Nov. 18: Welcoming the new Congress and President

Given the challenges facing our country, November 4, 2008 is one of the most important elections in U.S. history. But regardless of who’s elected on Nov. 4, it will require ongoing action to hold our leaders accountable and push them to enact bold climate solutions. With a key round of international climate talks coming up in Poland in December, it is critical now to send our elected officials a message to take bold leadership on climate.

On November 18, two weeks after the election, we will “welcome” the 111th Congress and the new President to office. Through hundreds of distributed actions across the country, we will call upon them to make climate a top domestic priority in 2009. As an immediate first step, the actions will also urge the President-elect to attend the Poland climate talks and re-engage the international community by calling for strong global action.

Together, we will ensure that elected officials hear about climate between Election Day and Inauguration Day and counter-act the influence of the fossil fuel lobby. We will demonstrate the power of the emerging bloc of climate and environmental voters, building a base for action through 2009 and beyond.

Get involved!

To help make Nov. 18 a success, consider doing the following:

Organize actions in districts: To send our elected officials a bold message on climate, we are coordinating visits to Congressional district offices all across the country to deliver creative cards and visuals invoking the climate voter bloc and calling for leadership. Organize an office visit or rally in your community, and spread the word to your personal and organizational networks!

Add your voter numbers: If you’re involved in Get Out the Vote (GOTV) efforts with an environmental or climate focus, let us know! Building numbers as a climate voting bloc builds our power, and this will allow us to customize and target our message to elected officials for maximum impact.

Take the message to D.C.: In conjunction with the district actions focused on Congress, we’ll be coordinating an event in Washington, D.C. to send a direct message for climate leadership to the President-elect. If your organization has a presence in D.C., please let us know so we can coordinate accordingly!


For more information and to get involved in the Nov. 18 action, please contact Melisa at: melisa@1sky.org or (301) 270-4550 ext. 228.