Here's what some of our friends are saying about clean energy and elections.
"The CBCTC believes that new jobs created by the new energy policy should be good paying sustainable jobs with health and pension benefits to provide long term economic benefits to Colorado workers who will in turn invest in the local economy by paying taxes and buying products to stimulate other sectors of economic growth.
"Renewable energy is the only way to make certain we break away from foreign and domestic oil and protect our environment from global warming and at the same time create good paying jobs at home. We look forward to working with energy producers using the sun and wind as the fuel for the future generations of Building Trades workers and thier families." -- Neal Hall, Colorado Building and Construction Trades Council
"I believe Global Climate Change is the greatest threat the world has ever faced. Fortunately, we have the technology and knowledge to over come this daunting threat. However, we must act swiftly to avert the worst case scenarios, which threaten the most precious of places we have ever known… our earthly home. It has been said many times that some of the greatest things in this world are free; of which I am a firm believer. So take hold of one of those greatest of things, we are so lucky to possess. Then use it to kick start our clean energy future by unleashing your will in the voting both this fall. For with the right people elected in the right places our voices will be heard and together we can save this precious place. Standing together on Election Day we can make a difference by being the first wave of a political force that will reverberate all the way to the top then trickle down to create the cooling storm of change". -- Thomas Acampora
April 20, 2008 Team Colorado poses with the recipient of our final
CFL light bulb at the Green Apples Festival. From left to right are Katie
Finn, Joseph Marshall, Debra, Danielle Glover, Jack
Schulz, Eric Hammerbacher. Organizers Danielle Glover and Eric Hammerbacher try to keep up with the mid-day
signature rush as the Green Apples festival in Denver, CO.
Organizer Eric Hammerbacher gets a tough to reach signature from a man on stilts
at the Green Apple Festival.
April 19, 2008 Organizer David Rogers gathers signatures at our light bulb handout taking
place at Red Rock's Amphitheatre.April 7, 2008 Volunteer Mike Sweeney helps gather a signature
outside the UMC on Colorado University campus during a world affairs conference.
April 4, 2008 Tabling outside of the Colorado Rockies Season
opener on April 4. Organizer Katie Finn fills up a few balloons while Eric
Hammerbacher prepares to gather a signature on the petition.
Rockies fans are all for showing off their Power2Change t-shirts!
April 1, 2008
Gathering signatures on The Hill in Boulder.
April 1, 2008
Eric Hammberbacher gathering a signature at his "green space" on The Hill in Boulder.
April 1, 2008
The volunteers at the beginning of the "Fossil Fool's Day" bike ride. From left, Jack Schulz, Sam, Katie Ryder, Brian, Johan, Susan, and Kirk.
April 1, 2008
Taking a break from biking! Volunteers stop for a rest at a green zone on the University of Colorado campus.
April 1, 2008
The good ol' boys, Eric Hammerbacher, Jack Schulz, and David Rogers gathering signatures at a green zone on the Pearl St. mall.
April 1, 2008
Some volunteers proudly showing off their "Power 2 Change" shirts.
March 26, 2008
Governor Ritter addresses the crowd with his staff and bill co-sponsors standing behind him. They're at the home of Steve Szabo.
March 26, 2008
Sierra Club staffers Danielle Glover and Eric Hammerbacher brave the winds in front of the 10KW solar system.
March 26, 2008
Staffers Katie Ryder (right) and Katie Flynn meet with Rocky Mt Farmers Union reps and Governor Ritter's staff.
The Sierra Club in Colorado launched a new effort on March 26 to educate the public about what is at stake in the 2008 elections.
"The choices we make in the 2008 elections will define our future, especially when it comes to renewable energy issues," said Roger Singer, Sierra Club regional representative. "The contrast we face could not be sharper. We can move forward to a clean, sustainable energy economy that creates good paying jobs, saves consumers money and stops global warming, or we can continue the expensive, polluting policies of the past."
The Power2Change campaign involves a significant grassroots organizing effort in several Colorado communities. Over the next four weeks, hundreds of Sierra Club activists will document and release examples of clean and polluting energy sites within each state, collect and deliver petition signatures demanding elected officials help build a clean energy economy, and recruit volunteers to meet with elected, business and community leaders and to participate in Earth Day events around April 22.
The Sierra Club's Power 2 Change Report highlights examples of clean energy leaders and their opponents, backwards thinking polluters from across the country with a specific section focusing on Colorado. The report compares good renewable energy choices like installation of solar PV systems that save money with bad choices like the irreversible costs of sacrificing wildlife habitat from drilling on the Roan plateau.
"We've got a message for candidates at every level that we have the power to change direction," said Arvada resident Thomas Acampora, highlighted in the report for installing 4KW of solar PV on his home. "We have the technology, know-how and power to build a clean energy future. What we have lacked is the political will and leadership. We need to challenge all our candidates, including the next president, to provide the leadership we need to move us forward."
