Congress Sees the Light!

After such a long drought in federal leadership on renewables, we find ourselves pleasantly surprised by Congress' newfound love for the sun. Congress just passed an economic recovery package that makes good on Obama's promise to unleash the economic development engine that is clean energy. Nearly all of the solar provisions on the table made it into the final bill. Serious kudos to our hard-working friends at SEIA who traversed the halls of Congress until the 11th hour, and to all of our members who chimed in online to make their voices heard.

Click here to read about the solar provisions in the bill. The recovery package will immediately spur job creation along each link in the solar supply chain- from PV panel manufacturers to solar hot water system installers.

Next up on the federal solar agenda - a Renewable Electricity Standard. We are working to ensure that this important policy tool effectively deploys solar from coast to coast. As always, we will be counting on you to help deliver the message. Stay tuned, it may only be February, but it's already shaping up to be a great year for solar victories.

Onwards,

Annie + Vote Solar Team

The Vote Solar Initiative

300 Brannan Street, Suite 609

San Francisco, CA 94107

www.votesolar.org

Words from President Obama

Start an Energy
[R]evolution to
stop global Warming.

"This is the moment when we must come together to save this planet. Let us resolve that we will not leave our children a world where the oceans rise and famine spreads and terrible storms devastate our lands." - President Obama, July 25 2008

On this Presidents' Day, many Americans are suffering. Our economy is struggling, millions of jobs have been lost and thousands more are at risk. But at Greenpeace we also see hope - if our President, our Congress and our nation make the right choices, we can begin to achieve energy independence with thousands of green jobs and real solutions to global warming.

Can you give $30 or more today to start an Energy [R]evolution to stop global warming? Click here to contribute.

On March 2^nd Greenpeace will mobilize thousands of Americans to send a powerful message of urgency through peaceful protest and civil disobedience at the coal-fired Capitol Power Plant in Washington DC - a plant that literally powers Congress with dirty energy. This will be the largest mass civil disobedience for the climate in US history.

President Obama has made it clear that he is committed to returning the United States to being a world leader in stopping global warming. Greenpeace is committed to making sure that he follows through on this and receives the support needed from the Congress and the American people. Your gift of $30 or more can ensure that future generations do not have to live with the dire predictions of unchecked global warming - increased storms and floods, rising ocean levels, species extinction and the spread of tropical diseases. Please donate today. Thank you.

For a renewable future, Lisa Finaldi

Sarah Palin calls us extremists.

Since we launched our Eye on Palin campaign last week, millions have already seen our powerful video featuring actress and activist Ashley Judd. To learn more about this important campaign and what you can do to help, please take a few moments to read the message below from Ms. Judd.

We can’t stop now. Please consider making a donation today to help us air the Palin video on TV during Governor Palin’s next visit to Washington, DC and fight to save the lives of wolves, polar bears and other animals threatened by the extreme anti-wildlife policies of Sarah Palin.

-- Rodger Schlickeisen, Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund

Those who know me know that I think it is very important to stand up for the things I believe in. Because I strongly believe in stopping the aerial wolf slaughter in Alaska, I’m honored to be working with you as part of the Eye on Palin campaign.

We’ve already reached millions with the gruesome news of Governor Sarah Palin’s cruel aerial wolf-killing program. But now I need your help to turn up the heat and run Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund’s video on TV as Governor Palin continues her attempts to grab the national spotlight.

Please donate today to help air our video on CNN in Washington, DC during Governor Palin’s next visit to the nation’s capital, and to support Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund’s fight to end aerial wolf-killing in Alaska once and for all -- and also stop Palin’s other wildlife atrocities.

Palin is scheduled to give a major speech in Washington, DC on February 26th. And we want to put the national spotlight on her support for aerial killing of wolves and the execution of helpless wolf pups, her equally outrageous slaughter of female brown and black bears and their cubs, her lawsuit to eliminate federal protections for imperiled polar bears, and her opposition to protecting imperiled beluga whales.

Palin’s clearly worried about our national public education campaign: She’s tried to tar the Eye on Palin campaign as the efforts of an “extreme fringe group.” But Palin’s aerial wolf-killing program has been repeatedly condemned by scientists, Alaskans and ethical hunters alike.

We’re not about to back down from her and I’m sure you aren’t either. We know that the more Americans hear about her heartless animal-killing programs, the more the public recognizes that Palin is the extremist -- and her public support plummets.

We’ve already gained the support of some 120 members of Congress to pass federal legislation to end her barbaric killing. And we will stop her.

Please donate today to help Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund air this video on television in Washington, DC during Palin’s visit to the nation’s capital, and to help us take other actions to advance our great cause.

We don’t have much time to seize this opportunity. Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund needs to buy the time this week to put our powerful ad on television in Washington during Palin’s DC appearance at the end of the month.

Because of caring people like you, more Americans are talking about Governor Palin’s awful wolf-killing programs. Our video has been viewed more than 200,000 times on YouTube and been featured on MSNBC, CNN, The Today Show and in hundreds of news articles across the country. And last Friday, Rodger Schlickeisen and I appeared last Friday on Larry King Live to answer Governor Palin’s statement and set the record straight about her wolf-killing program.

With your support we can reach millions more Americans and make sure they know the truth about Sarah Palin and her anti-wildlife programs.

Thank you for doing what you can to help.

Ashley Judd

P.S. Thank you so much for the incredible support that people like you have shown for the Eye on Palin campaign. Together, we’re making a difference!

Urgent: Stop The Nuclear/Coal Power Plant Fraud In The Stimulus Bill

We've heard President Obama on the TV alot talking about how he's
promoting wind and solar power in the new stimulus bill. But in the
Senate version of the bill, it's all a great, big, honking FRAUD,
because the 50 billion in loan guarantees for "eligible technologies"
there has been deceptively defined so that most of that money will
instead go to finance nuclear and filthy coal power plants instead.

We know this because Republican Senator Bennett from Utah made sure
that was the intent when he snuck this provision into the bill in the
Appropriations Committee. Why it is still there after Bennett himself
voted against the whole package is an outrage. But because the House
bill lacks this garbage provision, we still have a chance to remove
it in the reconciliation between the Senate and house versions.

And if that weren't bad enough, there is another billion for new
nuclear weapons development. That's not the kind of infrastructure we
were promised.

Because of the urgency of this action, please call your members of
Congress toll-free at 800-828-0498 or 800-459-1887 to raise an
immediate fuss about this. Then submit the action page below as well
as a follow up.

No Nuclear/Coal Subsidies In Stimulus Bill:
http://www.peaceteam.net/action/pnum934.php

What a cruel and dishonest trick on the American people if this is
all allowed to pass, to foist the sludge spill disasters of the
future on us, in the sheep's clothing of a green energy spirit, which
is what we thought we were all voting for in the last election.

All they've talked about for years is how vulnerable nuclear power
plants would be to a possible terrorist attack, and now they want to
build many more?? And this is on top to the fact we have nowhere to
put all the dangerous nuclear waste existing plants have already
generated. This is not the change we were promised and it's time to
make that abundantly clear with our phone calls and emails. Please
make your toll-free calls and submit the action page above.