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The American Clean Energy and Security Act offers our country the most important opportunity in generations to jumpstart our economy, create millions of new jobs and set the stage for America to compete and win in a 21st century economy while reducing global warming pollution. This clean energy jobs bill could set us on the pathway back to economic prosperity. But in order for to usher in a new clean energy future, we need to speak out and tell Congress to stand up to the special interests that seek to weaken the bill at every turn.

The Bush Administration had a virtual open-door policy to Big Oil for the last eight years. Meanwhile, the powerful interests of oil and coal have had a stranglehold on our energy policy, keeping our country hooked on dirty energy sources. At the same time, China and India have invested in clean energy technology development, recognizing that global economic leadership in the future is dependent on investments in clean energy infrastructure and technology now.

America has a chance to lead in the global race if we pass a bill that truly levels the playing field for clean renewable energy and limits the entitlement to federal subsidies and the continued control of our energy economy of Big Oil and Coal.

Long-established energy industries have received concessions during the House committee negotiation process that have damaged this bill's ability to deliver on the full promise of clean energy jobs, strong, inclusive and sustaining economy in the 21st century and reducing pollution. Many of the considerations granted the oil, coal, and electricity industries would preserve their market power and profits. We believe that industries should pay to clean up their emissions --not demand loopholes, bailouts, and giveaways from the federal government.

The clean energy jobs bill will best serve America if we can strengthen its provisions to maximize job creation, invest in the skills of our workers and the long-term economic prosperity of our country, and significantly reduce the pollution that has been caused by fossil fuel industries for decades.

We are calling on members of the House of Representatives to push for provisions that ensure more clean energy for America by increasing the Renewable Electricity Standard, hold polluters accountable by restoring the authority to the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate carbon emissions from power plans under the Clean Air Act, and create more clean energy jobs for America and build resiliency to climate change by reducing allocations to polluting industries.

Given a chance, American innovation and ingenuity can lead us out to long-term and broadly shared clean economic prosperity.

1Sky has an easy 1-click mechanism enabling people to fax their member of Congress and ask them to support a strong clean energy jobs bill. Please take action now.

I have spent my lifetime face to face with some of the most brutal and inhumane acts ever committed, but nothing has been as traumatizing for me as trying to get action to tackle the climate crisis.

As a long time human rights defender and prior Executive Director at WITNESS, I helped produce and direct films on rape as a weapon of war and amputations in Sierra Leone's recent bloody conflict, I conducted an undercover investigation into the Russian mafia's involvement in trafficking women for forced prostitution, I investigated hit squads in apartheid South Africa, and I spent countless hours in editing rooms watching first hand images of death, destruction, and devastation.

But spending my days and nights trying to get our country to tackle global warming is more emotionally demanding than any job I have ever done.

When I was at WITNESS, people used to say "The work you do must be so difficult. How do you manage?" to which I would respond "Well, I can see the results. And it's not as bad as environmental work would be!" What I meant when I said that five years ago is that I felt overwhelmed by our inexorable march to "pave it all" -- parking lot by parking lot, McDonald's by Wal-Mart.

But seeing former Vice President Al Gore give his now famous slide show at the TED conference in 2006 convinced me that nothing mattered more than tackling global warming, and that climate change had massive humanitarian and human rights consequences. There was no looking back, so in mid-2007 I leapt, knowing that I was headed straight towards my deepest fears and concerns.

As I started to immerse myself in the science and early impacts of global warming, I became increasingly distraught. But I soldiered on, hoping against hope that I would be so busy in an ambitious new start up campaign at 1Sky, and so relieved to be trying to do something about it, that I would not be overwhelmed with existential angst and despair. Looking back on the last year and a half since I started as 1Sky's Campaign Director in the fall of 2007, my wish has generally come true. But since President Obama's inauguration and the 2009 clock started ticking on the countdown to Copenhagen, I feel myself slipping. And I know I am not alone.

