350 | Action Factory DC Blog

The Same Tired Talking Points Brought To You This Time by Senator Baucus and Dirty Energy Lobbyists November 10, 2009

Posted by skolmk in astroturf, cejapa.
Tags: 350, astroturf, cejapa, kerry-boxer
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Today, the Senate Finance Committee held its first hearing for the Boxer-Kerry bill. News such as this would typically be welcomed as necessary progress, as we are pushing for strong climate legislation to pass through the Senate before Copenhagen. However, one must take into consideration ulterior motives when Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) is chairing the committee in question.

As the only Democratic Senator to vote “no” on the bill as it was marked up in the Environment and Public Works Committee, Baucus continues to mire progress in hearings that are antithetical to the success of the bill. Today featured industry and conservative lobbyists testifying before the Finance Committee on “Climate Change Legislation: Considerations for Future Jobs”. Included amongst the pro-nuclear and coal representatives was our friend Kenneth Green from AEI (side note: he remembered us interrupting him at the adaptation hearing. Success?)

Brad Johnson with Wonk Room called out Baucus on his indefensible submission to the “polluter lobbyists”, sharing the same sentiments as us that this hearing was supporting nothing more than the same empty rhetoric that has been spewed “time and time again for the past 10 years”.

The action factory shifted into high gear, deciding that we had to bring Finance Committee Senator’s attention to youth demands and constituent calls for global climate action.

John Kerry accepts our 350 tie

We arrived shortly before the hearing began, with some of us dressed in our now infamous Astroturf suits and others as real people demanding bold action on climate change from our leaders. As Senators approached the Finance Committee hearing room, our real people for global climate action approached the Senators, handing them a 350 tie and a glossy photo from a 350 international day of action in their respective home state.

We were lucky enough to have constituents in our group for conversations with Senator Cantwell (D-WA) and Kerry (D-MA), who both gladly accepted our pictures and ties. Kerry even scolded our Astroturfers, saying that there is already $10 million worth of provisions for the coal industry in the bill (yeah…great).

Action Factory takes on Senator Roberts

Not all Senators were as receptive, though. Senator Roberts (R-KS) took a tie but argued against wind turbines in defense of migratory birds (yes, we also thought we would never hear that misnomer of an argument again). We also caught Senator Baucus on his way out of the hearing, and while he gladly accepts money from dirty energy lobbyists would not take a 350 tie from us. After saying he “supported climate change”, we challenged him, asking if he supported bold action against climate change. His response is best summarized by the title of this post- a lot of talk behind inconsistent action.

Hurricane Katrina: Pushing us to act faster on Climate Change August 26, 2009

Posted by Morgan in Katrina, tcktcktck.
Tags: 350, alliance for affordable energy, climate change, coastlines, hurricane katrina, Katrina, kerry emanuel, security, typhoon
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Four years ago this Saturday, Hurricane Katrina slammed into the United States, killing at least 1836 people and shaking the foundations of our country. Dr. Kerry Emanuel reports that if Katrina had occurred in 1980, the levees would have held. But global warming increases ocean temperature, increases storm intensity, and threatens America with more super-storms.

There’s a lot of talk in the news this week about national security and the risks posed by global warming, both domestically and abroad. In light of a recent typhoon, Taiwan’s military has ranked climate change as its biggest national threat and is re-organizing some military operations accordingly.

Pacific island states have upped their call for industrialized nations to act on cutting carbon emissions, saying that the nations least responsible for causing climate change shouldn’t be the first to pay the price.

And right here at home, a new study finds that big storms this decade in the Atlantic hit a 1000 year high. None of these things make me feel good, but for people who live in coastal areas, these developments must be downright scary.

Security in one’s home is a fundamental human need, one that we’ll fight for and one that we expect our leaders to look out for. President Obama, and congress, do you have our backs on this one? Even if its difficult, can you mobilize the resources available and put us on track to get to 350 parts per million of co2?

1sky.org is calling for climate action in the name of Hurricane Katrina. The Alliance for Affordable Energy in Louisiana is doing phenomenal work on climate and energy issues, inspired in part by Katrina.

Take a moment this week to think about what’s really at stake when we talk about stopping global warming. We’re trying to reduce the risk of extreme storms that kill people and destroy homes. There are 104 days until Copenhagen. Lets accelerate the progress and show up at the negotiations ready to fight for our people, for all people.