environment Politics: Big Coal Big Oil John Kerry
by Warren
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Month 3, Day 28: Keeping the Pressure On
This goes off to John Kerry. Now I’m just anxious that the Senate will actually DO some climate legislation…and that it won’t be just another industry giveaway.
Dear Senator Kerry,
Now that health care legislation has been passed (and congratulations and thanks for your advocacy on this landmark achievement!) it’s time for the next chapters of the Democratic agenda. I understand that next on the legislative menu will be financial reform, which I think is an excellent choice. The misbehavior of the big banks and investment firms is all too obvious to anyone who’s been paying attention. The only worry we have is that the bill will contain too many loopholes and giveaways to the fiduciary miscreants who got us into this mess in the first place.
Interestingly enough, that’s the same worry I have with the climate legislation you are developing with Senators Graham and Lieberman. Will the worst polluters in the world be given concessions that allow them to continue their environmentally destructive behavior in the years to come? Make no mistake, to allow this (in the name of “maintaining a positive relationship with the business community” or some similar phrasing) will be to doom any efforts to address climate change responsibly. We need to get atmospheric CO2 down to 350 ppm or less; we need to take immediate action to deal with the two unresolved dilemmas of the climate crisis — oceanic acidification and polar methane.
This is as grave a crisis as humanity has ever faced. Regardless of what we do, it’s a given that the lives of our grandchildren will be unimaginably different. If we take the right action now, their lives may be different in a positive way: sustainable, frugal, globally responsible. If we fail, their lives may be something we wouldn’t wish on our worst enemies. The short-sighted and irresponsible behavior of big oil and big coal (and of the US Chamber of Commerce, among others) should ensure that these parties no longer deserve a seat at the negotiating table. Their contributions to climate change legislation are guaranteed to weaken its effect and impede its implementation.
It is time to put planet over profit. No more concessions to the Carbon Lobby!
Yours Sincerely,
Warren Senders
environment Politics: Barack Obama
by Warren
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Month 3, Day 27: Another Saturday POTUS
The first post-healthcare letter to the President. Congratulations where congratulations are due, and all that.
Dear President Obama,
Congratulations on the passage of health care legislation. Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid have done yeoman service to America in bringing the bill forward and creating the circumstances for a “yes” vote. I have every hope that you will continue to advance your agenda over the next few months. Let’s keep the momentum going.
I understand that the next big legislative package will be on financial reform; this is sorely needed, and if the legislation is not unnecessarily diluted with too many giveaways to the financial criminals who broke the system in the first place, it will have an immediate and powerful effect on the country’s confidence in its economic system. And after financial reform, what?
This letter is to urge you to make the upcoming climate bill the next item on your agenda. We need meaningful legislation to be passed before the next round of climate talks. It is absolutely crucial that this bill be free of egregious concessions to major polluters. Big oil and big coal have no interest in making this bill better; their interest is in their own short-term bottom lines. In fact, strong climate legislation is analogous to strong financial reform. In both cases, the government needs to ensure that the people’s resources are not wasted and destroyed for the sake of a corporate profit margin — and that we as a society learn to live responsibly and within our means.
If a climate bill is passed soon, the fickle components of the electorate will have had ample time to forget it before November — while the environmentally aware Democratic base will be energized.
I know I will. Pass strong legislation on climate change and I’ll donate and volunteer double what I did in 2008. This is the most important thing we’ll ever do.
Yours Sincerely,
Warren Senders