So when Dr. Lise Van Susteren, a psychiatrist and co-convenor of last month's conference at the National Wildlife Federation on the Psychological Aspects of Climate Change asked me to videotape an interview (part 1 | part 2) with her that would be played before the heads of the American Psychiatric Association and the Centers for Disease Control, I agreed. And in spite of the fact that I found myself weeping at several points during the conversation and know it never bodes well for a woman in leadership, I let her play it during the plenary session in conference.

I did that because I believe that I and many other people around the world are suffering from "Climate Trauma." It's my own term. I am not a mental health professional, but I can identify plain as day the symptoms I recognize in myself and in my colleagues traumatized by our work to tackle climate change. And these symptoms are of course different from, but related to, the much deeper trauma of those who are already being directly impacted by climate change, whether through dislocation, drought, or the death of a loved one:

1. Anxiety and Stress. We know we are facing a looming catastrophe of unparalleled proportions -- a truly existential crisis in that scientists predict that if we do not take dramatic action now, human beings will not be able to continue living on Earth as we have come to know it. This is not the place to detail the reasons or predicted impacts of climate change, but it is to say that a central motivation in pushing for climate and energy policy is our knowledge of that existential threat. And there has never been more urgency or intensity to our wish and our call, with the looming international negotiations in Copenhagen in December 2009 and the critical need to have demonstrated US leadership before we get there. We in the US are literally dizzy with work, given the pace of the congressional calendar, regulatory action, and the Administration more broadly. Many of us are insomniacs and obsessive workaholics.

2. Fear and Hopelessness: We know we must be bold and visionary and imaginative and hopeful about all of the potential of a 21st century green economy built on wind, solar and geothermal. All the polls and marketing specialists tell us that people will tune us out if we shriek about the fact that the sky is falling and that people want to hear about solutions. We do see a path forward -- a way out of this mess we got ourselves into. But in our heart of hearts ,we are fearful that the powers that be in industrial America, the votes in Congress, and the ignorance or economic plight of voters all around us, will stand in our way and we may get nothing at all, or too little to late. Will we add up? We think about our children and their future, and we weep. We tear ourselves away from them for yet another day, another night, trying to preserve something left for them to live in. Even the children are traumatized: look at what 10 year old Nikos Spiridakis produced as a wake up call or what this young girl in Michigan says when her aunt asks her what global warming is.

3. A Parallel Universe: We often feel like we are living in a parallel universe. Don't people see that we are headed straight off a cliff? How could they possibly continue to argue that there is legitimate dispute about whether or not the planet is warming? How could the ones who know that it is warming leave all their incandescent bulbs on? Leave their SUV idling? Blast the heat and open the windows? Toss their water bottle in the trash? And sit out this fight of a lifetime, this fight for our lives? We are obsessed and alone and sometimes we or our loved ones literally have to ban the topic from conversation rather than repeat ourselves again. And again. And again.

4. Depression, Irritability and Anger: Flip sides of the same coin, we find ourselves alternately depressed, irritable, or angry. Who wouldn't under the circumstances? But these symptoms only get in our way, and diminish our power to be the leaders we must be to confront the greatest challenge of our generation, and perhaps of all time in life on this precious planet we call home. We need each other -- our colleagues, our teams and the people who love us -- to keep on keeping on.

When Dr. Spencer Eth, a respected forensic psychiatrist, saw the interview I did with Dr. Van Susteren at the conference, he wrote a short article on "Climate Warriors and Emotional Burnout." He wrote:

The mission of a 'climate warrior' is demanding and may become self-sacrificing. The activist must articulate terrible truths about the coming ecological catastrophes. Indeed, future scenarios may approximate what psychiatrist Robert Lifton described as a death imprint -- the indelible images of the grotesque that the person cannot assimilate.

Dr. Van Susteren followed up with some advice on how to sustain ourselves.

And so, we find ourselves "surfing the apocalypse," as my friend Gary Cohen from Health Care Without Harm would say. We know that this crisis is an opportunity to reinvent the way we are living our lives, and to steer this troubled ship called Earth towards safer harbor. In our despair, we must surface all our passion and commitment and power to ensure that we come together as an unstoppable force for change, turning the tide back in the right direction, and lifting all boats.

CLIMATE TRAUMA SURVIVAL TIPS FROM DR LISE VAN SUSTEREN

• Take care of yourself physically and spiritually, through healthy living and maintaining a balance in your professional and personal life.


