Minnesotans have already helped the Gulf respond to this current disaster. To prevent future calamities, we need to move swiftly to a clean energy economy. We have the technology, we have the capacity, and I believe that Americans have the will. Future generations will thank us for our courage this year.
State Rep. Jeremy Kalin, DFL-District 17B, is the chair of the national Coalition of Legislators for Energy Action Now. He has a great op-ed in the Minnesota Post, which I excerpt below:
Minnesota is not insulated from this disaster.
In mid-June I joined a bipartisan group of conservation-minded state legislators in Memphis, Tenn., to address the Gulf of Mexico catastrophe, among other issues. We visited with the national Ducks Unlimited director of conservation. He and I spoke at length about the potential impact of oil-filled marshes on the Mississippi flyway. Scaups and other ducks feed in those wetlands over the winter, before heading north to Minnesota and beyond for the summer.
Loons feed in oil-threatened marshes
Ducks are not the only birds that migrate up and down the Mississippi River valley. Our state bird, the common loon, travels south for the winter and feeds in those same oil-threatened marshes. The loon is one of the most recognizing symbols of our great state “” we must ensure the call of the loon is heard for decades to come.Minnesota has dealt with tragedies before, and the lessons we learned are helping those in the Gulf. After the I-35W bridge disaster, the Legislature established a survivor’s “escrow fund” that quickly made sure victims could pay their medical bills as well as deal with lost paychecks. Seeing the success of that approach, I suggested to the White House that it make BP fund a similar escrow fund for Gulf oil victims facing lost livelihoods and economic damage. President Obama announced this plan, based in part on Minnesota’s leadership before.Though our nation responds well in times of crisis, we need to prevent the next looming disasters.America’s energy policy has been too reliant on the single source of oil for too long. Cute slogans like “drill baby drill” have justified billion-dollar bailouts for Big Oil, including the U.S. Energy Policy Act of 2005. That bill was just one of many written by oil lobbyists who successfully gutted environmental safeguards in deepwater drilling.Unfortunately, in 2005 both Sens. Norm Coleman and Mark Dayton supported the Bush administration’s $2.6 billion effort to appease Big Oil, proving that bipartisanship isn’t always more important than principle. By providing tax breaks for Big Oil, the Bush administration and Congress made dirty energy cheaper and increased our energy trade deficit to over $1 billion a day. Americans’ energy dollars need to be invested here, in home-grown clean energy jobs.
Leadership on energy independence
Once again, Minnesota’s past leadership can be a model for our nation, especially when it comes to energy independence.Shortly after taking over the Minnesota House majority, the DFL-led Legislature passed the nation’s strongest Renewable Electricity Standard, requiring more than 25 percent of our electricity be provided from renewable sources like wind turbines and solar panels. That year, we also passed the country’s strongest energy conservation standard as well as aggressive cuts to greenhouse gas pollution. Minnesota’s developed next-generation biofuels, and we are expanding clean energy jobs manufacturing solar panels and developing electric vehicles.
This summer, the U.S. Senate will debate a comprehensive clean energy bill in response to the BP crisis and our ongoing addiction to oil. Unlike in 2005, today’s Minnesota senators stood up to Big Oil’s high-paid lobbyists and voted to defeat a special resolution that would have gutted the Clean Air Act. Minnesotans should thank Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken, and ask them to help Minnesota lead the nation to a brighter, cleaner energy future.
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Language Intelligence: Lessons on persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Lady Gaga
Well, it’s about time! We need every possible politician to pick up the pace on climate messaging–to help clueless folks connect the dots!
Thankfully, President Obama has begun to respond to our activists’ call to “Please Educate and Lead on Climate!” (See, for example, GWEN’s Obama petition: http://www.change.org/global_warming_education_network.)
Earlier this month, referring to the BP oil disaster, Obama said “The consequences of our inaction are now in plain sight.” “For decades, we have talked and talked about the need to end America’s century-long addiction to fossil fuels,” he added.
Again, it’s about time. Kudos to Obama, Carol Browner and others too!
OK. Don’t get me started–especially not this early in the day!
But, it’s an important time for our collective climate futures; a time to focus our leaders on climate change and its consequences; a time to ask Obama and all of our elected representatives to “go for broke!”
So, here, below, is my latest of many messages to the White House. And here’s a suggestion for Climate Progress readers and commenters:
If you’re reading CP, and writing comments, you should also be sending at least an equal number of comments to the president. It’s easy, and it might even help move things along: go to http://www.whitehouse.gov and look for the “Contact Us” button in the extreme upper right-hand corner of the page!
We shouldn’t complain too much if we’re not asking for his help, and encouraging him to do more–especially to inform the misinformed.
Dear President Obama,
Climate change, unknown to most citizens, is one of the greatest threats facing the United States.
Your increasing attention to this area is very much appreciated by those of us who ‘get’ the problems (and opportunities) that come with climate change.
Please keep up the higher level of messaging about this, from you and others.
As a suggestion, to gain more support for the actions we need to take, couldn’t you authorize an immediate expenditure on some ‘public service’ announcements on radio and TV about the basics?
Alternatively, why not ask the weather and news people to do a little better job of “connecting the dots” (CTDs) relating to climate change–as you are doing when you’ve talked about BP, and coal mine disasters?
As just one glaring but unreported CTD example: studies show that climate change brings a greater likelihood of storms with intense winds and deluges of rain.
We have been having more of these storms, such as the flash flood that killed some 20 campers in Arkansas recently. Yet, it is extremely rare to hear even a hint of this connection in the news.
Media outlets may fear a loss of advertising revenue from fossil fuel-related interests, but what excuse does our own government have for not helping connect the dots?
If folks understood what is at stake, and that it could continue to get worse for decades after we begin to change, they would support more action.
Again, thanks for what you are doing, and please continue to ramp things up: our future, and that of billions depends on it!
Sincerely yours,
R. Shamel
Lexington, Massachusetts
MS, Chemistry, Ohio State
MBA, Marketing, Harvard
Now is the time for all good citizens to contact their elected officials regarding the need for strong climate legislation.
Call President Obama’s comment line at 202-456-1111. If that’s busy, call the White House switchboard at 202-456-1414–tell them they need more vounteers and phone lines to handle comments.
Also, what do you say to a potential swing senator? I’ll be meeting with some of MA Senator Brown’s staff in Boston Thursday morning to talk about his support for climate legislation.
Although I certainly have many things in mind for the upcoming conversation, I’d welcome comments from anyone who would care to offer sugestions in terms of both framing and content for this discussion.
My hope is that we MA citizens can get Senator Brown to see the wisdom of supporting strong climate legislation–to benefit us all. He could end up having a very important vote in the critical weeks ahead!
Thanks,
Roger