Time to Move -- Beyond Fossil Fuels

One of the scariest things you'll see in the news today is the false notion that Americans must choose between jobs and healthy people. Corporate polluters and their allies refuse to face the facts -- that burning fossil fuels is making us sick, strangling our economy, and fueling climate disruption.

A healthy economy requires healthy people, clean air, and clean water. By putting the interests of American families above those of corporate polluters -- and moving beyond fossil fuels -- our leaders and policymakers can put us on the path to good jobs, economic opportunities, clean air, safe water, and a brighter future for our children.

On Saturday, September 24th, the Sierra Club will team up with 350.org, thousands of activists across the country, and millions of people around the globe for a Moving Planet day of action -- calling for our leaders to move beyond fossil fuels. 

In every nation on earth, and especially in the U.S., people will be in motion -- powering themselves without fossil fuels. On foot, public transit, kayaks and canoes, skateboards, and bikes, people around the globe in every time zone will bring a tough and unmistakable message to our leaders: Time for you to get in motion too.

Here in the U.S., the Sierra Club and 350.org are organizing hundreds of mass actions in cities across the country. In Colorado, cyclists will bike past two dirty coal plants on the way from Boulder to Denver, ending at a massive rally at the statehouse. In Manhattan, bikers will ride from Columbus Circle to the UN building, demanding that the General Assembly take action on climate. And in San Francisco, thousands of Bay Area residents will descend on Market Street using public transit and then march in a parade calling for our leaders to help move us beyond fossil fuels and make strong investments in clean energy.

America and the world cannot afford any more inaction. We can build healthy, thriving communities and create new jobs by moving beyond fossil fuels and investing in clean energy, like wind and solar, that already has created millions of American jobs.

But to turn this vision into reality, we need people across the country to join together and make their voices heard, starting on September 24th, the Moving Planet day of action. We encourage anyone who can to sign up here for an event already planned in your community or to create your own. It's time to get America off the dime, unstuck, and on the move. It starts September 24th.

Michael Brune
Bill McKibben  

Michael Brune is the executive director of the Sierra Club. Bill McKibben is a co-founder of 350.org.

 

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

Comments

[Steven JF Scannell]

06:37 PM on 09/23/2011

The best energy system on the table is comprehensive in nature, and it goes by the lovely name of TRIPE. www.environmentalfisherman.com What we need is a system that will use geothermal, wind, wave and solar ... where ever it is. This is the Tripe System. Tripe means Track+Pipe. Transportation rails made of composites carry energy, over the old rail infrastructure, which goes everywhere in the world essentially. Energy transportation here has been solved, non-electrically. The tripe or track pipe is an energy storage vehicle, so energy storage has been solved. While the system does not create energy per se, it does store and ship with no appreciable losses in horsepower. How is this? It's like a water system, only pneumatic. The new green fuels and the new tripe green grid will have compressed air @ 8,000psi, and hydrogen, also oxygen rich compressed air has a particular niche.
The Tripe system carries many things, since it has multiple conduits imbedded in the thick pipe wall, which add strength. The pipe diameter may be four or five feet in diameter, and super strong, super heavy duty, easily able to carry mono-rail systems. Cash flow is real: broadband, natural gas, oil, several sewage products, water for emergencies, and drainage, potable, irrigation, and of course the energy system backbone of hydrogen, high pressure compressed air as a fuel, and more. Tripe is BIG Transportation infrastructure, Tripe is BIG Sustainable Energy infrastructure, and Tripe is BIG Utility infrastructure.

[Michael Grimshaw]

06:18 AM on 09/22/2011

Do you really want to get off fossil fuels? Take a look at LFTR.
Geothermal is severely limited.
Hydro destroys rivers and shorelines.
Wind is unsightly, noisy, requires millions of expensive, high maintenance units, and kills birds.
Solar is expensive, requires millions of acres, and frequent maintenance.

LFTR can retrofit coal and gas plants, and existing nuclear plants. It's quiet, requires a small footprint, and produces *almost* no waste. LFTR produces no CO2, less radiation than coal, and has a better safety record than wind. It's possible to run LFTR without using local water resources. The fuel, found everywhere on the planet and in the solar system, is an INEXHAUSTIBLE (and cheap) "waste" product from the mining industry. AND... LFTR can actually burn up the nuclear waste we already have. Have I oversold LFTR? You decide. http://energyfromthorium.com/

PWR = bad.
LFTR = good.

[rock0267]

08:21 AM on 09/21/2011

uh, that's just fine if you live in a city. But the rest of us IN THE REAL WORLD need cars. Period. And don't even suggest we should move to the city. Why anybody would ever choose to live in such a crowded, no tree, smelly, eyesore of a place is beyond me. How about promoting $2 a gallon gas again? THAT'S what we really need to get th is economy rolling!!

[Mike Nemeth]

05:02 PM on 09/20/2011

Reminds me of a song I memorized way back when: "Welcome sulphur dioxide. Hello carbon monoxide. The air, the air is everywhere. Breathe deep, while you sleep, breathe deep." Move that planet. Si se peude!