Category Archives: Voices

Norwich Bulletin- “Our view: Energy bill deserves bipartisan support”

“Cap-and-trade has come to take on a negative connotation. It shouldn’t. Connecticut, along with the other New England states, has been actively involved in the sale of emission allowances for several years — successfully, and profitably.” 

“Essentially, we get cleaner air, less harmful pollutants damaging the environment, less dependency on fossil fuels, more jobs created through emerging alternative energy programs, less debt passed on to future generations and ultimately, cheaper energy.”

The Huffington Post- “Time to Unleash American Innovation on Energy and Climate Change”

By Lowell Feld, Communications manager of NRDC Action Fund

“We need to start now, with comprehensive, clean energy and climate legislation. We need to encourage the transition from a fossil-fuel, carbon-based energy economy to one powered by energy efficiency, solar, wind, and possibly even cutting-edge new technologies like microalgae-to-oil plants.”

“The potential for multiple, simultaneous "wins" – on national security, environment, jobs, the economy, the trade deficit, etc. – is clearly there. The only real question is, what are we waiting for to seize that potential?”

 The Voices of a New Clean Energy Future is a series from individuals who understand the importance of passing comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation – business leaders, politicians, policy experts, and concerned citizens like you. EDF is proud to highlight their voices and contributions to the climate and energy debate.

Pocono Record- “It’s time to end our oil addiction”

By Kathleen Rogers, president of Earth Day Network

“We need a structural shift to make our economy oil independent. This starts at the grassroots level by mobilizing our family, friends and neighbors to support federal, state and local solutions to our oil dependence. We need a clean energy and climate proposal that is comprehensive and ambitious enough to incentivize real energy independence.”

“We need to make a statement to the oil companies and the government that American society can no longer afford to depend heavily on oil.”

NY Times- Editorial: “A Tale of Two Targets”

“The Senate spent this week searching for ways to water down the modest greenhouse gas emissions targets in the House-passed energy bill, which opponents claim — wrongly and shortsightedly — will injure the economy.”

“Nobody expects the Senate to go as far as the European ministers advocate. But there is no excuse for the Senate’s backward march. We all live on the same planet, and it is getting warmer.”

The Voices of a New Clean Energy Future is a series from individuals who understand the importance of passing comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation – business leaders, politicians, policy experts, and concerned citizens like you. EDF is proud to highlight their voices and contributions to the climate and energy debate.

Politico- “The Science behind Climate Science”

By James McCarthy, Lisa Graumlich, Chris Field, and James Hurrell

“Today, a large body of evidence has been collected to support the broad scientific understanding that global climate warming, as evident these last few decades, is unprecedented for the past 1000 years — and this change is due to human activities.”

“The biggest question is what choices we and our children should make about energy use. The more dependent we are on carbon-emitting energy sources, the more our climate will change.”

The Huffington Post- “The Dance of Renewable Energy”

By Allan Gerson, lawyer and former Counsel to the US Delegation to the UN

“Dependency on oil also affects the ability of the West to adjust its foreign policy at will. The good news is that today the emergence of a human dimension in the quest for a more humble and sustainable lifestyle is leading to a readjustment of energy dependency on the macro-scale.” 

“The stage is set for a more graceful, less dominating dance between man and nature. All it takes is the courage to cut the habit of dependency and embrace a more natural approach. As the 2010 Assilah conference pointed out, if man makes that fateful decision the scientific and engineering know-how is there to enable him to make the leap.”

The Voices of a New Clean Energy Future is a series from individuals who understand the importance of passing comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation – business leaders, politicians, policy experts, and concerned citizens like you. EDF is proud to highlight their voices and contributions to the climate and energy debate.

Richmond Times-Dispatch- “Today's Political Leaders Face Choices”

By Jay Fisette, Times-Dispatch Columnist

"According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, to spur job creation the U.S. must invest more and compete for a share of the potential $500 billion global clean energy market."

"And last month, after all of their work, the senators [Kerry and Lieberman] introduced the American Power Act, receiving unprecedented support from industry and the environmental community — for taking the first serious step toward passing legislation that will reduce America's dependence on oil and boost production of clean domestic power."

The Huffington Post- “Owning Up to Our Oil Addiction”

By Tom Schey

"Americans have had a longstanding, reckless love affair with their autos. It's an abusive relationship that has almost single-handedly dismantled one of our strongest and — at one time — most prideful industries."

"The time is now. If the calamity in the Gulf doesn't paint a clear enough picture and sense of urgency, what the hell will? Enough of watered down politics; this is a matter of survival for generations to come. Let your congressman/senator know. It's time to be bold; enough with the compromises."

 The Voices of a New Clean Energy Future is a series from individuals who understand the importance of passing comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation – business leaders, politicians, policy experts, and concerned citizens like you. EDF is proud to highlight their voices and contributions to the climate and energy debate.

