Earth Equity News

New Coalition Aims to Keep Climate Bill on the Radar This Fall. By Kate Sheppard, WashIndependent, September 8, 2009. "The new 63-member coalition unveiled today aims to combat the attacks against climate action and keep the issue atop the agenda this fall, with members from environmental, faith, labor, and minority groups. It includes big green groups, like Sierra Club, League of Conservation Voters, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Environmental Defense Fund, along with unions like the United Steelworkers and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). Also on board: National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Truman National Security Project, VoteVets, American Hunters and Shooters; Catholics United; Union for Reform Judaism. The coalition, under the name 'Clean Energy Works,' has a hub in Washington, D.C., with paid staffers, as well as organizers on the ground in 28 states whose senators are seen as key swing votes on climate -- many of them Midwestern, industrial, and coal states. They've already unveiled a Web campaign that compares members of Congress who opposed climate action to cavemen. Coalition member Environmental Defense Fund also rolled out new national ads last week in the states where the National Association of Manufacturers has been running anti-climate-bill ads. The coalition plans to unveil more ads later this week, and veterans groups involved in the coalition will be in Washington as part of their Operation Free effort to create a national security push for climate action. 'This is the largest, broadest effort to date by quite a bit,' said coalition spokesperson Josh Dorner, who comes to the coalition from Sierra Club."