You can make America a world leader in fighting Climate Change and in the development of clean, renewable energy . . . ON November 8.
Climate hero, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, has marched down to the floor of The United States Senate every one of the 148 weeks The Senate has been in session in his Senate career to give a speech on what he calls the existential threat of Climate Change. This session he introduced a bill to end that threat and, at the same time, increase economic opportunity in America.
The bill is called "The American Opportunity Climate Fee Act" and here, in a Facebook Live interview with me from his office in Washington, DC, is Senator Whitehouse himself telling us all about it. https://www.facebook.com/279forChange/videos/311146585918796/
If 60 Members of The Senate vote for this bill, it passes The Senate. Senator Whitehouse says if the right people are elected on November 8, this bill can pass and become The Law of The Land "within a month."
To date, none of the 54 Republican Members of The United States Senate believe that our climate is changing because of the release of carbon from the burning of gasoline, coal or natural gas or as a result of other human activities like raising livestock and factory farming.
Below is a list of the 34 Democrats running for the 34 seats that are up in this 2016 Election. While not every candidate is currently in favor of Sen. Whitehouse' bill, fighting Climate Change IS a very strong part of The Platform for the entire Democratic Party and is, according to Sen. Whitehouse, a significant and enthusiastic part of Hillary Clinton's platform. Fighting Climate Change is NOT a part, in any way, of The Platform of the Republican Party and Donald Trump has vowed, in his campaign, to go the opposite direction by increasing the use of coal and drilling for and using more fossil fuels over the next 4 or 8 years if he is President.
Almost every scientist in America and around the world does believe, often vehemently, that such activities create a greenhouse effect that traps heat and thereby increases the temperature of the oceans and everything else on the planet, causing ice to melt, releasing more stored carbon and causing storms to be stronger and more frequent and sea levels to rise.
So, despite the fact that Climate Change was only briefly even referred to in any of the 3 Presidential Debates, you can make Climate Change and "The American Opportunity Climate Fee Act" a part of this campaign by checking with your House and Senate candidates and asking them to #EarnMyVote by asking them if they will commit, BEFORE you vote for them, to voting for "The American Opportunity Climate Fee Act".
Does "Citizen Lobbying" work? Well I asked Senator Whitehouse, "If you were undecided about a particular issue, how many emails from your constituents would you need to get to take a serious look at it? His response: "If I get 20 letters a month on a particular issue, that would make a big impact . . . especially before an election".
The November 8, 2016 Election offers many things to vote FOR that are truly exciting and transformational. If you are passionate about fighting Climate Change and promoting Renewable Energy, use your social media to help "crowdsource" the election of "The Magic Number" of 279 people (218 in The House, 60 in The Senate and 1 President who will sign this bill) and you will have significantly changed The United States of America on Election Day!
Senate Candidates Committed To or Likely To Vote FOR "The American Opportunity Climate Fee Act" and to Fight Climate Change.Alabama: Ron Crumpton
Alaska: Ray Metcalfe
Arizona: Ann Kirkpatrick
Arkansas: Conner Eldridge
California: Kamala Harris or Loretta Sanchez
Colorado: Michael Bennet
Connecticut: Richard Blumenthal
Florida: Patrick Murphy
Georgia: Jim Barksdale
Hawaii: Brian Schatz
Idaho: Jerry Sturgill
Illinois: Tammy Duckworth
Indiana: Evan Bayh
Iowa: Patty Judge
Kansas: Patrick Wiesner
Kentucky: Jim Gray
Louisiana: Foster Campbell or Caroline Fayard
Maryland: Chris Van Hollen
Missouri: Jason Kander
Nevada: Catherine Cortez Masto
New Hampshire: Maggie Hassan
New York: Chuck Schumer
North Carolina: Deborah Ross
North Dakota: Eliot Glassheim
Ohio: Ted Strickland
Oklahoma: Mike Workman
Oregon: Ron Wyden
Pennsylvania: Kathleen McGinty
South Dakota: Thomas Dixon
Utah: Misty K. Snow
Vermont: Patrick Leahy
Washington: Patty Murray
Wisconsin: Russ Feingold
Richard Greene is a former attorney, Fellow for The Constitutional Rights Foundation, former Host of the "Hollywood CLOUT! radio show and Creator of "The 279 for Change Campaign", (www.279forChange.us)