Will they listen to what the science says?

For decades, coal dominated American energy. Now that’s beginning to change.

With many of the oldest, dirtiest coal-fired power plants due for retirement, our nation is at a crossroads: do we invest in renewable energy, or do we keep generating electricity by burning fossil fuels that are not only expensive but threaten our planet?¹

We’ve launched a campaign to make sure we head down the right path. Our groundbreaking Ripe for Retirement report identified 353 of the worst, most out-of-date coal-fired plants, and since its publication, 45 of the plants we named have been slated for closure!

We’ve mobilized thousands of UCS supporters to contact key power companies, urging them to switch to cleaner, renewable sources of energy. It’s working, but we’ve got to do more. With over 300 plants left to close, we can’t let up.

www.ucsusa.org

The fossil-fuel industry wants you to think that wind and solar aren’t dependable or economical, but we know the truth: renewable energy is already powering homes and businesses across the country—and we’ve only just begun to see the benefits.²

With your support, we’ll move past fossil fuels to a clean energy future. Together, we can make clean energy a reality by:

• Protecting and expanding state-based clean energy policies. We’re inspiring voters and lawmakers to support requirements that utility companies generate a certain amount of their electricity from renewable sources. Since March, we’ve delivered 40,000 letters to over 4,000 state lawmakers nationwide!
• Building momentum to cut the nation’s projected oil use in half. We’ve developed a realistic, science-based plan that shows how we can cut our dependency on oil in half in just 20 years. Now we’re getting thousands of people working to support our strategies—meeting with concerned citizens and officials, producing videos and webinars, and mobilizing scientists to educate the public and policy makers.
• Fighting to make nuclear power safer. In March, we released our latest nuclear safety assessment while Congress began working on a comprehensive nuclear safety bill. Dozens of news outlets across the country covered it, ensuring that lawmakers heard about the critical issues at stake.

We’re building momentum for a clean energy future—the wind is at our backs. The question is: will we forge ahead with science, or accept the misleading claims that fossil fuels can’t be beat? It’s up to us, Carmen, and we can’t turn back now.

www.ucsusa.org

When we work together, we get tough things done. We’ve won critical whistleblower protections for government scientists, helped craft game-changing vehicle emissions standards, and pushed companies like Pfizer to stop funding the anti-science Heartland Institute.

I hope you’ll stand with us today so we can pull out all the stops to win this next fight.

Sincerely, Kevin Knobloch President

1. http://www.forbes.com/sites/kensilverstein/2013/03/13/coal-to-gas-moves-are-generating-economic-waves 2. http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/smart-energy-solutions/increase-renewables/ramping-up-renewable-energy-sources.html

Support UCS! : Science lessons with the Koch brothers

 

 

 

 

 

 

		The Koch Brothers want to deny the science that threatens their profits. Will you stop them and stand up for the facts?   The Koch brothers are always dreaming up creative new ways to bury the science on climate change. Take the exhibit about “climate instability” they funded at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in DC. Guess what: it makes no mention of fossil fuels being a major contributor to climate change.1 These oil barons are waging a war on the truth, not just in museums but through tens of millions of dollars on election ads, campaign cash, and lobbying to protect the profits of their energy empire.2 They also fund pundits like Pat Michaels, who’s used his Forbes column to claim that there hasn’t been “much warming since the late 1990s.”3 We might not have Koch-level oil riches, but we’ve got two things on our side: the facts and you. UCS members stand up to the Koch Brothers, the Heartland Institute, Fox News, and others who work to undermine the science of climate change. Your membership helps get real scientists on the air, in print, and in front of policy makers. And together, we’ve got to ramp up these efforts right now for 2013. Will you be part of it? Help the facts win. Become a 2013 member of the Union of Concerned Scientists today. UCS members aren’t just calling out the misleading claims from the oil industry. They’re making tangible progress to change the status quo. They’re putting our “Half the Oil” plan into the center of the debate on climate policy, showing specifically how more fuel-efficient cars and renewable energy can cut America’s projected oil use in half within two decades—and help to turn the tide on climate change. Proposals like “Half the Oil” work because they’re based in science and practical solutions. But that’s not always enough. Even with facts on our side, we need a legion of grassroots supporters to ensure that solid, scientific analysis can hold its own against political manipulation. That’s where your membership comes in. No matter the opponent—media moguls, powerful politicians, corporate CEOs—UCS members help defend the truth, whether it’s calling out misleading coverage of climate science on Fox News or putting enough pressure on Pfizer to convince them to cease funding the anti-science Heartland Institute. And right now, your UCS membership can help make sure scientists and experts are in front of Congress and consulted at the White House in these early days of President Obama’s second term. As I write this, we are hard at work making sure administration officials hear from experts on climate change, and we’re putting practical plans to reduce the use of oil and coal in front of key members of Congress—backed up by the political power of hundreds of thousands of their constituents. Let’s keep the pressure on. Join with UCS to fight the attacks on science coming from the fossil fuel industry and their allies. Give today and help reach our goal of signing up 4,000 2013 members by the end of the month! I hope we can count on you to fight for the truth this year. Sincerely, Kevin Knobloch President 1. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer 2. http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000000186&year=2012; http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/11/charts-map-koch-brothers-2012-spending; http://articles.latimes.com/2011/feb/06/nation/la-na-koch-brothers-20110206; http://www.alternet.org/environment/koch-brothers-political-empire-holds-action-climate-change-hostage 3. http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2010/08/16/113717/oil-fueled-pat-michaels/

