For Immediate Release: April 3, 2013
Contact: Rachele Huennekens, 415-977-5761, rachele.huennekens@sierraclub.org
Thousands Pack Sierra Club Events Demanding President Obama Take Bold Action Against Climate Disruption
Dozens of Town Hall meetings part of the Sierra Club’s “100 Days of Action to Fight Climate Disruption”
San Francisco, CA – On the heels of the largest climate rally in U.S. history, tens of thousands of Americans in 23 states have returned to their communities in town hall meetings and other community actions to tell President Obama he can’t wait to take action on climate disruption. The President invited the American public to a national climate conversation, and with these town hall meetings the Sierra Club and its allies are taking him up on that offer.
“American families can’t wait any longer for real solutions to the climate crisis," said Michael Brune, Sierra Club Executive Director. "Thousands of Sierra Club supporters, as well as millions of Americans nationwide, are looking for bold moves from the President to establish his legacy by reigning in the carbon pollution of dirty fossil fuels and moving our country to clean energy."
Photos, from top: Sierra Club members in Atlanta, GA march in the Martin Luther King, Jr. parade demanding Presidential action on climate disruption; Kentucky churchgoers listen to a sermon about climate disruption; 30 activists in Philadelphia, PA participate in a “Climate Conversation” meeting; Dallas, TX families write letters to President Obama.
As Earth Day and 100 Days since President Obama’s second Inauguration approaches, the grassroots mobilization of Americans demanding swift action on the climate crisis is growing in momentum. Highlights of the town hall meetings include:
• Texas, March 2-4: More than 300 community activists from across the U.S. joined the “Stop the Frack Attack” summit in Dallas and rally in Austin to stop destructive drilling and fracking from invading their backyards.
• Omaha, NE, March 23: The Sierra Club, the Malcolm X Center and 1690 AM The One Radio Station sponsored a public forum on Environmental Justice concerns including pollution from Omaha Public Power District's North Omaha Power Plant.
• New Haven, CT, March 27: U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal joined a panel of Yale faculty including the Director of the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication and an Assistant Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry to discuss climate change.
• Indianapolis, IN, April 4: Sierra Club will host “Indy’s Clean Energy Showcase” featuring brackets matching cheap, local clean energy vs. dirty, expensive fossil fuels.
• Pennsylvania: On April 9, families in Philadelphia will perform street theater, including a mock tug of war including Big Oil and Coal industry titans with tuxedos and money bags vs. green energy workers in lab coats, scrubs, and green hard hats. On April 22 in Pittsburgh, the Blue Green Alliance, Sierra Club and labor unions will discuss climate disruption and workforce shifts at a town hall meeting.
•Toms River, NJ, April 10: A town hall meeting will address the impact of dirty fossil fuels on vulnerable communities, including the destruction of Superstorm Sandy in this coastal community.
• Richmond, VA, April 14: Virginians will dance to the “Electric Slide To Clean Energy,” sending a message to Dominion and the State Corporation Commission to invest in clean energy sources instead of natural gas.
• Moapa, NV, April 20: Moapa Band of Paiutes tribal members will march from the dirty Reid Gardner coal plant adjacent to their reservation to the future site of the K Road Moapa Solar Farm, to celebrate Earth Day.
• Madison, WI, April 28: Sierra Club and partner groups will host the BIG Climate Event at the Aldo Leopold Nature Center, featuring unique ways for community members to find and express their Climate Voices including making masks and puppets, writing poetry and songs, and recording stories at a TV studio.
Photos, from top: Texans ask the President Obama to Move Forward on Climate; St. Louis, MO residents living near a polluting coal plant call for clean energy at a Town Hall meeting.
The Sierra Club will continue to push for strong administrative actions to fight climate disruption.
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For more information about local events listed above, or others, contact rachele.huennekens@sierraclub.org. For more information on the Sierra Club’s 100 Days of Action, visit www.standwiththeplanet.com