For Immediate Release
November 18, 2008
Contact:
Brianna Cayo Cotter, Communications Director, Energy Action Coalition
E-Mail: Brianna@energyaction.net Phone: (415) 305 1943
Melisa Stodieck, 1Sky
E-Mail: melisa@1sky.org Phone: (952) 239-1551
Nationwide “Welcoming Party” Urges President-Elect and 111th Congress To Bold Leadership On Climate Crisis
Thousands of grassroots activists across the country mobilize to demonstrate their support for clean energy and green jobs
Washington, D.C. – Carrying oversized welcome cards and gifts of model windmills, citizens across the country today are welcoming their members of Congress to office with a call to bold leadership on clean energy and climate change. Over 4000 grassroots climate activists in over 430 congressional districts in all 50 states will participate in the visits. Additionally, concerned citizens rallying in Washington, D.C. today have a special gift for the President-Elect: a giant plane ticket symbolizing their request to Obama to attend the crucial United Nations Climate Conference in Poland in December.
Organized by the 1Sky campaign, the youth-led Energy Action Coalition, 350.org, and a number of other local and national organizations, this nationwide “welcoming party” demonstrates the tremendous public support for bold climate action and a new green economy. Citizens and climate leaders are offering their encouragement to the nation’s new leaders as they work to re-engage the world, re-power America with clean energy, and re-build the nation’s economy.
Hundreds are expected at a noon rally in D.C.’s Upper Senate Park to show their support for clean energy, green jobs, and bold climate policy. Immediately following the rally, some activists will deliver the giant plane ticket to President-Elect Obama's transition team, while others will descend on Capitol Hill to deliver welcome cards to every representative in the House and Senate.
Caldwell asserts that “Today, we're gathering in our nation's Capitol even as thousands of citizens in every Congressional District and state in this country send a message loud and clear to Congress and President-elect Obama: we're ready to work with you to ensure we tackle the climate challenge with a bold plan to repower America with 100% clean energy, create 5 million green jobs, and cut our global warming 80% by 2050. We can and must tackle our energy crisis, our economic challenges, and our climate crisis all at once with a comprehensive approach."
”Young voters committed to clean energy provided the margin of victory for many candidates this year,” notes Jessy Tolkan, director of the youth-led Energy Action Coalition, whose nonpartisan Power Vote campaign mobilized over 350,000 young “climate voters” in the 2008 election. “The first hundred days for the new President and the new Congress offer a clear opportunity for bold leadership to create green jobs and ensure a clean energy future.”
For more information visit www.PowerVote.org or www.1Sky.org.
For more information, contact Brianna Cayo Cotter, Energy Action Coalition, at (415) 305-1943 or Melisa Stodieck, 1Sky, at (952) 239-1551.
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