Tell the President: no Keystone XL pipeline!

We have just a few days left to stop the Keystone pipeline project.  Climate experts tell us that all of our good work will be undone if this project is approved.  Your voice makes a difference.  Here is a sample letter, adapted from Bill Carney and Sustainable San Rafael.  Please take a few minutes to copy this letter into a Word document, edit to suit your style, and send to the addressees by Earth Day!

Then, please tell us that you sent the letter.  We want to know how many Green Sangha members and friends have responded.

With heartfelt gratitude,

All of our team at Green Sangha

April, 2013

President Barack Obama, The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Obama:

History will remember your Presidency for what you do on climate. Now is the time for bold climate leadership. I join millions of Americans in calling on you to support immediate and decisive climate-saving actions.

Climate disasters such as Hurricane Sandy and the heartland drought have made this crisis real to most Americans.  A unique ‘teachable moment’ is at hand.  Please make good on your Inaugural pledge “to respond to the threat of climate change” by laying out a practical plan to achieve what science demands, including these key elements:

  • Climate is an energy issue:  To solve the climate crisis, we must move rapidly from fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy.  Climate can’t wait.
  • Climate is an economic issue:  We can solve this crisis by creating satisfying American jobs building a clean energy economy and re-building climate-resilient homes, businesses, and infrastructure.
  • Climate is a fiscal issue:  We can pay for the transition off fossil fuels and for the damages done by fossil fuel through carefully stepped-up fees on carbon – which will also help incentivize the switch to cleaner fuels.  Otherwise, the escalating costs of      climate disasters and adaptations will swamp future budgets and drown future opportunities.

I’ve already acted to reduce my carbon use.  Now I need your action to support and amplify the efforts of every citizen on the scale needed to solve this crisis.  You have the power to take Executive action now to demonstrate that climate is a national priority by rejecting the Keystone Pipeline.  Then, inspire us with a comprehensive, can-do climate vision to reduce carbon emissions by 80% by 2050.  If Americans can travel to the moon, a “mission to Earth” is possible, too.  Not only is it possible, it is vital to the health of our people and our home planet.

Sincerely,

[Your name]

 cc:          

Representative Jared Huffman/999 Fifth Ave., #290/San Rafael, CA 94901

Senator Barbara Boxer/112 Hart Senate Office Building/Washington, DC 20510

Senator Dianne Feinstein/331 Hart Senate Office Building/Washington, DC 20510

Secretary of State John Kerry/2201 C Street NW/Washington, DC 20520

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About Stuart Moody

Stuart Moody is Board President of Green Sangha. He received a B.S. in Conservation of Natural Resources at UC Berkeley, and an M.A. in Counseling Psychology at USF. Stuart was Green Schoolyard Coordinator at Davidson Middle School in San Rafael and directs Green Sangha’s Rethinking Plastics campaign. From 1993 to 2012, Stuart taught dance and co-directed teacher training for Young Imaginations, an arts education agency based in San Rafael. He has taught yoga and meditation to thousands in the Bay Area, including 10 years at San Quentin State Prison. Recently moved to Tucson, he just completed a graduate certificate program in “Connecting Environmental Science and Decision Making” at the University of Arizona.