The 2008 election will have a significant and long-term impact on the direction of the country. From taking strong action on global warming and building a clean energy economy to preserving our most precious natural lands, our votes this November will decide who leads this nation, and whether the new president and new Congress have the wherewithal to confront these critical issues.
Our next president needs to reverse the many environmental setbacks foisted upon us by the Bush administration and put real environmental improvements on the agenda. Just as important, we need a Congress that will craft, debate and ultimately pass environmental legislation based on science and environmental necessity and not the best interests of the powerful lobbyists in Washington. The 111th Congress must have enough pro-environment votes to win meaningful reforms and enough proven champions to exercise the kind of leadership these big challenges demand.
Environment America, our national federation, has a long history in Congress and the state legislatures, in the courts and at a community level advocating on behalf of strong policies that protect our environment. The vast majority of our resources will continue to focus on working with diverse constituencies to deliver policy victories in state legislatures, governors’ offices, Congress and the national administration.
However, it has become increasingly clear that we also need more legislators and other elected officials who will listen to our priorities and champion those goals. That's why we've decided that later this year we will mobilize our grassroots power to make sure we have the votes in the Congress to send important legislation to the president, and a president who will sign strong environmental reforms. So while our core strategies will continue to rely on independent research, coalition building, public education and mobilization, and we will still be the group you can count on to support good ideas no matter where they came from, we will now in addition use our expertise on the issues to express our opinion on which candidates will be better for the environment.
Environment America will do our part to make sure that the next Congress and the next president are ready, able and willing to do what it takes to protect the environment. We are committed to making sure we have a majority of environmental votes in both branches of Congress and a leader in the White House ready to do what’s needed to ensure clean air, clean water and open space. Starting later this summer and right up through Election Day, we’ll do what we do best—person-by-person, face-to-face education and mobilization of the millions of Americans in critical states and districts who support the environment and need to make their voices and their votes matter on Nov. 4, 2008.
This has been an important organizational decision for us, and while our specific plans are still under development and while the bulk of our work will continue to be our core advocacy and organizing programs, we wanted to let you know that we are headed down this path. We are excited to get to work mobilizing state by state, precinct by precinct and person by person to ensure that the next president and Congress are allies in protecting the environment.
For more information: info@environmentamerica.org.