climate change petition

[Jeremy Koulish]

Hey all! I hope this note finds you well. I know I've been somewhat out of touch recently, but Carrots & Sticks is still humming along - in fact, we are about to incorporate as a formal organization (The Carrots and Sticks Project) this week! In addition to our recent work on transportation and health care, we have continued to focus on the drive for strong climate change legislation.

Bronwyn, Chris and I have started up a new initiative called the "Swing State to Green State Campaign". The first step is a petition drive to support the recently-released Kerry-Boxer climate bill that has some improvements over the House's ACES legislation. You can find the petition at: http://sumofchange.com/greenstate

Below is a letter we've sent out to various grassroots and netroots constituencies drumming up support. Check it out if you wish....

In the meantime, I do want to keep you all posted on what we're up to, since you were with us at the beginning. Feel free to visit our website, and I'll follow up shortly with some more general info on what we've been up to and our plans for the future.

And if you ever do want to get involved again, just drop me a line: jer...@carrotsandsticks.org

Cheers,
Jeremy

_________________________________________

Dear fellow activist,

 

We all worked so hard for change in the 2008 election.  People left the campaign season ready to found a renewable energy economy, rebuild our infrastructure, and reform health care with a strong public option.  But the political coalitions in D.C. remain stuck in old ways of doing business, and are unresponsive to the American people.  Our current fight for health care reform has shown how much Congress is bogged down by institutional inertia and ties to entrenched corporate interests. 

Jeremy Koulish and I founded the Carrots and Sticks Project to counteract the power of industry lobbyists on Congress.  We are trying to put Howard Dean’s old dictum—that we have the power—into effect on the most difficult testing ground of all—Capitol Hill.  Advocating on the issues of climate change, health care, transportation, and smart growth, we are fighting to rebuild America’s economic and physical infrastructure.   And we are striving to rebuild America’s democratic infrastructure by bridging the gap between those ensconced in the Beltway bubble and the ordinary folks suffering the consequences of their actions. But in order to do that, we need your help.

On Monday, October 5, we are launching our Green States Initiative to put grassroots energy and passion behind the new climate change bill in the Senate.  We will be posting a diary on DailyKos to get the netroots involved in this effort.  But we also want to reach people who are not bloggers.  So I am asking you guys to do three things:

Visit the Carrots and Sticks website, and read the diary that will launch our campaign!

Sign our petition.

Spread the word to those in your activist network, and ask them to sign our petition as well. 

Once we gather enough names, Jeremy and I will deliver the petitions to Senators with swing votes. We are going to need to pressure them early and often in order to push this bill through the Senate. 

We are determined to prove that ordinary citizens have the capacity to be powerful, independent agents of change, not just cogs in an electoral campaign. But we can’t do it without your help.  Now is the time to prove that we have the power.  Let’s do it.

Onward,

Bronwyn Beistle
Jeremy Koulish