If you’re concerned about global warming, you know that the recent election provides new opportunities and challenges. Citizens in Columbus are gearing up to make sure our new government will respond to the most serious environmental threat of our time: global warming.

I work with Greenpeace’s global warming campaign in Columbus. I wanted to tell you a little bit about the work we’re doing and how you can get involved. I’m sure Sierra Club members are aware of the threat that global warming is posing to our planet!

Greenpeace is working to make sure that people who live in Central Ohio and are concerned about global warming have a chance to do something about it. Greenpeace is an international environmental group that has been advocating for environmental protection since our start in the early 1970s. We work on issues like whaling, forest conservation and toxics, but today we’re focusing a lot of our efforts and resources on global warming.

It’s not just scientists in the Arctic who are seeing the effects of global warming. In the US, people from all walks of life are affected. Farmers are facing historic droughts. Business owners on the coasts are facing more intense storms. In many parts of the country, floods are damaging people’s homes. Right here in Ohio, we’re facing rising temperatures, changing seasons, and more extreme weather. Even Ohio’s state symbol, the Buckeye tree, is moving north due to the rapidly changing climate. Our livelihoods and our way of life could be threatened if we don’t act now.

The world has faced challenges before. From the civil rights movement to the demand for clean air and clean water, change has always come from citizens who are willing to stand up for what’s right. Today, citizens across the country—parents, grandparents, businesspeople, laborers, and students—are standing up with Greenpeace to stop global warming.

Many are doing their part in their own lives by driving less and changing appliances, diet and energy use. But the truth is, that’s not going to be enough – we need to get our representatives in Congress to do their part by passing laws to invest in clean, renewable energy, increase energy efficiency, and limit the amount of global warming pollution we’re dumping into the atmosphere.

That’s exactly what Greenpeace’s Columbus campaign is doing. Starting in May 2008, we worked to make sure that Congressional candidates took a strong stance against global warming. The truly amazing thing is – our campaign is working. Grassroots power showed the two candidates running for the open seat in Congress in Ohio District 15 – Mary Jo Kilroy and Steve Stivers – that people here are concerned about global warming and want their leaders to do something about it. But our real work starts now that the election is over.

The consensus in Washington is that 2009 will be the year that the United States finally passes meaningful global warming legislation. But oil and coal companies will be fighting their hardest to prevent any meaningful action. We want Central Ohio’s congressional representatives to be instrumental in making sure that a strong, science-based global warming law passes in Congress. To do that, we’ll need to show that people in this area want them to lead the fight.

Greenpeace is recruiting people to do just that. Our campaign is led by volunteers – people just like you – who organize events, activities, rallies, media campaigns, lobby meetings and other strategies. In the weeks and months ahead, we’ll be doing even more to push Central Ohio members of Congress to be champions for global warming solutions.

You Can Help!

If you’re interested in this campaign, please . Give me a call also if you’d like to visit our office at 3528 N. High St. in Columbus. You can also visit our local website.