SOS Activist Starting Vigil Outside Their DC Office
As Jim Hansen stated in an opening quote for the piece by Cory and I in Common Dreams : “Governments will not put young people and nature above special financial interests without great public pressure. Such pressure is not possible as long as big environmental organizations provide cover.“
Environmental Defense (EDF) is front and center as spending big money to provide that cover. Their site now reveals they played a lead role in crafting all the giveaways in the dangerous facade of a bill called Kerry-Lieberman. Gary Houser of Climate SOS is now seeking support for an ongoing vigil outside the EDF office in DC. The goal is to expose EDF’s false, deceptive, and immoral claim to represent the “environmental community” (when in fact they are serving the interests of fossil fuel corporations) and the real damage it is inflicting on efforts to create a truly meaningful bill. Any potential supporters (including from the religious community) should be directed to Houser at: mountainmist4@yahoo.com
Here are some choice direct quotes from an EDF webpage:
“EDF played a critical, behind-the scenes role in constructing the Senate bill. In Senator Lieberman’s words: ‘We relied on EDF for big picture counseling, for strategic and tactical advice, and for the substantive legislative and modeling assistance that we needed so much.‘
“Our litmus test for climate legislation is: Does it reduce emissions enough, and quickly enough?” said Krupp. “We believe the Senate bill will do that.“
“The Senate bill, like the House one, puts a declining cap on emissions from the largest sources of carbon pollution and aims to reduce emissions 17% by 2020 and 80% by 2050.” [Comment: Never mind that these are from a 2005 base rather than 1990, never mind that there are enough loopholes to avoid ANY actual reductions for up to 20 years.]
“EDF will go the extra mile for a strong climate bill Kerry and Lieberman appeared at EDF’s May board meeting in Washington ….“
Link to EDF page on their key role in drafting Kerry-Lieberman bill.