Charged Up After Energize Virginia!

150 Virginia citizens, 5 strategic ways to take action, one purpose: moving Virginia toward a future of clean power and good jobs from offshore wind energy. That was the Energize Virginia summit that CCAN proudly hosted this past Saturday in Richmond!

If you were among the many activists that joined us on Saturday, thank you! We hope you had as much fun and felt as inspired as we did! If you couldn’t be there, hopefully these pictures can begin to capture the day’s palpable excitement!

Energize Virginia was foremost about Virginians coming to the state capitol from as far as Alexandria and Virginia Beach, from the Valley and from the Southside and everywhere in between, to learn and to take action to bring affordable, carbon-free energy online in Virginia. But we did even more than that.

We took a stand demanding that the leaders in our state act faster and more decisively to begin changing where Virginia gets its energy. With help from experts like business leader Terry McAuliffe, Joe Bouchard, Oceana’s Jackie Savitz, and Sierra Club Beyond Coal’s Vanessa Pierce, we made the case for large investment in Virginia’s best renewable, efficient energy source and how our state can become a leader in our region. It’s crucial that we keep it going full blast this year and continue to creatively and clearly demonstrate the need for installing wind power off our coast.

Feeling energized? Share it with the world! You can join our Virginia offshore wind power photo petition right from your home. Saturday produced dozens of great images to help put a face on this issue, like the one on the right, and you can Do-It-Yourself right now!

Check out our photo petition here, then download our signs or write a personal message or draw a picture about why you want an offshore wind farm for Virginia, and add your smiling face to our petition! Please email these pictures directly to us at virginiaoffshorewind@gmail.com. You can find out how to do more by contacting your local CCAN organizer for upcoming summer volunteer opportunities!

Richmond CCANers recruit for Energize Va!

Changing over to new energy sources like offshore wind requires trying some new tactics! In Richmond this week, CCANers got together at a local ale house, but it wasn’t just your usual happy hour.

Richmond Climate Happy Hour met this week and used a new strategy to spread the word about Richmond’s upcoming offshore wind conference Energize Virginia. On a spacious outdoor patio, the team took advantage of the modern cell phone age to conduct a “Lightning Phonebank”. The group whipped out their cell phones and called dozens of local supporters and friends, and invited them to the first-ever grassroots conference on offshore wind in the commonwealth. The atmosphere was fun and relaxed, but with a purpose: to get folks to come out and get down to business to bring an offshore wind farm to Virginia.

Here’s the next step in our recruitment experiment, and it depends on you! Register now online to attend Energize Virginia in Richmond on Saturday, June 4th

Our time to Energize Virginia with wind power!

Coming up Saturday, June 4th is our chance to stand up and call for clean, homegrown energy for Virginia at the Energize Virginia: A Citizens’ Summit on Offshore Wind Power. Read more below, and register here.

Sponsored by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, the Virginia Sierra Club, and Interfaith Power and Light, Energize Virginia is the first-ever grassroots gathering to promote development of an offshore wind farm in the area off Virginia’s coast. We expect attendees from as many perspectives as there are compelling reasons to bring wind to Virginia, from local clean energy jobs supporters, to environmentalists urging decreased dependence on coal, to families who want to see reliably low energy bills as fossil fuel prices climb.

Be there for an opportunity to learn, ask questions, and join the discussion about harnessing the winds off the coast. Details: Saturday, June 4th, 10 am to 3:30 pm, CenterStage, Richmond, VA.

We invite you to sign up now! Purchase a ticket, and you are entitled to a premium-quality lunch, a program featuring appearances by exciting speakers who will inspire action, and the opportunity to be a history-maker at a summit with a positive and lasting impact on Virginia’s energy future.