• Physical exercise is essential -- endorphins, the body's natural pain killers, are secreted in response to exercise. Endorphins help fight psychic pain, too. Exercise also boosts your immune system. If you are stressed out and getting sick a lot -- you need regular exercise. Swimming can be very soothing.


• Get out of doors as much as possible -- connect with the forces that drive you and give yourself up to the beauty of nature in the present. Your energy to continue the battle will be rejuvenated.


• Remember that you are not alone. There are lots of other people who may be just as traumatized as you are -- they just aren't talking about it. Some people are distracted by jobs that don't constantly expose them to the realities. Unlike you, they can get away from it for a while.


• Diversify your work and your life: force yourself to participate in activities not related to climate.


• Reinforce boundaries between professional work and personal life. It is very hard to switch from the riveting force of apocalyptic predictions at work to home where the problems are petty by comparison. If you haven't found another solution: Take 10 mins, close your eyes, shut your brain down. If you don't know how, Google "How to meditate."


• Connect with your fellow climate warriors: Gather -- Play games, dance, tell jokes. There is nothing like a laugh. Don't talk about climate!


• Your fears are realistic. But what you can do, or what you expect you can do, may not be.


• Personal therapy can help. You wouldn't be the first person to conflate some personal problems with what is happening to the planet. Although "we" are working on it, many professionals may not yet "get" the problem with climate.
  

The Don'ts

• Overwork


• Having trouble sleeping? Avoid climate related work at night. Make sure to cut off the computer at least 2 hours before bedtime. The blue light emitted by computers suppresses a hormone that triggers sleep more than light from other parts of the spectrum. Additionally, turning out lights is not only good for the planet -- the resulting incremental darkness sets the body up to sleep. Also, did you know that it can take as many as 9 hours for your body to completely break down caffeine?


• Believe that you are invulnerable. In fact, admitting what you are going through makes you more resilient.


• Ignore signs & symptoms of burnout. Like an overused muscle -- without some kind of rest or intervention burnout will only get worse.


• Forget that understanding the material does not require that you actually experience what is being spoken about.


• Lose focus on the essential tasks.


• Don't give up! Despite the forecast -- we are working together like never before.

I love Lisa Jackson. Yes, I love the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) administrator. It's not just that she came to PowerShift`09 and rallied the crowd like a rock star, or that she was real with me back stage about what needs to be done. It's also that she has every intention of doing what the law requires her to do to protect the environment and our public health, and that she is ratcheting up the pressure on Congress to pass the clean energy legislation the President has requested this year. That's a considerable change of pace from last year's EPA and the White House that hobbled them.

On April 17, 2009, the EPA declared its authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, which means, for starters, that the EPA will detail the threats posed by global warming to both public health and welfare. This move is a green light for the EPA to take action to dramatically reduce pollution from the dinosaur dirty fuels of the past that are a clear and present danger to our public health and welfare.

This decision means EPA will be able to regulate entities that generate large amounts of greenhouse gas pollution, including new cars and power plants. This global warming review -- also called an "endangerment finding" -- stems from an April 2007 Supreme Court decision that ordered the EPA (under the Bush administration) to reconsider whether greenhouse gas emissions are pollutants subject to regulation under the Clean Air Act. Regulations will not be put in place immediately, but the threat of regulatory action intensifies pressure on Congress to pre-empt EPA action by passing legislation to curb pollution. Big oil and dirty coal hate regulation.

1Sky and its allies are doing our part by sending a powerful message of grassroots support for strong energy legislation to lay the groundwork for a robust new economy through constituent meetings with Members of Congress and Senators nationwide. We need you to call your member of Congress now! While we are working on the ground to spread the gospel of clean energy, it is nice to know Lisa Jackson is taking the law into her own hands and heading us in the right direction.

Jackson is clearly throwing down the gauntlet: Congress should act now if they want a say in how pollution is regulated. Polluters should change their ways, or "this Jersey girl" (as she is known to call herself) will do it for them.

