A Fight for Our Future

Four years ago, Sierra Club members and people across the country knocked on doors, made phone calls, and talked with our friends and neighbors to help Barack Obama win the presidency. We worked hard because we knew that clean air and water and the health of our families were at stake.

But our hard work didn't stop after President Obama was elected. As Senator Barack Obama said when accepting his party's nomination, "Change happens because the American people demand it." We've spent the past three years both demanding and helping the president deliver the kind of positive change we need.

To protect the health of our kids and communities, 800,000 of us called on the EPA to limit toxic mercury pollution from coal plants for the first time ever -- and President Obama acted. New protections will slash mercury pollution from power plants by more than 90 percent and improve air quality for millions of Americans.

• We said that it was time to clear our air and save families money at the pump -- and the president listened. He's implementing the strongest fuel-efficiency standards for cars and trucks in history, representing the largest single step our nation has ever taken to move beyond oil.
• We rallied to defend our wild lands -- and the president protected a million acres around the Grand Canyon from new uranium mining.
• We called for independence from dirty energy to create new jobs and a healthier future -- and the president responded by making landmark investments in clean energy and demanding an end to costly tax subsidies to oil companies.

Thanks to all that we've accomplished together, the tide is turning. Americans are using less oil and coal than we have in decades -- and clean energy use is skyrocketing.

But though we've achieved much, still more remains to be done. We haven't achieved all that we wanted, and indeed we've had a few setbacks along the way. But we've made great progress, and whether we continue to move forward or instead fall back will be determined this November. Because President Barack Obama has stood with us on the side of health, prosperity, and progress for all American families, I am proud to announce that the Sierra Club is endorsing him for reelection.

The positive changes we've made happen will not go unchallenged. Big polluters are ready for a knockdown, drag-out fight to push their own reckless agenda. They're backing candidates whose agenda is simply pollution without limits: increased drilling and mining, elimination of safeguards for clean air and water, and the end of the EPA as we know it. They are ready to use their billions and an army of lobbyists to highjack our nation's energy policy and continue raking in record profits.

We can't let them reverse what we've achieved. If President Obama is defeated, big polluters will have free rein to turn back the clock and begin polluting our air and water without fear of repercussion.

That's why we need you in this fight. We don't have billions of dollars like the oil industry and other polluters -- but we do have millions of people like you who are willing to work hard to make sure that we get the clean energy, the healthy air and water, and the unspoiled great outdoors that we all need. Together, we must stand with President Obama and against big polluters. Because this election is about more than any one candidate's career -- it's about the future for all of us.

Paid for by Sierra Club Political Committee, www.sierraclub.org, and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

 

Follow Michael Brune on Twitter: www.twitter.com/bruneski

Comments

[mamacat]

06:09 AM on 04/20/2012

Does anyone doubt that Republicans work to make the environment worse, compared to Democrats? They are the Party of Big Business, short term profits, and to hell with everything else.

[Linus521]

05:45 PM on 04/19/2012

Just got word from a reliable source, Obama fails to protect polar bears.

[ILoveFiction]

08:00 AM on 04/19/2012

Is your climate better off than it was 4 years ago?

[Vegasyankee]

09:33 PM on 04/18/2012

Awesome!

They're really going to LOVE him when he gives part II of the Keystone Pipeline the green light.

[eaarth2]

03:45 PM on 04/18/2012

Obama has tried to protect clean air and water policies that first went into place 40 years ago under Nixon and the EPA. Today our situation is far more dire with climate change. We cannot continue to pump C02 into the atmosphere at this pace- Obama here has failed to lead. Of course the alternative- the GOP would sent the entire civilization humans have built up over the last 10,000 years over a cliff.

[Hans Littooy]

07:32 PM on 04/18/2012

No, we'd just push the junk science called "Global Warming" over the cliff where it belongs.

[eaarth2]

09:26 PM on 04/18/2012

Oh my- another denier- and sounding desperate at that. The climate will continue to deteriorate- its happening now- and the public is catching on. And who will they blame in the end when all hell lets loose? The GOP and Mitt- LOL

[nathanoj]

10:57 PM on 04/18/2012

, he said, as he continued sucking on big oil's 'exhaust pipe' for minimum wage, never knowing that he could be making a lot more selling solar panels.

