Beyond Coal

Climate Change Action

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This is a non-Sierra Club activity that supports our goal of reducing climate change.  Senator Brian Schatz will speak and give a press conference:

On Saturday, August 24, citizens concerned with the threats of climate change will hold a demonstration at the Waihe’e Coastal Dunes & Wetlands Refuge of projected impacts on Maui for future generations if current trends of global warming continue at the current pace. Volunteers will take part in two activities:

ACTIVITY ONE: 12 Noon –2 P.M.
Volunteers will take cuttings from indigenous plants to place into pots for future plantings as a safeguard against soil erosion; and,

ACTIVITY TWO; 2:00 –2:30 P.M.
Volunteers will carry colorful batons and encircle the wetlands to demonstrate the area to be tainted for wildlife should saltwater encroach as the sea level rises.

ACTIVITY THREE; 2:30–3:30 P.M.
Scott Fisher, Conservation Director of the Hawaiian Island Land Trust, will comment about the threats and impacts of climate change on the Waihe’e Coastal Dunes & Wetlands Refuge. Senator Brian Schatz will follow with comments about the projected effects on Maui and the Hawaiian Islands in general. The senator will follow his remarks with a PRESS CONFERENCE open to Q & A with the media. Mr. Fisher will be introduced by M. J. Yardley, co-leader of the OFA Maui chapter. Sen. Schatz, a former environmental activist with the UH Sea Grant Program after leaving college, will be introduced by Ted Clement, Executive Director of HILT.

This demonstration has been arranged by Organizing for Action (OFA) Maui, a living extension of President Obama’s 2012 campaign pledge to combat climate change. On August 1, four former directors of the EPA under the Republican Administrations of Presidents Nixon, Reagan, and both Bushs I and II, published a collaborative editorial piece in the New York Times lending support for President Obama’s June climate action plan. “The costs of inaction are undeniable. The lines of scientific evidence grow only stronger and more numerous. And the window of time remaining to act is growing smaller; delay could mean that warming becomes ‘locked in.'” Rather than argue against his proposals, our leaders in Congress should endorse them…”

Keith Echeverri, OFA Maui Media Liaison & Climate Reality Leadership Corps activist, 276-8915

Climate Change Event

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On Saturday, August 24, citizens concerned with the threats of climate change will hold a demonstration at the Waihe’e Coastal Dunes & Wetlands Refuge of projected impacts on Maui for future generations if current trends of global warming continue at the current pace. Volunteers will take part in two activities:

ACTIVITY ONE: 12 Noon –2 P.M.
Volunteers will take cuttings from indigenous plants to place into pots for future plantings as a safeguard against soil erosion; and,

ACTIVITY TWO; 2:00 –2:30 P.m.
Volunteers will carry colorful batons and encircle the wetlands to demonstrate the area to be tainted for wildlife should saltwater encroach as the sea level rises.

ACTIVITY THREE; 2:30–3:30 P.M.
Scott Fisher, Conservation Director of the Hawaiian Island Land Trust, will comment about the threats and impacts of climate change on the Waihe’e Coastal Dunes & Wetlands Refuge. Senator Brian Schatz will follow with comments about the projected effects on Maui and the Hawaiian Islands in general. The senator will follow his remarks with a PRESS CONFERENCE open to Q & A with the media. Mr. Fisher will be introduced by M. J. Yardley, co-leader of the OFA Maui chapter. Sen. Schatz, a former environmental activist with the UH Sea Grant Program after leaving college, will be introduced by Ted Clement, Executive Director of HILT.

This demonstration has been arranged by Organizing for Action (OFA) Maui, a living extension of President Obama’s 2012 campaign pledge to combat climate change. On August 1, four former directors of the EPA under the Republican Administrations of Presidents Nixon, Reagan, and both Bushs I and II, published a collaborative editorial piece in the New York Times lending support for President Obama’s June climate action plan. “The costs of inaction are undeniable. The lines of scientific evidence grow only stronger and more numerous. And the window of time remaining to act is growing smaller; delay could mean that warming becomes ‘locked in.’” Rather than argue against his proposals, our leaders in Congress should endorse them…”

Keith Echeverri, OFA Maui Media Liaison & Climate Reality Leadership Corps activist, 276-8915

Reject Lingle’s Attacks on Hirono

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Republican Linda Lingle on Energy: The Same Old Drill

Respected Environmental Organizations Urge Hawaii to Reject Lingle’s Attacks on Hirono and Rally Around Mazie’s Commitment to Renewable Energy

 

HONOLULU, HAWAII – Her campaign powered by personal attacks, fueled by oil-and-gas-industry contributions, and dimmed by her embrace of unlimited domestic oil drilling – Republican Linda Lingle’s true colors are really starting to show.

That’s the conclusion reached by some of the nation’s most-respected environmental organizations – The Sierra Club, The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) Action Fund  and Ocean Champions – in the wake of Lingle’s relentless attacks against Mazie Hirono’s sensible and sustainable approach to U.S. energy policy.

“Rather than recycling her party leadership’s tired, Washington talking points on oil drilling, Linda Lingle would be wise to join Mazie Hirono and the people of Hawaii in taking a more responsible and renewable approach to America’s energy future,” said Robert Harris, Director of the Sierra Club, Hawaii Chapter.

“Linda Lingle is not only advocating for expanded oil drilling offshore along East Coast and Gulf of Mexico states, she also supports drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge with the hollow caveat ‘as long as ‘environmental safeguards’ are in place,’” said Michael Dunmyer, Executive Director of Ocean Champions.  “But recent history and experience show us that, when it comes to drilling and transporting oil, Lingle’s so-called ‘safeguards’ guarantee nothing.”

Following 2010’s massive Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, there have already been hundreds of on-land drilling accidents in 2012 alone.  This past April, for example, an Exxon Mobil crude oil pipeline ruptured and spilled oil 80,000 gallons onto land in Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana.  The site of the spill sits directly between two wildlife refuges.

In recent days, Lingle has not only lashed out at Hirono’s sensible opposition to increased domestic drilling in America’s most environmentally sensitive areas, but has also mocked Hirono’s call for a stronger national Renewable Energy Standard (RES) which would enable more clean-energy production, create renewable-energy jobs and lower energy costs for businesses and middle-class families.   Rarely avoiding an opportunity to lob personal insults at her opponent, Lingle even derided Hirono for “a fundamental lack of knowledge” about renewable-energy policy – despite Lingle’s own embrace of her party’s short-sighted “Drill, Baby, Drill” approach to energy and rejection of a national RES.

In denouncing both Lingle’s attacks on Hirono and her posture on energy policy, the three prominent environmental organizations highlighted the responsible national Renewable Energy Standard (RES) Hirono has proposed, which would facilitate clean energy production, create jobs, and reduce consumer costs.

“Mazie Hirono understands that an investment in renewable energy is an investment in Hawaii’s economy and America’s workforce. Whether it’s leading the fight for a stronger national Renewable Energy Standard (RES) or laying out a detailed plan for a more sustainable Hawaii, Mazie has the right solutions to move Hawaii and America toward energy independence,” said LCV Action Fund President Gene Karpinski. “It’s a bit strange that Lingle is calling for more domestic drilling and refusing to put America on the same path Hawaii has chosen via the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative.  It’s probably not a coincidence that the Big Oil and corporate polluters have contributed nearly $200,000 to Lingle’s campaign.”

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