Get Energy Smart! NOW!

Today is one year before the 2012 Presidential election. An important date. Considering the Anti-Science Syndrome suffering Hatred Of a Liveable Economic System dominating the Republican Party, it not hard to see this as an election that could seal the nation’s fate when it comes to any hope for navigating the Perfect Storm of Peak Oil and Climate Chaos without massive damage to the Union. And, even while recognizing the importance of next year’s election, I did not go to any of today’s BarackObama.COM celebration (fundraising, activism building) events for which I’d received invitations.

Instead, I joined 10,000 or so others at (or, well, I should say around) the White House. I, along with these 10,000 others were there to send a message.

Mr President

We support Change and Hope that we could believe in. We said, strongly, YES, WE CAN and were there to support you because we believe that YES, YOU COULD and, more importantly, YES, YOU WOULD.

Mr. President, you stated:

Let’s be the generation that finally frees American from the tyranny of oil.

Mr. President, I recognize that under your leadership, your Administration achieved deals for significant improvements in the CAFE standards that will dramatically reduce America’s oil use. For that, I applaud you. Mr. President, I recognize that the Department of Energy, under Secretary Steve Chu, is pursuing many paths that create real potential for even more dramatic declines in oil use and other paths to reduce carbon emissions. Yes, Mr. President, I recognized that you have done many things but these ‘many things’ are barely enough to slow America’s emissions profile as opposed to turning us around toward the dramatic reductions required to give any hope to avoiding the worst Climate Chaos scenarios.

Mr. President, you should be well aware that the nation’s leading climate scientist is on the record that it is “game over” if we fully exploit Canadian tar sands. 

Mr. President, you should be aware that the industry-generated statistics about job creation are an impressive example of ‘lies, damned lies, and statistics’ that do not stand up to serious scrutiny giving lie to the argument that this is a situation of economy vs the environment.

Mr. President, you mst be aware that there are serious questions as to the quality of State Department oversight of the Keystone XL process and, even, its legality and ethics.

The photo to the right represents over $500 in contributions to the Obama-Biden 2008 campaign.  It represents many hours of volunteering, 100s of phone calls, and other activities in support of the campaign in 2008.  And, right now, for the 2012 election which I (and the 10,000+ others who I joined around the White House this afternoon for several hours this afternoon) know is so critically important on so many fronts, this photo represents zero dollars, zero phone calls, zero door-to-door activity, zero strategy sessions, zero phone calls, zero …

A question for President Obama, BarackObama.COM, and the 2012 election committee:  Who is your base?  Those who are fighting to create a more prosperous and climate-friendly future or the fossil-foolish interests seeking to bury us with the perpetuation of and grown in polluting energy systems?  The Keystone XL pipeline decision matters for the nation’s future and, well, it matters not just to this one contributor and voter …