Double-shot of climate action
I have some very good news for climate activists.
Two of the nation's biggest climate action groups are joining forces: 350.org and 1Sky. They will work together to grow a movement to take the power back from big oil, the dirty coal industry, and polluters everywhere. Bill McKibben, the head of 350.org, and Betsy Taylor, the head of 1Sky, released an announcement of the partnership yesterday. It explains why they decided to consolidate:
But there are moments when unity is essential -- and this is one of them. We're up against the most sustained assault on the environment ever: In the last few weeks, our oldest environmental groups have had to play nonstop defense just to keep Congress from gutting the Clean Air Act. A president elected on the promise of transformational energy change has reverted to opening vast tracts of Wyoming to new coal mining. A Tea Party House has actually voted to deny the science of global warming.
Behind all this is a very unified fossil-fuel industry. Working through the Koch brothers, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and a couple of other fronts, they're busy buying votes and supplying disinformation. And they're winning.
To fight back effectively, we need a much louder voice. That's why this week we're joining together two of the big mass movements around climate change: 1Sky and 350.org. 1Sky has been coordinating efforts on the ground across the United States; 350.org has been at work in 188 countries around the world. We'll now all operate under the 350 banner, in an effort to put forward a unified message on every front.
It's a bulwark against the daily dose of anti-science. And when there's enough anti-corporate sentiment amongst citizens who've ignored the seriousness of climate change, now's the time to get a unified message out.
More from McKibben and Taylor:
But the message goes beyond science to politics. We have learned over time that you can't win simply by explaining the crisis to political leaders; they may intellectually understand that they're facing the end of the world, but what they really fear is the end of their political careers. We need to build a movement that can reward and punish politicians. Since we'll never have the money to match the fossil-fuel front groups, we're going to need a different currency: bodies, creativity, passion.
It is possible to rally passion. Both 1Sky and 350.org have demonstrated the ability to find and energize a new generation of environmental supporters, one that crosses all demographic and linguistic boundaries. Together, as the new 350.org, we'll be speaking with one voice. Shouting, actually -- trying to drown out the talk from dirty energy and dirty money.
I'm excited. Climate awareness is driven by grassroots awareness. After the death of the climate bill, I stopped counting on politicians to be a positive voice for climate change- but now, it certainly feels like that voice just got louder.