Big Coal’s misinformation campaign

 

	Big polluters have launched a massive campaign against clean energy. Your friends can join the fight by calling on Congress to stand up for clean energy! Last week, 45,000 people joined you to call on Congress to stand up to big polluters and protect American jobs in the growing clean-energy industry. With tens of thousands of jobs on the line, we knew it was a fight worth having, and we knew it would be a big, dirty fight with Big Coal and Big Oil. Turns out, it’s even worse than we thought. We’ve released a brand-new report that uncovers the massive and coordinated misinformation campaign that’s been launched against the clean-energy industry. We can’t let Congress be misled by big polluters. Please urge your friends and family to ask Congress to stand up for jobs in the solar and wind industry. We followed the money from big polluters — like the Koch brothers — to big politicians, to faux think tanks, and into the articles, op-eds, and ads that are misleading the American public. This is about more than just one bill in Congress. Make no mistake, an all-out assault has been launched on the clean-energy industry by the Koch brothers and the dirty polluter lobby. Tell your friends and family to join our fight and urge Congress to stand up for the clean-energy sector. We know what – and who — we’re up against if we want to protect the gains we’ve made on clean energy and move America beyond coal: The oil and gas industry spent more than $146 million in lobbying expenses in 2011 alone. Exxon has spent a decade funding “merchants of doubt” like the Manhattan Institute and the Heartland Institute… contributing more than $600,000 to each. Koch Industries, Exxon Mobil, and the American Petroleum Institute are working through ALEC, the group that devises corporate-friendly “model legislation” for state legislatures, to attack clean energy legislation in states all across the country. Exxon alone has donated nearly $1.5 million to ALEC. Those numbers paint a grim picture of reckless polluters who are willing to spend and say whatever it takes to protect their profits.We’ve got a number of our own: 45,000. That’s how many Americans have already stepped up and told Congress to ignore the “merchants of doubt” and renew the wind energy Production Tax Credit. Tell your friends to take action. Ask them to join the fight against Big Coal and Big Oil’s big misinformation campaign by pushing Congress to do the right thing and support clean energy. Thanks for all you do to protect the environment, Mary Anne Hitt Beyond Coal Campaign Director Sierra Club

 

the Progress Report : ALEC

BIG News on ALEC!

By         ThinkProgress War Room

More Corporations Abandon Right-Wing Group Under Pressure from Progressives

There’s big news on the ALEC front today: both retail giant Wal-Mart and Medtronic, a medical device company, have decided to dump the secretive right-wing group. It appears that ALEC’s campaign to promote controversial voter suppression and so-called Stand Your Ground laws played a role in Wal-Mart’s decision to part ways with the group:

“Previously, we expressed our concerns about ALEC’s decision to weigh in on issues that stray from its core mission ‘to advance the Jeffersonian principles of free markets,’” Maggie Sans, Wal-Mart vice president of public affairs and government relations, said in a May 30 letter addressed to ALEC’s national chairman and executive director.