EPA is scheduling two national hearings on its proposed "endangerment finding" for global warming pollution in and in Arlington, Virginia on May 18th and in Seattle on May 21. We are working with a number of other organizations to make sure that we have strong testimony from a variety of perspectives on the dangers of global warming and the economic benefits from actions to reduce our dependence on big oil and king coal. We would love to have testimony from progressive and clean tech businesses and our partner, Climate Solutions, tells us that we have already confirmed that several companies will be participating in the Seattle meeting, including Nike and Starbucks. Since EPA is handling the registration for the conference on-line, please ask any interested companies to sign up here. You can find more information or register online here.

May 18, 2009, at the EPA Potomac Yard Conference Center, Arlington, VA; and May 21, 2009, at the Bell Harbor International Conference Center in Seattle, WA.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said this week that she has enough votes to pass cap-and-trade legislation aimed at curbing the effects of global warming, but would not commit to holding a vote in 2009. Speaking to reporters on Monday, Pelosi said she has backing in the Democratic-controlled House to move a cap-and-trade bill, but will not force the issue. When Congressman Ed Markey, since identified as the new Chairman of the new Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment in the Energy and Commerce Committee, was approached on timing, he said "to be determined."

People close to Pelosi and Markey told me not to read too much into the remarks -- they said the stimulus is the priority now, and Congress is waiting for the nod from the incoming President on timing. But as Speaker Pelosi and Representative Markey know better than most, we need leadership now! It will never be easy. If we wait, passing legislation that will solve our climate and energy problems will only get harder. Solving the greatest threat to the planet must be the priority. The time is now. We need to push bold solutions and cannot compromise before Congress has even started doing anything to try to repower, refuel and rebuild. We have a committed president-elect with brilliant climate advisors. We have a House leader with a history of commitment to this issue from a district that is well educated on global warming's dangers.

In addition to bold action by Speaker Pelosi, we are urging House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) to take the lead in 2009 on a climate bill. 1Sky has over 350 organizational allies nationwide, will be funding 25 organizers spanning twenty states this year, and has already recruited voluntary Climate Precinct Captains in over 150 Congressional districts. We are amassing ground troops. We're ready. We need Congress to lead. This is never going to be an easy lift. But it needs to be done now. We have decades of polluting to make up for and no time to lose -- with catastrophic impacts looming and a clean, green economy to embrace in the face of our worst recession in decades.

Meanwhile, Energy and Commerce Committee ranking member and fossil fuel fan Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.) was quoted on Monday as saying that the folks who want us dependent on oil and coal forever think the momentum is on their side. Let's prove them wrong. Sign up to become a Climate Precinct Captain now!

On December 22 (2 weeks ago), over 1 billion gallons of toxic coal sludge came cascading through Eastern Tennessee. The tidal wave of sludge toppled houses and dirtied rivers and streams. This toxic coal ash has been stored in an open 40-acre pond next to the 50-year-old power plant.<!--break--> According to State authorities, after the spill there are 54,000 people with contaminated water in Roane County alone, and many more outside the county may also have tainted drinking water.

If you think this could not happen to you, think again. More than 50 percent of Americans live within 30 miles of a coal-fired power plant.

Coal plants leave behind scarred landscapes, poor and exploited communities, and even if you are lucky enough not to live near a coal plant you are still affected by dirty coal because it is the number one source of global warming pollution in the United States.

The Tennessee coal ash spill was a man-made disaster that is directly tied to our reliance on fossil fuels. In the face of this tragedy, the coal industry still wants to build more pollution-belching coal plants, and we cannot let that happen. This just proves that in Reality, there is no such thing as clean coal.

The coal industry spent more than $45 million last year trying to convince Americans that the dirtiest fuel on the planet is in fact "clean".

Congress has the power to stop the construction of any new dirty coal plants. We're asking you to contact your Member of Congress because it is the most effective way to guarantee action. Tell them that America is ready for clean energy -- not more dirty coal. Investing in renewable energy and energy efficiency would result in more jobs for the same amount of power -- with no toxic sludge.

Send a letter to your Member of Congress Now!

We know Congress is already beginning to pay attention because on January 8, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is holding an oversight hearing on the Tennessee Valley Authority and the recent major coal ash spill.

