This Action Alert has expired and can no longer be sent. Many thanks to those who participated.
Action Alert: Coal Kills -- Time for People Power to Protect the Climate
The use of coal must end if we are to maintain an operable atmosphere, human civilization and all the Earth's complex life
By
Climate Ark, a project of Ecological Internet
-
February 28, 2009
Share on Facebook
1.) Inform Yourself
NOTE: This is a protest, not a petition, sending emails to many real decision makers on matters vital to the Earth.
Caption:
The Capitol Hill Power Plant: Coal Kills and its use must end if we are to maintain an operable atmosphere (link)
The growing and powerful climate movement has, based upon climate science, already shown conclusively that climate change is real and deadly. Now we must urge politicians, industry and individuals to immediately act and transform themselves if we are to survive. Finally, a mass protest against coal -- whose plants are "factories of death" -- is to occur in America, reflecting the urgency and depth of the one most important, sufficient climate response through non-violent civil disobedience.
Coal generates the highest greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per unit of energy obtained, and large reserves remain that must not be burned if we are to survive. Continued reliance upon coal, without immediate phasing-out of plants that emit into the atmosphere, is incompatible with any scenario to reduce atmospheric GHGs to a safe level in time to avert irreversible and catastrophic climate change.
Ecological Internet wholeheartedly endorses the Capitol Climate Action -- the largest mass civil disobedience for the climate in U.S. history. On March 2, you are urged to join thousands of people in protesting at the Capitol Power Plant in Washington DC, a plant that powers the U.S. Congress with dirty energy. The peaceful protest is a rallying cry for a clean energy economy that protects the health of our families, our climate, and our future -- and ends the use of coal that emits pollutants into the atmosphere. Facing protest, Capitol leadership has already promised to switch the Capitol Power Plant off coal. Now we need them to promise to do the same thing to every other coal-fired power plant in America. If this one is too dirty, so are all the rest.
Coal is the dirtiest of all fossil fuels and has caused most of the global warming crisis to date. Coal-fired power plants remain the largest source of global warming pollution in the U.S., and the climate crisis cannot be addressed unless we stop burning coal. "Clean coal" is a fiction created by industry advertising, as carbon capture technology is untested and not available for years, if ever. From mining, to burning, to waste disposal, coal threatens our health and safety. Mountain-top removal mining destroys water resources and ecosystems; burning coal releases mercury, acid rain, black soot and tons of toxic ash waste; resulting in a host of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, including lung cancer, asthma, heart disease and premature death.
Humanity's dependence upon antiquated dirty coal energy is on the verge of triggering powerful and irreversible planetary feedbacks -- including permafrost methane release, less reflective ice, forest fires and overwhelmed carbon sinks -- that are beyond human control and will intensify abrupt and run-away climate change. Without an all out global people power mobilization to pursue the end of coal, and other sufficient climate policy such as protecting and restoring old forests, we are rushing into a global catastrophe never before imagined. Disappearing glaciers, fast changing climate zones, and desertification means dwindling water supply, famine, coastal flooding, ecosystem collapse, spread of tropical disease, mass migration and war. Coal kills.
The rapid phase-out of fossil fuels, particularly coal, is not only our best chance of averting climate catastrophe; it also provides a desperately needed –- and permanent –- major stimulus to our unraveling economy. Shifting to renewable energy -- even as we seek to dramatically increase energy efficiency and conservation -- means shifting hundreds of billions of dollars per year from dirty fuel purchases into green jobs creation within our own economies. Every dollar spent on green energy creates over three times as many jobs as in coal and oil. Vast military expenditures used to secure fossil fuel access, estimated at over $200 billion/year, would also be freed up. In short, this solution to the climate crisis also provides economic security, job security, and national security. It will restore health to people and the planet.
In December 2009, the international community will meet in Copenhagen to establish a plan to tackle the climate crisis. Congress and the Obama administration need to get to work now in order to position the U.S. to lead the world in developing an agreement capable of solving the crisis. There is no future for coal, tar sands or old forest logging in such an agreement, and the U.S. must begin to lead by example. Our leaders must repower our economy with clean energy technology and pass comprehensive science-driven coal and forest legislation that is capable of avoiding the most dangerous impacts of global warming.
We encourage you to consider marching and getting arrested to make the point that the age of coal is over, and/or to show your support for the brave protestors and the end of coal by sending the message below.