“We feel that the divide between these activities and our purpose as a business has become too wide. To that end, we are suspending our membership in ALEC.”

Here’s the recap of where we stand on ALEC:

54…state legislators have now dropped ALEC.

19…major corporations have dropped ALEC, including big names like Amazon.com, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Kraft, Wendy’s, Mars, Inc., Kaplan, Procter & Gamble, Yum! Brands, Blue Cross/Blue Shield,  Intuit,

4…non-profit organizations have dropped ALEC, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

It appears that ALEC may be headed toward the same fate as the notorious climate-denying Heartland Institute, which has been abandoned by many of its corporate donors after it crossed the line one too many times.

Evening Brief: Important Stories That You May Have Missed

NEW DATA: Elections supervisors throughout Florida confirm U.S. citizens improperly targeted in voter purge.

Two conservative federal appeals court judges agree that DOMA is unconstitutional.

Why did an Oklahoma hospital refuse to treat a young rape victim?

Amid Florida’s ongoing voter purge, a federal judge has blocked the states’s voter suppression law.

The Romney campaign put forth an extremely bizarre conspiracy theory about the Obama administration today.

Karl Rove’s secret money group attacked President Obama in an ad over a company that once received taxpayer money from Mitt Romney.

Politico put out a hatchet job on its competitors today. It didn’t go very well.

The gender gap in wages is real — and that’s why people should tell each other how much they’re making.

Paul Krugman became an economist because he loves science fiction so much.

Other recent Progress Reports

May 30, 2012: Wisconsin Recall Update: Jump Ball

Down to the Wire in the Badger State Next Tuesday, the voters of Wisconsin will decide the fates of Gov. Scott Walker, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, and four state senators, including Scott Fitzgerald, the co-majority leader of the Wisconsin State Senate and brother of Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald (R). Walker is facing off against [...]

May 29, 2012: Birther-in-Chief

Mitt Romney Stands By Birther King This evening in Las Vegas, birther king Donald Trump will host a $2 MILLION fundraiser for presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney. This comes on top of $600,000 raised at a “birthday party” for Ann Romney that Trump held last month at his New York City home. It was just [...]

May 25, 2012: Mitt Romney Blows Up 30 Years of GOP Economics

Draconian Spending Cuts Are In Fact Bad for the Economy Every so often, Mitt Romney is accidentally honest about something important. One such moment happened earlier this week.  Here’s the rundown. It’s Republican orthodoxy that the way to get our economy moving is to massively cut government spending, which they falsely claim is somehow “crowding [...]

May 24, 2012: Next Battle in the War on Women: Paycheck Fairness

Will Republicans Really Defend Paying Women Less? The Senate will soon take up the Paycheck Fairness Act, an important bill that protects women who sue over being paid less than their male counterparts. The law builds on the important foundations laid by the Equal Pay Act and Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Republicans almost unanimously opposed [...]

Heartland billboard takeover

Did you hear about The Heartland Institute‘s outrageous billboard comparing people who believe in climate change to mass murderers and terrorists? It’s possible you missed it, since a firestorm of criticism compelled them to take down their ad in one day. Take a look:

Since the billboard is now empty, we are reminding Heartland who is really on the fringe here. Just for this week, as Heartland convenes its annual conference, we are putting up our own ad in its place and on eight other billboards nearby — so that Chicagoans and everyone at the conference will see our response. And we are sharing this ad far and wide.

The Heartland Institute has a history of spreading denial and doubt about everything from tobacco to climate change. Now, they are associating everyone who believes in climate science with the worst of the worst.

We can’t let them have the last word. Serious leaders in science, business, religion and government from around the world have long recognized the need to take action to address the growing climate crisis. Our billboard will reflect their voices in the days ahead. And we need your help.

Take a look at our ad and help support this project.