1Sky steering committee member Steve Smith, the Executive Director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE), will be testifying. We'll let you know what happens at that hearing, but it will mean more if letters from frustrated citizens come at the same time. So, thanks for your help on this and let's work together to stop building any new coal plants.

As we watch the U.N. Conference on Climate Change in Poznan, Poland this week, it's clear that the world is waiting for the U.S. to lead on climate change. We're proud that President-elect Barack Obama has promised bold leadership on climate change and has already announced that he agrees with the world's leading scientists that the U.S. must cut our polluting carbon emissions at least 80% by 2050.

That's good news. And yet, yesterday China and India called the President-elect's goals "inadequate" to fight global warming. 1Sky and its hundreds of allies are urging the incoming Obama administration to lead by setting more ambitious short-term targets for cutting the emission of greenhouse gases that are in line with the science. 1Sky is a national campaign that is building the political power necessary to deliver solutions to the climate crisis. Climate activists worldwide, which now include 1Sky's 250 organizational allies, 3,200 small businesses, and more than 100,000 individuals, wish the President-elect's promise to create 5 million new jobs in this country (a direct embrace of the 1Sky Solutions) through energy efficiency and investments in solar, wind, and advanced biofuels was enough to stop global warming. Indeed, the green jobs initiative is a bold step in the right direction, but it is only a part of the solution.

The incoming administration's short-term goals of achieving 1990 emissions levels by 2020 need to be better. The Nobel-prize winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has said clearly that developed countries like the United States must achieve at least 25-40% reductions from 1990 levels by 2020, which is more than twice the lift proposed by Barack Obama. The European Union representatives at Poznan are seeking commitments by developed countries, like themselves and including the United States, to reduce their collective emissions to 30% below 1990 levels by 2020.

According to the global consensus among scientists, the short-term targets that have been floated by the Obama administration thus far -- to get emissions down to 1990 levels by 2020 -- do not get us far enough fast enough. The United States can be compared with a seriously overweight man. Until he changes his lifestyle and gets down to a safe weight, he is at a substantially increased risk for heart attack or stroke. The planet is in its danger zone because we have gorged on fossil fuels. We are starting to see signs of real trouble: melting ice caps, and rapidly spreading drought.

We need to start a carbon diet, and not let the United States reach for that donut. Delaying serious short-term cuts in carbon emissions is like saying we will start our diet next January. Why not this January? Better yet, why not today? Losing a few pounds in a few years probably will not keep the fat man out of the cemetery, and incremental cuts are definitely not enough to save the planet.

It may seem as though we are expecting too much from our President-elect -- or that we want a perfect world. We know there are competing causes from health care to the critically ailing economy. But President-elect Obama understands as well as we do that a clean energy future is the answer to our economic crisis, and our national security. We urge the President-elect to listen to scientists who can describe what has happened to the Earth's atmosphere while two oil men ran the country. We need to make up for lost time. The United States should have been cutting emissions and getting serious about developing clean energy eight years ago. In the long run, saving our children from climate mishaps due to warming will save taxpayer dollars. How much more will we spend on health care and rebuilding if we do not prevent a Katrina-strength hurricane or a Tsunami-type tidal wave?

As Al Gore and the Reality campaign allies said so well today: In order for the U.S. to lead on climate change, President-elect Obama must be able to tell the world that the United States is done building coal-fired power plants.

Climate activists all over the country are organizing in their congressional districts to help the incoming administration and Congress meet these demanding goals. 1Sky is working with hundreds of organizations from schools to churches in every state across the country to build the political will to back politicians when they make the right decision to reject oil and coal industry lobbyists' arguments and embrace the scientifically accepted solutions to the climate challenge.

We urge President-elect Obama and Congress to:

• Create 5 million new green jobs and pathways out of poverty focused on climate solutions like energy efficiency, and embrace a 100% renewable energy future;


• Reduce global warming pollution at least 25% below 1990 levels by 2020 and at least 80% below 1990 levels by 2050;


• Impose a moratorium on new coal plants that emit global-warming pollution and end our dependence on oil through strong standards and incentives for energy efficiency and renewable energy.