Sample Email Sent
Coal kills
Dear President Obama,
I am writing to support the demands of the recent Capitol
Climate Action protest at the Capitol Power Plant in
Washington DC, a polluting coal plant that provides the
U.S. Congress with dirty energy. The peaceful protest is a
rallying cry to end the use of polluting coal and for a
clean energy economy that protects the health of our
families, our climate, and our future. Please ensure the
Capital Power Plant ends its use of coal, commit to a
permanent global ban on new emitting coal plants, and an
urgent timetable to close existing plants that emit carbon
dioxide into the atmosphere.
The well-being and continued operable atmosphere shared by
all global citizens depends upon ending the use of dirty
coal. Coal plants are "factories of death" that generate
the highest greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per unit of
energy obtained, and large reserves remain that must not be
burned. Continued reliance upon coal, without immediate
phasing-out of plants that emit into the atmosphere, is
incompatible with any scenario to reduce atmospheric
greenhouse gases to a safe level in time to avert
irreversible and catastrophic climate change. Without an
operable global ecological system there can be no economy.
The growing and powerful global climate movement urges you
to immediately act and transform yourself, your nation and
your world from our coal dependency if we are to survive.
We ask for you to support Capitol leadership in their plan
to switch the Capitol Power Plant off coal. And we need you
to promise to do the same thing to every other coal-fired
power plant in America. If this one is too dirty, so are
all the rest. Please come up with an urgent plan to wean
the country and world off of the use of coal in order to
ensure our shared survival.
Coal is the dirtiest of all fossil fuels and has caused
most of the global warming crisis to date. Coal-fired power
plants remain the largest source of global warming
pollution in the U.S., and the climate crisis cannot be
addressed unless we stop burning coal. "Clean coal" is a
fiction created by industry advertising, as carbon capture
technology is untested and not available for years, if
ever. From mining, to burning, to waste disposal, coal
threatens our health and safety. Mountain-top removal
mining destroys water resources and ecosystems; burning
coal releases mercury, acid rain, black soot and tons of
toxic ash waste; resulting in a host of respiratory and
cardiovascular diseases, including lung cancer, asthma,
heart disease and other means of premature death.
Humanity's dependence upon antiquated dirty coal energy is
on the verge of triggering powerful and irreversible
planetary feedbacks -- including permafrost methane
release, less reflective ice, forest fires and overwhelmed
carbon sinks -- that are beyond human control and will
intensify abrupt and run-away climate change. Without an
all out global people power mobilization to pursue the end
of coal, and other sufficient climate policy such as
protecting and restoring old forests, we are rushing into a
global catastrophe never before imagined. Disappearing
glaciers, fast changing climate zones, and desertification
means dwindling water supply, famine, coastal flooding,
ecosystem collapse, spread of tropical disease, mass
migration and war. Coal kills.
The rapid phase-out of fossil fuels, particularly coal, is
not only our best chance of averting climate catastrophe;
it also provides a desperately needed –- and permanent –-
major stimulus to our unraveling economy. Shifting to
renewable energy -- even as we seek to dramatically
increase energy efficiency and conservation -- means
shifting hundreds of billions of dollars per year from
dirty fuel purchases into green jobs creation within our
own economies. Every dollar spent on green energy creates
over three times as many jobs as in coal and oil. Vast
military expenditures used to secure fossil fuel access,
estimated at over $200 billion/year, would also be freed
up. In short, this solution to the climate crisis also
provides economic security, job security, and national
security. It will restore health to people and the planet.
In December 2009, the international community will meet in
Copenhagen to establish a plan to tackle the climate
crisis. Congress and the your administration need to get to
work now in order to position the U.S. to lead the world in
developing an agreement capable of solving the crisis.
There is no future for coal, tar sands or old forest
logging in such an agreement, and the U.S. must begin to
lead by example. You must repower the American economy with
clean energy technology and pass comprehensive
science-driven legislation that is capable of avoiding the
most dangerous impacts of global warming.
We encourage you to publicly support the coal protesters
and ensure their non-violent civil disobedience is not met
by police violence. You can expect more escalating protest
action should you fail to act. The world is watching and
expecting more than rhetoric in immediately addressing
climate change and attendant global ecological crises with
sufficient and ambitious solutions.
With grave concern,
** This alert requires JavaScript, and currently Firefox and Internet Explorer are the only tested browsers. Please
let us know immediately if you are having difficulties sending the alert