Climate change is real. But there are groups out there — like the Heartland Institute — with a vested interest in promoting dirty fossil fuels. Don’t let them. Donate to our campaign to stop the climate deniers and win the conversation:

http://forms.climaterealityproject.org/billboard

Sincerely,

Maggie L. Fox  President and CEO  The Climate Reality Project

The Climate Reality Project

Do you think schools should teach our children that climate change isn’t real?
Of course not. But the Heartland Institute, an organization known for giving a microphone to climate science deniers, now wants to bring this false message into America‘s classrooms.
As its President and CEO just admitted, Heartland is writing a “global warming curriculum” that would say climate science isn’t settled. Heartland would like to create the appearance of a scientific debate where there is none by having our teachers claim we just don’t know if humans are changing our climate.
Fortunately, one brave high school student is asking the Heartland Institute to stop. And I hope you will too.
Tell the Heartland Institute to cease and desist its plan to bring fake science into our schools. And watch our eye-opening video to learn more.

As you know, the science behind climate change is not controversial — it is reality. It is the height of irresponsibility to urge our schools to teach something known to be untrue — just as it is wrong to teach our children that gravity is not real or nicotine is not addictive.
As its own budget documents reveal, the Heartland Institute is funded by oil and coal companies with a financial interest in denying climate science. But I think you’ll agree this industry-funded propaganda has no place in our schools.
Corey Husic is a high school student who knows there is no place for a climate denial curriculum in school. He and many others are asking that Heartland immediately “cease and desist” its plan to bring climate denial into our schools. And today, I invite you to sign this petition as well.
Scientists know that climate change is happening, and we are beginning to see the impacts with our own eyes. This debate is a distraction. Deniers are trying to prevent us from engaging in a much more fruitful discussion over what we can do to solve the climate crisis.
We’ve created a short video to help you learn more about this urgent issue. I encourage you to watch this video now, and sign the petition to keep climate reality in America’s science classrooms.
Tell the Heartland Institute to end its plans for a climate denial curriculum. And watch our video to learn more.
http://forms.climaterealityproject.org/heartlandinstitute
Thanks for all you do,
Maggie L. Fox President and CEO The Climate Reality Project

Do you believe global warming is good for us? …Union of Concerned Scientists

      Who Will Check Their Facts ?

 

I believe we stand at a critical time in the fight against global warming, and against those who cynically deny it is happening and say there is nothing we can do to mitigate its effects.

 

“The net effect of continued warming and rising carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere is most likely to be beneficial to humans, plants, and wildlife.”
—Heartland Institute, August 2011.

Let’s end the disinformation on climate change.

Help UCS expose and challenge attacks on science.

That’s why I’m asking you to become a member of the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) today.         www.ucsusa.org

Don’t you ever wonder when the denial and disinformation about climate change will end? Make no mistake. This is an all-out attack on science. It’s well coordinated and funded, and it’s backed by opponents who are putting near-term fossil fuel profits ahead of protections for human health.

Opponents like the Heartland Institute continue to mislead the public into thinking that global warming isn’t a problem. In a recent report they even went so far as to claim that the net effects of climate change will be good for people and the environment.

But we’re not that easily fooled. We remember this same organization, that has accepted funding from the tobacco company Philip Morris, made headlines in the 1990s trying to downplay the dangers of second-hand smoke.

When you become a member of UCS, you’ll help us face down attacks on science and blatant disinformation about global warming.  www.ucsusa.org

You’ll also help us move forward to build a healthier environment during our lifetime, and those of our children and grandchildren.

Consider that, in the past few months alone, UCS has:
Won historic changes in fuel economy standards for cars and trucks that will dramatically lower global warming emissions and help our economy for decades to come—preventing some 280 million tons of climate emissions from being released into our atmosphere by 2030. That’s the equivalent of shutting down 72 coal-fired power plants.
Helped design and win passage of California’s landmark Renewable Energy Standard—the toughest in the nation—mandating that one third of all the state’s energy will be produced from renewable sources by 2020.

You are a key partner in all our work.

We need your help to combat attacks on science and to move forward with positive changes to forestall the worst effects of global warming.

That’s why I’m counting on you to act now. Please don’t put it off, the stakes are too high. Become a member today.

I look forward to hearing from you and working alongside you to build a healthy environment and a safer world.

Thank you for all your help and support.

Sincerely,

Kevin Knobloch
President