I haven't noticed anything on this today, so I thought I would mention it for whatever it may be worth.
Today I received two emails in response to the climate bill that was revealed today by John Kerry and Joe Lieberman. The two messages arrived at 3:20 and 3:21, back to back.
The first email was from Friends Of The Earth. FOE was not impressed.
Unfortunately, it's as bad as we feared. Summaries of the proposal released this morning indicate they would eliminate critical tools needed to stabilize climate chaos while handing out billions in giveaways to some of the worst industrial polluters in the country.
Sounds pretty bad. FOE's email included several links to "send a message to your senators today, calling on them to pass a real climate deal -- one that protects people and the planet, not polluters". FOE's message includes important points such as ..
The Kerry-Lieberman bill rolls back important protections in the Clean Air Act ... Adding insult to injury, the bill would also allow expanded offshore drilling ... We need a bill that maintains all existing Clean Air Act protections, invests in clean energy, rather than providing more polluter handouts, and has the integrity to deliver rapid cuts in climate-disrupting emissions.
So at this point I'm guessing that we progressives are going to be all upset with John Kerry and are going to be calling our senators and signing petitions.
Then I read the next email.
The Environmental Defense Fund's reaction was just the opposite. "I have just returned from a press conference that could change the world" the email breathlessly begins.
Senators John Kerry and Joe Lieberman have just introduced the American Power Act, a bill that will put a declining cap on America's global warming pollution and help start us on the road to a clean energy future.
Sounds like great news!
EDF's message is punctuated by repeated pleas for Emergency Campaign Donations. Their message on the bill:
This is a critical moment for our planet ... We will either seize this opportunity to solve the climate crisis and end our addiction to fossil fuels...
...Or we'll fail to pass this historic bill and risk sentencing future generations to the catastrophic threats of runaway global warming.
They go on to make their points about why we need to pass this bill, leading to their campaign;
For us the next 50 days will be an all-out, state-by-state campaign to convince the Senate to pass this bill.
We're investing over $500,000 in seven key states targeting a dozen swing Senators whose votes are critical to passage of this bill.
So, I'm a bit stunned. These are both organizations for which I have lots of respect. I guess my expectation was that all the tree-huggin' environmental organizations would have been working together to lobby the senate from day one of the Obama administration, and that on this day when the bill was finally introduced we would either be against it or for it. After all, it seemed to me, the whole future of the planet is riding on this bill; it seemed to me that our side would band together to form a united front for something of this magnitude.
The whole health care bill thing was a huge emotional roller coaster, we fought for a year to get that thing passed. It was extremely important. But I'm one of those progressives that thinks Al Gore is telling us the truth, or something very close to it, and that we absolutely have to solve this problem now. So ... I just don't know what to think at the moment.
Why does it appear to be the case that we're not all on the same page on this, precisely when we need, it seems to me, to show a united front on behalf of our Earth.
I know I'm over reacting here; but the back to back emails thing was just kinda nuts. Hoping some of you guys that follow this much closer than I do can explain it all. I'll see if I can make up a nice soothing chai tea.