Capitol Action to End Dependence on Coal

Power Shift, a youth led training and nonviolent protest/civil disobedience action in DC, brought thousands of protesters to the coal plant that fuels the White House and Congress. The issue is about America's dependence on coal at a time when the imperative to reduce green house gas emissions grows stronger every day. The action brought Robert Kennedy, Jr., Bill McKibbens, and Wendall Berry and movie stars to join with green energy advocates and youth concerned about a sustainable future.

Kennedy spoke eloquently about ending the most egregious process in coal mining: mountain top removal mining. As he explained, every week an explosion the size of Hiroshima bomb is obliterating the Appalachian Mountains.

As citizens in the American southwest face warming temperatures and the threat of water shortages, and people in Victoria, Australia face the horrors of more deadly fires from long term drought and spiking temps on their side of the globe, we must get a grip on our carbon based emissions economy and, as Van Jones has shown us, marry the Green Jobs Movement to the production of the new grids and energy sources that are nonpolluting for a viable future.