Join 1Sky and our allies in holding the incoming administration to a higher standard and ask them to listen to scientists on climate change solutions. Visit www.1sky.org for more information.

When it comes to the outlook for climate and energy policy under President-elect Barack Obama and the 111th Congress, there's the good news, and then there are the serious challenges that we must work together to confront in the critical year that lies ahead.

The good news is that 30 national organizations working to combat global warming, including 1Sky and all members of the "Green Group" (the largest environmental organizations in the country), came together on a set of recommendations delivered to President-elect Obama earlier this month that emphasized the need to embrace the science-based targets for global warming emissions reductions outlined by the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In that document, we said:

"According to the [IPCC], we have a reasonable chance of meeting this objective if developed countries as a whole cut their emissions 25-40% from 1990 levels by 2020 and at least 80% by 2050; within this time frame, major developing countries as a whole must also act promptly to slow their emissions growth and then substantially reduce their emissions. To be within this range in 2020, the U.S. would have to reduce its emissions by 35% from current levels."

It was the first time we were all standing together on the science, and it was an important way to begin the conversation with an impressive new ally in the White House and a new Congress to work with.

The other good news is that Obama addressed the Governor's Global Climate Summit yesterday and in his speech he committed himself very clearly to a new chapter in leadership on climate change, and to implementing a federal cap and trade system that would get us to the 80% reductions by 2050 the IPCC says we must achieve -- at a minimum -- to avoid cataclysmic climate impacts. He reinforced what we all know -- that climate change is irrefutable, and that it will continue to weaken our economy and our national security if we don't address it. And he reiterated his commitment to creating 5 million new jobs in this country (a direct embrace of the 1Sky Solutions) through energy efficiency and investments in solar, wind, and advanced biofuels.

So -- our work is done, right? Wrong.

In his remarks yesterday the President-elect reiterated his prior commitment to get emissions down to 1990 levels by 2020 -- when the IPCC has said clearly that we must achieve at least 25% reductions from 1990 levels by 2020, and our international counterparts are standing by awaiting leadership on that scale as they prepare for their negotiations in Poznan in December 2008, and in Copenhagen in December 2009. Obama's near term targets must be much stronger if we are to tackle this problem, and if we are to demonstrate the leadership he is clearly committed to providing at a global level.

The other challenge we face is that Obama reiterated his commitment to "clean coal" which, as I have said before, is a myth, and while he talked about continued reliance on nuclear energy, there was no mention of geothermal alongside wind and solar as smart, renewable energy alternatives. As my colleague David Orr is famous for saying, "nuclear is a very expensive way to boil water," not to mention the security risks it presents.

I hate to be the naysayer, because I am as excited as anyone else about the hope and potential President-elect Obama presents. But I take him at his word when he says we have to work together to get where we are going, and that he will be listening carefully -- most of all when we disagree. I was somewhat disheartened to see the slew of entirely celebratory press statements yesterday coming from my colleagues in the field -- none of which took issue with the ways in which Obama's remarks deviated from what we called for just a week ago in a unified set of recommendations.

But perhaps the biggest challenge we face is getting Congress behind the President-elect. We need 218 votes in the House to pass strong climate legislation, and depending on who is counting we are upwards of 150. And we need 60 votes in the Senate -- we don't even break 50 if we are talking about standing with the science. That is why yesterday, 1Sky, Energy Action, 350.org and a range of our other allies nationally mobilized more than 4,000 people to visit all 435 Congressional districts in every state in the country, welcoming the 111th Congress and urging them to work with President-elect Obama to:

• Create 5 million new green jobs and pathways out of poverty focused on climate solutions and energy efficiency;


• Reduce global warming pollution at least 25% below 1990 levels by 2020 and at least 80% below 1990 levels by 2050;


• Impose a moratorium on new coal plants that emit global warming pollution and end our dependence on oil through strong standards and incentives for energy efficiency and renewable energy.

We need you now more than ever -- we are about to launch our Climate Precinct Captains campaign, with a goal to identify and engage voluntary Climate Precinct Captains in all 435 Congressional districts in the country by early 2009, and to move from there into all 300,000 voting precincts nationwide. Sign up now and put yourself on the map!

