Contacts:
| Margaret Levin, Sierra Club MN, | 651/261-2713 (cell) |
MN Sierra Club to Candidates: "You Have the Power2Change"
New Campaign/ report outlines Minnesota's Clean Energy Leaders and Polluters for 2008 ElectionsMinneapolis, MN — At a press conference Wednesday at 12:00pm in front of Minneapolis City Hall, the Minnesota Sierra Club launched a new effort to educate the public about what is at stake in the 2008 elections. Sierra Club leader and former State Senator John Hottinger was joined by Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and State Senate Assistant Majority Leader Tarryl Clark, as well as many volunteers who spent the morning talking to light rail riders about our energy policies and collecting petition signatures, calling on leaders to move Minnesota toward a clean energy future.
Part of a national effort focused in nine states, the Power2Change campaign aims to educate the public and candidates about what is at stake in the 2008 elections by defining the contrast between competing visions of our energy future — positioning clean energy as an economic driver, and challenging candidates up and down the ballot — including the new President — to move America towards a clean energy economy.
"The choices we make in 2008 will define our future, especially when it comes to the election and energy issues," said Hottinger. "The contrast could not be sharper — we can move forward to a clean energy economy that creates jobs, save consumers money and solves global warming, or we can continue the expensive, polluting policies of the past."
The Power2Change campaign involves a new grassroots organizing effort in the community. Over the next four weeks, Minnesota Sierra Club activists will document and release examples of clean and polluting energy sites within each state, collect and deliver petition signatures demanding elected officials help build a clean energy economy, and recruit volunteers to meet with elected, business and community leaders and to participate in Earth Day events around April 22.
The Sierra Club's Power 2 Change Report highlights examples of clean energy leaders and their opponents, backwards thinking polluters from across the country, with a specific section focusing on Minnesota. Efforts on the White Earth Reservation and at the University of Minnesota are just two examples of community-wide efforts to reduce carbon emissions. The report also highlights the success of record-breaking ridership on the Hiawatha light rail line. Conversely, the report notes the backward and polluting energy practices of the Otter Tail Power Company who has a proposal to build a large coal-fired plant on the western border of the state. The full report is available at www.sierraclub.org/power2change.
"We've got a message for candidates at every level that we have the power to change direction," said Hottinger. "We have the technology, know-how and power to build a clean energy future. What we have lacked is the political will and leadership. We need to challenge all our elected officials, including the next President, to provide the leadership we need to move us forward."