Open House Boosts CCAN Membership Levels

Mike Tidwell and Susanna Murley knew the show must go on despite the threat of severe thundestorms all over Takoma Park, and CCAN supporters and new members still flocked to the Tidwell house to learn how to get involved to promote a cleaner, safer future for our world.

Guests were greeted at the front door with drinks and ventured inside to a nice spread of fruits and vegetables to nibble on while meeting each other and members of the CCAN staff. Around 30 guests converged on the Tidwell house to meet fellow climate activists and listen to climate leaders, Mike Tidwell and Maryland State Senator Jamie Raskin, speak about climate issues that affect Maryland and abroad.

Senator Raskin focused on the recent victories of the Maryland Clean Cars Act and promised to help lead Maryland to the forefront of the climate movement. State level legislation has become the power tool for the climate movement because of the backward pace at the federal level. Senator Raskin hopes that Maryland will soon be in the ranks of California and New York in the coming years. He also announced his appointment to the Governors’ Commission on Climate Change which was created to design a comprehensive energy plan for the state of Maryland.

Mike Tidwell spoke of the need for support to keep up the good work of CCAN and of course, pledged his allegiance to the climate issue as the defining issue of our time. The new members at the party kindly reached for their pocketbooks and joined CCAN.

Not only were the party and membership drive a success, but the new members offered promising ideas and hope to the climate movement! Oh yeah, it never rained a drop!

Officials and Citizens Rally to Support Renewable Energy

Yesterday, Monday, June 18, 2007, clean energy advocates converged on Rockville, MD. to show support for proposals to increase the amount of electricity that comes from renewable energy. CCAN teamed up with Environment Maryland to call on Congress to pass a bill introduced by Representatives Udall (D-NM) and Platts (R-PA), H.R. 969, which would require 20 percent of America’s electricity to come from renewable energy sources like wind and solar by 2020. Last week, Rep. Van Hollen agreed to cosponsor of the legislation.

Baby with pinwheel

Children will be most affected by climate change. This child
shows his support of clean energy by waving a pinwheel.

The clean energy advocates listened as Congressman Van Hollen spoke about the urgency that Congress needs to tackle Global Warming. Relating his support for the cleanest forms of alternative energy, Van Hollen stated, “I hope the new political breeze on Capitol Hill will produce a new energy policy that focuses on renewable energy sources like wind and solar. After listening to the Senate debate the future of coal to liquid, this was music to our ears.

CCAN’s director, Mike Tidwell, made it clear that climate change is the issue of our time and Congress must step up to task with alternative energy sources such as wind and solar. Other speakers at the event included local and state representatives that are firm advocates for clean energy in Maryland. The other speakers for the event included:

Christine Real de Azua, spokesperson for the American Wind Energy Association;

Rob Garagiola, Maryland State Senator;

Brad Heavner, Environment Maryland State Director.

The state of Maryland is shaping up to be a national leader in the clean energy revolution. CCAN’s Maryland and DC organizer, Claire Douglass, planned this press conference to show that state and federal leadership in Maryland support clean energy alternatives to combat global warming. Maryland citizens and their leaders should be proud that they are paving the path to clean energy. The citizens in the crowd demonstrated the use of wind turbines by holding up pinwheels that flickered as they spun around in the breeze.

If every member of Congress is as tuned in to the climate and alternative energy as Congressman Chris Van Hollen, we’ll be in much better shape. However, the truth is that every citizen still needs to demand results from their leaders in order to stop global climate change!