New coal plants are the most urgent threat to our dangerously fragile climate. Just yesterday, an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) appeals board issued a ruling that will essentially halt the construction of new coal plants in the United States for the near term. They were responding because in Utah, yet another dirty plant was proposed without any concern for it's dangerous CO2 emissions. Like any dangerous substance, the EPA appeals board said that CO2 emissions should be limited with the "best available technology," for all new plants -- which applies to the entire fleet of plants currently proposed in the U.S. Kudos to the legal team at the Sierra Club for pushing the EPA to make this ruling happen.

In January of 2007, the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) announced that there were 151 proposed coal plants slated to be built in the U.S. -- their construction would drastically increase U.S. carbon footprint, and cripple any chance of effectively dealing with climate change in time to avert runaway feedback loops that could severely alter life on Earth as we know it. In the last two years, an unlikely coalition of individuals, non-profit groups, investment banks and government officials have managed to stop 80 out of the 151 proposed plants.

Earlier this year, we saw the i-banking world reassessing their portfolios to include "climate risk." They see the necessity of dramatic carbon reductions, and are planning accordingly. They realize that factoring the cost of pollution into their books is good business, because change is coming when it comes to carbon regulation. From Enron's epic failure, to the sub-prime mortgage crisis, we are seeing a widespread failure in our traditional market systems. And now we are playing with sub-prime investments in sub-prime dirty coal plants.

As we recover from this economic crisis, the only way forward is one where we're being honest about the way we calculate risk, and the true costs of doing business. Finally, i-banker on Wall Street sees the same writing on the wall as the coal activist in Appalachia, who sees flattened mountains, toxic bath water, and a warming world. As of yesterday, that reality is being reflected by our government as well.

Here at 1Sky we're ready to move beyond coal. More than ever, we're seeing that a broad swath of society supports a decisive shift from dirty fossil fuels to clean energy. We can create market certainty, investment opportunities, and green pathways out of poverty with a just and equitable green recovery program. We're going to need capital, we're going to need workers, and more than anything else, we're going to need help. Check out www.1Sky.org for a list of our 200 allied organizations, and sign up to learn how we can join forces to fight for a better future.

Yesterday, millions of Americans voted in record numbers for a dramatic change in our country's direction. After eight years of near-paralysis on the climate front, and in the midst of our biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression, the election of Barack Obama and a host of new Members of Congress -- many of whom support clean, renewable energy, green-collar jobs and caps on carbon emissions -- gives us hope that we'll finally get the bold climate leadership we've been looking for in Washington. But if this election is going to bring real change on the climate front, we'll have to hold our new leaders accountable (as we plan to do on November 18) for most of the promises they made on the campaign trail -- and get them to drop some others.

There's much to like in the climate agenda that an Obama administration would put before the new Congress. For example, Obama has called for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050 -- a target in line with what the Nobel Prize winning panel of scientists at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have said we must do if we are to avoid catastrophic climate impacts. While we need to press for much more aggressive short-term targets, such as cutting emissions by at least 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, Obama's long-term target is a good start.

He has also proposed a cap-and-trade policy in which all pollution credits would be auctioned. The proceeds would go towards investments in clean, renewable energy, helping workers affected by this economic transition and helping lower-income families with their energy costs. Obama has also called for 10 percent of our electricity to come for renewable sources by 2012 and 25 percent by 2025, greater investment in energy efficiency, and the creation of five million green-collar jobs (the five1 million green-collar job proposal (PDF) is a direct embrace of 1Sky's policy platform).

Obama is also right in his cautious approach towards nuclear energy. He has warned that, before an expansion of nuclear power is considered, key issues must be addressed, including: security of nuclear fuel and waste, waste storage, and proliferation. Given all the risks nuclear power carries, and the exorbitant cost of building new plants, it isn't a realistic alternative to fossil fuels and we're glad to see the President-elect is cool to the idea.