"Keep on Polluting!" - Big Oil

[eaarth2]

05:02 AM on 04/20/2012

The Paleo climate records from NASA. GISS, NOAA, The National Academy of Sciences USGS all show a very different set of data and statistics. We are now at the warmest part of the Holocene. The Period since the last ice age ended. Co2 in fact does drive climate-
http://www.climateshifts.org/?p=7065

http://www.crikey.com.au/2011/01/27/nasa-climate-chief-labors-targets-a-recipe-for-disaster/

The last great warming event on earth- the PETM Caused entirely by C02
http://www.bitsofscience.org/petm-permafrost-paleocene-eocene-thermal-maximum-5488/#.T5El_tWGKSo

[my2cnts]

03:03 PM on 04/18/2012

http://www.eac.gov/voter_resources/register_to_vote.aspx info on voting from usa.gov

[snowballinhell]

02:02 PM on 04/18/2012

That's no way to put pressure on President Obama to make him take effective action to protect the environment.

[Jtt]

02:02 PM on 04/18/2012

Its kinda a no brainer. Romney is unacceptable not just because of a lack of environmental ethics - he has demonstrated himself to be grossly inconsistent and incompetent. I wish the Republicans could have pulled it more together away from extremism and presented a candidate that would had pushed Obama to be more forceful and cogent on environmental matters.

[Hans Littooy]

07:36 PM on 04/18/2012

So Mitt Romney is incompetent huh? Ran a very successful business for 20+ years; turned-around a disastrous Winter Olympics in 2002 and turned the state of Mass budget and economy around. Yep, clearly the work of incompetent individual. Where does that put Obama??

[CTDFalconer]

01:35 PM on 04/19/2012

Competence is almost beside the point. We can assume that either president would be competent in any given situation, but the big danger is that a president Romney would be tempted to embrace the disastrous policies pushed by the radical right. There is too much at stake for that to be allowed to happen.

[Michael D Ballantine]

01:41 PM on 04/18/2012

President Obama has made some strides compared to the Bush period. However, what are his promises for the next 4 years. Endorsing someone without getting something in return is a wasted endorsement. As a lame duck president, what can President Obama guarantee he will deliver?

If the American people want a Green President committed to preserving the environment, attacking climate change, and expanding the use of renewables, then the only choice is a Green or Progressive candidate. With choices including Rocky Anderson, Jill Stein, and myself, it seems that this endorsement was given a little cheaply and a bit early.

[Rebecca Carey]

07:25 PM on 04/18/2012

The Sierra Club gave their endorsement to a viable Environmentally Friendly Candidate.

[nathanoj]

11:10 PM on 04/18/2012

Why did you put 'Environmentally Friendly Candidate' in all caps? Is that how you become 'viable'? I'm telling everyone I know to abstain from voting for Obama because of all of his failed campaign promises. Obama told too many lies during the 2008 campaign. Obama is not a moderate, he's a Republican

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/rulings/promise-broken/
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/rulings/promise-broken/?page=2
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/rulings/promise-broken/?page=3
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/rulings/promise-broken/?page=4

fail, fail, fail, FAIL!

I voted for Obama, he got elected.... and then he became a Republican.

So you go ahead and vote for your favorite liar Barack Obama over the other guy who tells slightly different lies. I'm abstaining.

[Michael D Ballantine]

09:55 AM on 04/20/2012

This may come as a surprise, but President Obama is still in the primaries. If the Sierra Club wants to use its political weight, it has to trade endorsements for promises. Giving an early endorsement without getting quid pro quo makes the organization politically impotent. President Obama's actions on climate change this past year are reprehensible. Delaying any action for 8 years is tanatmount to surrender, instead we need candidates that will do more than talk because throwing us a few bones in the face of total collapse is not an "environmentally friendly candidate." This election is not over by a long shot.

[NoSillyName]

12:43 AM on 04/19/2012

Sorry, but there are only TWO choices: The Future or a return to Yesteryear.

[Michael D Ballantine]

10:27 AM on 04/20/2012

Actually, there is only one choice, the future. Unfortuantely, it is always a messy process getting there, but we will get there.