Finally!  The U.S. Congress is beginning to deal seriously with global warming!  In a few weeks, the Senate will vote on legislation to cap carbon emissions by big polluters and to institute a schedule for reducing emissions.  The Climate Security Act (S. 2191), if passed, will set us on the course to effectively address climate change.

     But don’t uncork the champagne yet!  The manufacturing, transportation (read:  oil and coal), and utility industries, those most affected by the legislation,  are fighting it.  And they have plenty of money to spend on getting Senators’ attention!  But these industry opponents don’t have what the public has–votes!  Your Senators will very likely vote the way you want them to if they believe their re-election could depend on it!

     So take 10 minutes out of your day to make two phone calls, one to each of your U.S. Senators.  Here’s what to do:

1) Call the Congressional switchboard at:  202-224-3121.  Ask the operator to connect you to the office of Senator ________. 

2) Once you are connected, ask to speak with the aide who handles environmental legislation.  The receptionist may or may not connect you.  In any case, you can leave your message with the receptionist.  And don’t worry if you’re not especially eloquent.  This is a numbers game.  What counts is the volume of calls from constituents, not their speaking skills.

3) Say you are a constituent, that it is very important to you that the Senator vote for S. 2191, the Climate Security Act.  Feel free to add whatever you wish to say about the urgency of addressing global warming.  You might also ask how your Senator is planning to vote on the bill.  If your Senator has been a strong supporter of environmental legislation in the past, be sure to acknowledge this support and to express your hope that you can count on it for S. 2191.  Senators are bombarded by industry, so those who do vote for the public good need to be strengthened.  

4) Repeat steps 1-3 with your other Senator.

 5) Give yourself a pat on the back for taking an important action to stop global warming!

6) Forward this link to your friends, family, and co-workers, and ask them to make two calls as well!

**If you would like to learn more about the Climate Security Act, the link below is a good place to start.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=America’s_Climate_Security_Act_of_2007

–April Moore 

This entry was posted on Friday, May 23rd, 2008 at 8:58 am and is filed under Act now to save our beloved Earth!. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.