This week, 1Sky, a national organization pushing for strong federal action to deal with global warming, is starting an effort here in West Virginia. The first meeting is today at 7:30 p.m. at the Kanawha County Public Library’s main branch, 123 Capitol Street, Charleston.
Here’s an email I got from one of the organizers:
As health care heats up in the U.S. senate, the
planet is heating up too, as is the buzz around the senate climate
legislation. The five hottest years in the last century all occurred in
the last decade, and without immediate action to cut down on global
warming pollution, it could be too late.The exciting news is we can jumpstart our economy with millions of clean
energy jobs and transition us away from coal and other dirty fuels of
the past and towards a clean energy future. Moreover, we can save
families in West Virginia hundreds of dollars through
insulating homes and increasing energy efficiency.This fall is a watershed moment in the fight on global warming. The U.S.
senate will take up what must be the most far reaching global warming
legislation ever voted on in congress. In addition, the international
community will meet for the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen this December to chart up long term global targets
for taking on global warming. Oil and coal interests have well-heeled
lobbyists in Washington, D.C. that contribute hundreds of thousands of
dollars to political campaigns and millions on advertising and without
strong and deep grassroots organizing neither of these, a strong senate
bill or a global accord will be realized.A handful of key senators like Jay Rockefeller and Robert Byrd will play
a key role in this tight vote. 1Sky is building the buzz in the national
and state media to put our senators in the spotlight.
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This is great, except that 1Sky’s position on the climate bill(s) is kind of confusing. At first they were gung-ho for the House bill, and now they’re saying they demand a stronger Senate bill. Personally, I think the (House) bill stinks and is going to do more to promote coal than renewable energy, and doesn’t even meet scientific criteria for the reduction of GHG! At what point does the bill get lousy enough to oppose?
Hopefully they’ll be pushing for a MUCH stronger Senate bill instead of just championing whatever crap they get handed from Congress because it’s “better than nothing.”
I have never heard of this organization. How long have they been around?
Nanette,
You can learn more about the group and its history by clicking through to their website and going to the “about” section:
http://www.1sky.org/about
Ken.
Thanks!
Hi:
Exactly who are these folks??? Website lists a bunch of donors and affiliates that appear to be related to either renewables industry (solar/windmills) or natural gas industry.
I say that’s fine, but it would be nice if they were a little more upfront about it. I figure they’ve got some tax policy interests at stake here. I could be mistaken, but i don’t think so.
1Sky is the creation of the big foundations who have hired a bunch of Washington types to hound politicians into submitting to their will. The usual sort of thing. While I know some of their staff, as far as I can tell, no one from the coal mining regions was informed about this meeting or what they are planning to do. They are going after Rockefeller and Byrd. I wish them luck, but they certainly haven’t demonstrated any ability to put a spotlight on anyone, anywhere, as a search of news stories about them quickly reveals. And I find their harping about clean, green jobs and insulation to be oversimplifying a very tragic and complicated issue with a bunch of happy talk. I see no mention about dirty energy, mountaintop removal, the depopulation of the central Appalachians, the floods, poisoned water, lost forests or what concrete steps need to be taken for West Virginia to transition away from coal mining and into something more sustainable.
Anyway, as we can see, the less well-heeled, (but still heeled) lobbiest are in favor of “the most far reaching global warming
legislation ever voted on in congress”. This is plain silly because this pig of a bill is the first such bill to ever be voted on, and most people who follow this are convinced that it will be a train wreck with billions of dollars in subsidies for coal, gas and oil,the very energy sources that are causing most of the problem.
I agree with Dr. James Hanson that the Waxman-Markey Bill will do more harm than good, cap and trade will be a disaster to administer, and that what is needed is a simple carbon tax.
And of course an end to mountain top removal, which the Waxman-Markey bill does not even address.
roselle,
I’ve heard similar complaints about 1Sky, that they say they’re “grassroots” but don’t do a very good job of working with the folks who’ve been on the ground for decades when they swoop in from outside. I’m sure they’re well-intentioned, but usurping a local group’s agenda to advance their own isn’t all that grassroots.
Blue Canary,
Unfortunately, this is fairly standard practice for the big foundations and we have seen it all before. If 1Sky wants to do something meaningful for West Virginia, then they should help to get the Appalachian Restoration Act passed. Putting a spotlight on our elected politicians here will do little, as they are very proud to be standing with Big Coal and the climate change deniers.
Colluding with the coal industry to get a climate bill passed that that actually protects their bottom line just so you can justify your existence is in my view unethical. Environmentalist should not write laws, that is the job of the politicians. Our duty should be to speak the truth as we see it. If WE don’t, no one will hear it.
For the Waxman-Markey Bill to be a climate bill, it would have to tackle coal head on, if it were an environmental bill, it would have to abolish strip mining altogether. Since it does neither, it cannot be supported by environmentalist. As my friend, the late Teddy Goldsmith would say, one does not cross an abyss with two bounds. We may not succeed with this approach either, but that does not make it wrong. Sugar coating the climate crisis, I believe, whether by well meaning the enviros or the big bad coal dudes, is still just wrong.