Thanks, Carl

Almost exactly two years ago, I was in the running to succeed Carl Pope as the Sierra Club's executive director but had not yet been offered the job. At one stage in the hiring process, I went through a gantlet of nearly a full day of interviews with Sierra Club Board members and senior staff. My interview with Carl that day was unlike any other: He didn't ask a single question.

That's not to say that Carl did all the talking. Rather, he wanted to be helpful. He said that filling the executive director position was the Board's job, but that he wanted to provide a little clarity into what I might be getting into. If one style of leadership is to ask questions, Carl was showing, to me, a more impressive style of helping someone to find their way.

A few months later, on my first day in the new job, I wrote in my first blog post here about how excited I was to be following in the footsteps of conservation giants like John Muir and David Brower. Like most people starting a big new job, I wasn't sure what to expect, but it's been helpful to have my predecessor sitting down the hall.

Leadership transitions can be bumpy but, with Carl's help, I was able to quickly get a handle on what an incredible organization the Sierra Club really is. Carl, who had served longer than any previous executive director, knew the Club inside out -- from its volunteer-based roots (no other organization of this size and influence is run by an elected board of volunteers) to its national and international work on environmental policy.

You could say we hit the ground running and haven't stopped since. The BP oil disaster, the most environmentally hostile House of Representatives in history, the explosion of under-regulated natural gas drilling -- it's been an eventful period for the environmental movement. But the Sierra Club has always had one powerful force that no other organization could match: our grassroots volunteers and supporters. And during the last year, we've seen that base become energized around the issues of climate, clean energy, and public health. Our Beyond Coal campaign, thanks to the work of thousands of on-the-ground activists across the country, has done more to address carbon pollution and public health than any other single initiative. And, just last week, our grassroots coalition to stop tar sands oil development achieved a huge victory by convincing the Obama administration to back off on approving the Keystone XL pipeline.

At the same time, we've been working hard on the renewable energy solutions that will replace dirty fossil fuels in a clean energy economy. A pilot project to help homeowners get rooftop solar panels in California, for instance, was a big success, and we're organizing in communities to help scale up large-scale wind, solar, and geothermal energy. Long after some crazy pro-polluter bill floated in Congress has been forgotten, this is the work that will make a lasting difference to America's future.  

Through all of this, Carl has been available for advice, counsel, and encouragement. Now, though, after nearly forty years with the Sierra Club, he has announced that he is stepping down from his position as chairman. Typical of Carl, he is not intending to take it easy. Instead, he plans to work even more intensively on an initiative that he himself pioneered: Fostering collaboration between environmentalists, organized labor, and business to revitalize America's manufacturing base. It's one of the most important parts of building our clean-energy economy, and it's a challenge worthy of a leader and thinker as extraordinary as Carl Pope.

Carl, I am sure, will bring all of his formidable intellect and passion to bear upon this new challenge he has set for himself.  As we approach this season of Thanksgiving, I'm truly grateful that he has helped ensure that we are stronger and more effective than ever before in our mission to protect the planet.

The Two Ways to Move Beyond Oil

We can end America's oil addiction, but two key events -- yesterday and last week -- tell us a lot about the challenges we'll face as we make it happen.

Last week, the delay (and potential cancellation) of the Keystone XL pipeline showed we can meet the challenge of organizing a grassroots-driven coalition to stop destructive oil development. That was a fantastic victory, but it only marked the start of what is sure to be a long campaign to stop oil companies from pursuing increasingly risky and environmentally destructive sources of petroleum -- in the tar sands, the Arctic, the Amazon, the shale fields in the northern Rockies, and beyond.

After seeing thousands of us surround the White House to stop Keystone XL, I think we're up to that challenge. But to keep succeeding, we'll need more than enthusiasm for stopping the bad stuff -- we'll also need to tackle the root of the problem: our society's seemingly insatiable demand for oil.

That's why although I'm thrilled that President Obama heard our voices and declined to rubberstamp the Keystone XL pipeline, I'm equally excited about yesterday's announcement that his administration is finalizing a fuel-efficiency standard of 54.5 mpg for all cars and light trucks by 2025, as well as a reduction in carbon emissions to 163 grams per mile. Because most of the oil we use is for transportation, improving vehicle efficiency is the single biggest step we can take right now to ensure that we transition to an oil-free society before we've destroyed more irreplaceable wildlands, suffered more oil-spill catastrophes, or allowed carbon pollution to push our climate past the tipping point.

And that's where our other challenge really kicks in. We know that the proposed fuel-economy and carbon-pollution standards are achievable. We also know that they'll help solve the many problems that our oil addiction causes for our economy, our environment, and our national security. In 2030, they'll save as much oil as we imported from Saudi Arabia and Iraq combined last year. Consumers will save billions of dollars at the pump, and innovative automotive technologies will flourish and create thousands of new jobs as a direct result of these new standards.

Sounds great, right? Ironically, though, we need to work just as hard to win a solution like this as to stop a problem like the Keystone XL.

It's not always easy to get people as excited about long-term solutions like fuel-economy standards as it is to galvanize them against immediate threats like tar sands. But if we don't reduce demand for oil through solutions like strong fuel-efficiency standards, better transit options, and smart urban planning, we'll find it a little harder each time to resist the demands to develop projects like the Keystone XL or drill in a treasured wilderness like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

So although nowhere near as dramatic as last week's Keystone XL announcement, yesterday's proposed vehicle standards represent an equally significant commitment by President Obama to move our nation beyond oil and toward a clean-energy future. It's a commitment that deserves all the support we can give it.

