Just a few minutes ago, we received a video from Senator Barack Obama's office. Turns out that the more than 500 invitations Step It Up supporters sent to his scheduler did not fall on deaf ears. In addition to the video, he will be sending former Senator Tom Daschle to speak on his behalf at the Step It Up event in Des Moines, IA. Obama heard you loud and clear, and it's up to you to decide whether he's addressed the issues you care about.
He knows that you are the leaders of the grassroots climate movement, so let Barack Obama and the other leaders know what you think (click here to get in touch with him). And keep inviting them to November 3rd events near you so that they know nothing beats an in-person address at a Step It Up event.
We've invited all the candidates to attend rallies or submit videos
to address a broad array of issues affecting climate change, and you
can too.
I am disappointed that Sen Obama has not taken a stronger stand against coal. In his words, it "will not go away". He is right about that. The abundant energy in coal is like candy to the energy industry, cheap and plentiful. It is also a huge chunk of carbon that is currently sequestered in the ground. We talk of carbon sequestration, but putting carbon back into the ground is like converting CO2 to coal, and that is energetically, not just economically, impossible. Best to leave the sequestered carbon where it is.
Sen Obama, "Clean Coal" is an oxymoron. You can't use the energy in coal without producing greenhouse gases. If you somehow scrubbed the CO2 out of the emissions, then you had to use energy to do the scrubbing (for example by baking limestone into CO2-scrubbing lime). You spoke of listening to scientists recommendations, but scientists are recommending wind and solar power. Some are recommending nuclear power as a temporary solution. None of the scientists I know (I am one) are recommending as a solution to atmospheric carbon that we tap another, bigger and dirtier, source of atmospheric carbon pollution. It makes no sense at all.
