Thursday, November 20

To Friends of the Climate Crisis Coalition,

Crisis and opportunity. Despair and hope. Al Gore and others have been speaking about these dichotomies (and choices) for a while now, and we certainly feel their presence today. The climate crisis is looming ever larger. But, we are also experiencing a once-in-a-lifetime watershed moment in our political landscape, where change is anticipated on all fronts.

President-elect Barack Obama warned our nation in his moving November 4th acceptance speech that our "planet is in peril." Citizens, scientists and government leaders are speaking out with an increasing sense of urgency about the transformative changes needed to avert climate disaster. The election results told the world that the United States was ready to enter a new era, embracing the principles of social, economic and environmental equity.

The Price Carbon Campaign

If ever there was a time for climate action, now is that time. The best way we can think of to effectively make the most of these opportunities is to advocate for the kind of legislation that we believe can work. Today CCC, the Carbon Tax Center and other allies are launching a new initiative: the Price Carbon Campaign (www.pricecarbon.org). We begin this effort with a petition to the Obama administration and Congress:

Citizens' Petition for Carbon Pricing Legislation:

The peril to our planet from runaway global warming creates an urgent need for the United States to enact broadly applicable, transparent and easily enforceable climate legislation to sharply curtail greenhouse-gas emissions.

Since pricing carbon creates powerful incentives that will reduce emissions, generate green jobs and promote economic and social equity, we hereby petition Congress and the incoming Obama Administration to make an economy-wide carbon tax a central component of comprehensive climate legislation to be enacted within the first hundred days of the 111th Congress.

We endorse a progressively increasing carbon tax on producers and importers of coal, oil and gas to discourage fossil fuel use while putting energy conservation and renewable energy on an increasingly favorable footing. To avoid dragging down the economy and unfairly burdening low and middle-income people, we support dedicating carbon tax revenues to reduce regressive taxes and/or to provide regular distributions to individuals on an equitable basis. Any carbon tax revenue directed toward developing green energy must be for truly renewable sources.

By enacting such a carbon tax, the United States can re-establish the moral and political authority needed to negotiate a new global climate treaty strong enough to begin bringing Earth's climate into balance.

Sign the online petition and forward it to friends and associates.

Concurrent with the petition drive, we are also launching a letter writing campaign to members of Congress. When you sign the letter at PriceCarbon.org your zip code will direct your letter to your Senators and your Congressperson. It will also go to congressional leaders with the greatest influence over climate and tax legislation.  Our short-term aim is to generate thousands signatures and letters prior to our carbon pricing briefing in Washington on December 9, 2008.

Capitol Hill Briefing

On December 9th, CCC is co-sponsoring an important briefing in Washington DC:

Carbon Tax Center and CCC to Present Capital Hill Briefing on Carbon Pricing. By Daniel Rosenblum, Carbon Tax Center, November 14, 2008. "After eight years of obstruction by the Bush administration, and years of delay before that, the United States is finally poised to take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. On December 9, six weeks before Inauguration Day, the Carbon Tax Center [CTC] is holding a briefing on Capitol Hill to articulate to the incoming Administration and Congress why a tax on carbon emissions must be the centerpiece of a new U.S. climate policy... The Climate Crisis Coalition has joined us as conference organizer, and Friends of the Earth and the Environmental & Energy Study Institute are serving as co-sponsors... Headlining the briefing is NASA climatologist James Hansen, a powerful advocate of a carbon tax. Dr. Hansen will be followed by two eminent economists, Prof. Gilbert Metcalf of Tufts and Dr. Robert Shapiro... [former] U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs. James Hoggan, chair of the David Suzuki Foundation and [a leading authority on Canadian public perceptions on environmental, climate change and sustainability issues], will speak on public opinion regarding British Columbia's carbon tax and the impact of the Liberal Party's carbon tax proposal on last month's Canadian national election. The briefing is being hosted by Rep. John Larson of Connecticut, a member of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee and author of a carbon tax bill introduced last year."

As the Carbon Price Campaign proceeds we will keep you posted.

Thanks for your interest and support,

Tom Stokes, CCC Coordinator
tstokes@kyotoandbeyond.org

Ezra Small, CCC Project Organizer
esmall@kyotoandbeyond.org

Please make a contribution to CCC and the Price Carbon Campaign. Any help that you can offer would be most appreciated. At a unique juncture in our history, we have remarkable opportunities to make a difference.

Climate Crisis Coalition   P.O. Box 125, South Lee, MA 01260   (413) 243-5665