Ready to be part of the solution? Let the Obama administration know you support the strong fuel-economy and carbon-pollution standards that will move America beyond oil.

Victory Today, Clean Energy Tomorrow

The earth moved in Washington, D.C., today, and it wasn't another freak East Coast earthquake. The Obama administration announced it would reevaluate the environmental review of the dirty Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. That means that, despite being backed by all the might and money of Big Oil and its minions, the Keystone XL will not be approved by President Obama this year, if ever.

A year ago -- even six months ago -- even the most wild-eyed optimists among us wondered whether we could stop this pipeline, in spite of the catastrophic consequences that we knew would come from developing Alberta's tar sands. The Keystone XL was flying under the radar toward approval, with most Americans completely unaware it was being foisted upon them.

What changed? Last weekend, as I watched 12,000 people form a circle of protest around the White House, I knew that the Keystone XL and all its flaws had been unmasked before the entire nation. It was a tremendous moment, but it didn't happen spontaneously. It took years of hard work by dozens of organizations to put together a coalition, organize grassroots volunteers, and use the power of the people to counter the formidable lobbying resources of the oil industry. We know that pipeline proponents like TransCanada have millions and millions of dollars to hire lobbyists and PR executives and run ads to promote its pipeline. But we have millions and millions of people who know better, and who are willing to work harder for the clean energy future that we all need. And without such a strong, organized, and righteous movement, we never would have prevailed.   

But we have. Now, having won this part of the battle, let's take a deep breath and remind ourselves that we're really just getting started. Because we haven't yet defeated the pipeline for good. And defeating the pipeline isn't even our highest aspiration. This movement is much bigger than just about the tar sands. It's about getting off oil as quickly as we can and replacing dirty power with clean energy as soon as possible.

We'll only do that by working together. We know that ending our addiction to oil is the only way to be sure an oil company can never again put our drinking water at risk for the sake of a pipeline we don't need. We also know that getting off oil is the only way to make sure we don't destabilize our climate, pillage our forests, prop up dictators, and pollute both our air and our political process.

We stopped the Keystone XL with people power. Now let's use that power to lead our nation toward a clean energy future. All it takes are the tools of a working democracy: talking to your neighbors, making phone calls, sending emails, and visiting with your congressperson.

That is how we will win the fight for clean energy -- by working together to create a better future for all Americans.

Can't wait to begin? Why not start by thanking President Obama for listening to the American people and putting the brakes on a dirty, dangerous pipeline proposal.

We won today against the Keystone XL. Let's win tomorrow for clean energy.

 

Let's Build the Future We Want to See

One bus is coming from Maine. Another from Asheville, North Carolina -- one of several from that state. From points up and down the eastern seaboard, busloads of Sierra Club members and volunteers will travel to the White House this weekend. We won't be mingling in the Rose Garden. Instead, we'll stand, shoulder to shoulder, with thousands of Americans from across the environmental movement in a circle that stretches clear around the president's house to send this message:

Stop the Keystone XL pipeline and the dirty tar-sands oil it would carry from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.

A year ago, few people had heard of the Keystone XL or even knew what tar-sands oil was. Today, thanks to lots of hard work and grassroots actions, the decision of whether to permit this pipeline -- a decision that Obama has acknowledged is his alone to make -- is a flashpoint issue not just for environmentalists but for anyone who believes our leaders should still be capable of making critical decisions based, not on some political calculus, but on right versus wrong.

There's no question the Keystone XL pipeline would be wrong.

Wrong because all the risks of the pipeline would be borne by the American people, while the profits further enrich the wealthiest corporations on the planet -- Big Oil.

Wrong because the inevitable toxic oil spills could contaminate the Ogallala aquifer-- which provides irrigation for 27 percent of U.S. croplands as well as drinking water for millions of people.

Wrong because extracting tar sands oil is the petroleum equivalent of mountaintop-removal mining -- a scorched-earth, wholesale destruction of North America's boreal forest.

Wrong because digging up and then burning Canada's tar-sands oil would create enough carbon pollution to make stopping runaway climate disruption nearly impossible.

Wrong because the refining of dirty tar sands oil dumps even more cancer-causing chemicals, particulate matter and other toxics into the air, further poisoning communities where the air is unsafe to breathe.

And wrong because to bury our heads in the tar sands would be to pretend we don't have what it takes to move our country Beyond Oil and build a clean-energy economy based on renewable energy and efficiency.

These moral stakes compel us to bring our message directly to the president's doorstep.

One of my favorite insights about public policy comes from my friend Bill Barclay, an energy analyst with Rainforest Action Network. Bill once told me, "You want to know the best way to tell the future? Look at our investments in energy infrastructure. What we're building now will be around for the next half-century. "

Our energy future is determined by the decisions we make today. If we want a future where our country's economy is based on clean, safe, and secure energy, then we need to work for it. Because we can indeed break our dependence on oil -- one car, plane, and pipeline at a time. The alternative is more pipelines (and thus more spills), fouled water, dirty air, and an increasingly unstable climate.

The Keystone XL decision is not just about a pipeline. If it were, nine Nobel Peace Prize laureates would not have publically urged President Obama to reject it. This is about whether right and wrong still matter. Thousands of us will be at the White House Sunday because we believe they do. (And if you can't, here's how you can still help.)