Now that the heat of the campaign season is behind us, we hope President-elect Obama will stop pretending that so-called "clean coal" is a realistic way to reduce carbon emissions and achieve energy independence. As I've written here before, "clean coal" is nothing but a myth. Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) is unproven and exorbitantly expensive. At best, the technology will not be commercially available until 2030, and installing carbon capture systems will nearly double plant costs, which won't provide any relief to Americans' soaring utility bills. We need real solutions, not coal industry myths. As president, Obama should feel free to stop pandering on clean coal and focus on real solutions to our energy and climate crises.

At 1Sky, we have developed a three-pronged approach to solving the climate challenge:

• Create five million new green jobs and pathways out of poverty focused on climate solutions and energy efficiency;


• Reduce global warming pollution at least 25% below 1990 levels by 2020 and at least 80% below 1990 levels by 2050;


• Impose a moratorium on new coal plants that emit global warming pollution, and end our dependence on oil through strong standards and incentives for energy efficiency and renewable energy.

The 1Sky Solutions represent the dawning of a new era for our struggling economy. By shifting to a sustainable, low-carbon economy, we can relieve our dependence on oil, unlock the potential of green industry and usher in a new era of prosperity.

The results of yesterday's election are encouraging for our economy and our planet's future, but we'll only achieve the change we need by pressing our leaders for bold leadership to solve the climate challenge. On Tuesday, November 18, join thousands of climate activists across the country to welcome President-elect Obama and the new Congress by calling on them to make climate an immediate priority in 2009. Volunteers will also ask the President-elect to go to the U.N. Climate Change Conference in PoznaÅ

Last night in the Vice Presidential debate, you heard both Senator Biden and Governor Palin touting their support for "clean coal".  Today, President Bush signed a $700 "bailout" bill passed by Congress that provides important tax credit extensions for renewable energy and energy efficiency measures--but also gives $25 billion in tax credits to the coal industry.

Both presidential campaigns and our Congress are missing the point:  Conventional coal-burning power plants are the leading cause of global warming pollution in the United States.

"Clean Coal" is a myth -- a contradiction in terms.  Coal companies claim they can develop coal plants at some point in the distant future that will capture and sequester carbon pollution.  But carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) is unproven and exorbitantly expensive.  At best, the technology will not be commercially available until 2030, and installing carbon capture systems will almost double plant costs, which won't provide any relief to Americans' soaring utility bills. We need real solutions, not coal industry myths.  Send a message to both Presidential campaigns that we need clean, green energy now.

The recent firestorm of attention in the media on the "Clean Coal" red herring, which has been fanned by attacks and rebuttals from both Presidential campaigns, began two weeks ago when a 1Sky organizer in Ohio, Carolyn Auwaerter, asked Biden a simple question based on 1Sky's commitment to moving beyond coal. "Senator," she asked,  "Wind and solar are flourishing here in Ohio, so why are you supporting clean coal?" Biden clearly and directly stated "We're not supporting 'clean coal'... No coal plants here in America!" 

But he went on to argue for exporting Clean Coal technology to export to China, claiming it was necessary because several new coal plants are being built each week in China, with pollution impacting us here in the United States.  You can see the Biden exchange here.  The McCain-Palin ticket has been an even more vocal advocate of coal as a solution to our energy crisis.

Both campaigns need to hear us loud and clear: the solution to our climate crisis and our staggering economy is not more business as usual.  It is a clean, green 21st century economy that provides jobs in the growing wind, solar, and geothermal industries. 

Thousands of Americans spanning every state in the country hosted over 675 events this past Saturday, September 27th demonstrating their support for Green Jobs Now!  But we need to make our message even louder.

Please, take a minute now to send a message to both Presidential campaigns that we need clean green energy now.

We need federal policy that will:

• Enact an immediate moratorium on new coal-fired power plants that emit global warming pollution;


• Repower America through smart, renewable energy such as solar, wind and geothermal;


• Set strong, science-based targets for the reduction of global warming emissions of at least 25% below 1990 levels by 2020, and at least 80% below 1990 levels by 2050;


• Create 5 million new green jobs and pathways out of poverty with a sweeping national mobilization for climate solutions and investment in a new energy economy.

Thank you for your commitment to real solutions!

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