I can't be in DC right now, but I'm looking forward to spending the summer there. Right now, I follow the effort to pass a significant climate change bill, currently called ACES or the American Clean Energy and Security act through twitter and the blog posts of people there. I call my representatives quite a bit, but I really want to be more involved.
This is why I was very excited to see today that 15 youth climate activists were arrested in front of Rep Boucher's (R-VA) office in DC. Boucher has been one of the biggest obstructioninsts, a real banner carrier for the party of 'no' in the effort to get a real climate bill.
I feel like the people who are very concerned about passing climate legislation are going to make this summer a period of sharp escalation. Already this spring we've seen a record frequency and size of protests for coal plants and mountain top removal mining. And we've seen some big mobilization around the ACES bill, but its been a more nuanced issue to mobilize around. In the coming months, though, I hope we are able to identify the obstructionists like Boucher and pressure them into settling down, while engaging the larger house of representatives to improve this bill when it gets out of committee.
Do you think that direct action against congressmen obstructing this legislation is effective at all? And how do you think grassroots activists should escalate their tactics to win strong legislation before the Copenhagen climate negotiations in December?
To follow on twitter: @jessejenkins, @powershift09, @whitjones, @ThePhoenixSun or me @mogmaar
Blogs: www.itsgettinghotinhere.org