"I'm worried about my health and everybody else's."
-- 16-year-old Jessica Steelman, whose family has been impacted by last year’s coal ash spill in Tennessee
In this issue:
1) Take Action: Send Your Senator a Holiday Card!
2) Take Action: Protect our Carbon Rich Forests
3) TVA Anniversary: Protect Communities from Toxic Coal Ash
4) Copenhagen: Deal Reached
1) Take Action: Send Your Senator a Holiday Card!
Senators John Kerry (D-MA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) have announced a framework for bipartisan clean energy legislation, and the House passed a tax extenders package that included one year extensions of energy tax credits for alternative fuel, vehicles, and environmental cleanup. Although work continues for clean energy and climate solutions, it is unlikely that we will see any major domestic action on climate legislation this year.
As we cast our eyes towards next year, we must ensure that strong clean energy and climate legislation is a high priority for our senators. Don't forget your senators this holiday season!
Mail them a holiday card and urge them to make a clean energy new year's resolution for 2010!
2) Take Action: Protect our Carbon Rich Forests
Last week at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, global leaders addressed the need to stop deforestation in developing countries. President Obama can build upon this agreement by ensuring that our country's forests -- which currently capture and store about 14% of our country’s greenhouse gas emissions -- also have more permanent protections.
While Congress continues to debate climate legislation, President Obama can act now to protect our country's older, carbon rich forests.
Tell President Obama that we should prioritize safeguarding the extensive carbon stores in our older and publicly-owned forests.
A year ago today the dam at Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) Kingston coal site failed, flooding nearby communities with over a billion gallons of toxic coal ash. The spill, which is still far from being cleaned up, is a poignant reminder of the many threats posed by a dependence on dirty coal.
With an ad in the Washington Post today the Sierra Club, joined by over a hundred allies, called for strong, federally enforceable regulations to protect us from coal ash before the problem gets any worse.
Add your voice. www.sierraclub.org/coalash
4) Copenhagen: Deal Reached
After two weeks of negotiations world leaders announced the elements of an historic international climate accord. The agreement has all the ingredients necessary to construct a final treaty and can serve as a basis for other nations to join in. This deal is still not nearly enough, even for these four countries, but it is a major step forward.
The rest of the world -- including countries like China and India -- has made clear that it is willing to take action, the Senate must pass domestic legislation as soon as possible. America and the world can no longer be held hostage to petty politics and obstructionism.
Learn more here.