Sarasota Herald-Tribune- “Put drilling ban on ballot”

By Heather Dunhill, columnist for Sarasota Herald-Tribune

“To be sure, drilling fever has subsided in the wake of the April 20 BP well blowout, which occurred in federal waters 50 miles off Louisiana. The oil disaster has fouled shores in the Gulf states; caused untold damage to the environment and the regional economy; and tarnished faith in the safety of offshore oil exploration.”

“A constitutional amendment against drilling has value. But leaders, lawmakers and voters must keep pushing for real alternatives to oil.”

Louisiana Weekly- “Demand a new energy policy and climate bill”

By Madeline Ostrander

“Today, the destructive effects of our fossil fuel economy on our coasts and rivers have never been clearer.”

“Most Americans can recite the reasons why we need to move away from the fossil fuel economy — climate change, dwindling supplies of easy-to-access oil, dependence on foreign sources of energy — but much of the damage caused by our fossil-fuel addiction is hidden from view.”

The Voices of a New Clean Energy Future is a series from individuals who understand the importance of passing comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation – business leaders, politicians, policy experts, and concerned citizens like you. EDF is proud to highlight their voices and contributions to the climate and energy debate.

NY Times- Editorial: “Big Oil’s Good Deal”

“No industry enjoys the array of tax breaks and subsidies that the oil and gas industry does. No industry needs them less. For all the damage it has caused, the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico may provide the political momentum to end this special treatment.”

“Instead of enriching the oil companies, Congress should end these unjustifiable breaks and focus on encouraging alternative fuel sources that create cleaner energy and new clean-energy jobs.”

Boston Globe- Editorial: “Green firms uniting to flex political muscle”

By Mark Arsenault, Globe Staff

“Stonyfield Farm is slapping its familiar cow logo on more than just containers of yogurt these days. The New Hampshire-based organic food maker is one of more than 50 local companies to lend its corporate name to a political lobbying campaign aimed at persuading Congress to support climate and energy legislation on Capitol Hill.”

“The Kerry-Lieberman proposal calls for an auction of carbon-emission permits and would use the money generated to provide billions in incentives to reduce greenhouse gasses.”

The Voices of a New Clean Energy Future is a series from individuals who understand the importance of passing comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation – business leaders, politicians, policy experts, and concerned citizens like you. EDF is proud to highlight their voices and contributions to the climate and energy debate.

LompocRecord.com- “America Must End Oil Addiction”

By Chuck Arnold, pastor at Valley of the Flowers United Methodist Church

 “So it isn’t that the president has not acted, it is that a whole lot of people, making money from gas and oil, don’t want him to act.”

 “The fact remains, to minimize the impact, our consumption — yours and mine — must be chopped. One consequence — it means we will have to pay more for gas. I don’t like that any more than you do. We will however, have to do it, if we truly intend to reduce consumption and end our dependence on foreign oil.”

 The Huffington Post- “The Banks Strike Back”

By Carl Pope, Chairman of Sierra Club

 “The banks — perhaps concerned about the competition from low cost, public financing of my home upgrade — have just thrown a huge monkey-wrench in America's vision of green jobs and a clean energy future. Some parasites — like lamprey eels — never let go.”

 “Now the question is: will Congress and the White House let the banks protect energy and carbon waste with their usury, putting the banks back in charge of our economy?”

The Voices of a New Clean Energy Future is a series from individuals who understand the importance of passing comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation – business leaders, politicians, policy experts, and concerned citizens like you. EDF is proud to highlight their voices and contributions to the climate and energy debate.

CentralJersey.com- “EDITORIAL: More effort needed to move us from fossil fuels”

“The project — installation of more than 13,000 solar panels on parking areas on the 2,000-acre campus — will generate a total of 4.1 megawatts of power, making it the largest solar project of its kind in the nation.”

“That New Jersey is among the national leaders is an indication that much more needs to be done at the national level to move the United States away from fossil fuels toward more sustainable energy forms — like wind and solar.”

The Huffington Post- “Why Congress Should Join U.S. Military Leaders in the Fight against Climate Change”

By Phyllis Cuttino, Director of Climate and Energy Programs, Pew Environment Group

“To assume our fair share in preventing adverse impacts, we need Congress to step in line with the leadership of the armed forces, and enact federal comprehensive climate and energy legislation now.”

“We must summon the political willpower in order to reduce global warming pollution, lead the world in the advancement of clean energy, lessen our dependence on foreign oil and secure America's safety and prosperity.”

The Voices of a New Clean Energy Future is a series from individuals who understand the importance of passing comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation – business leaders, politicians, policy experts, and concerned citizens like you. EDF is proud to highlight their voices and contributions to the climate and energy debate.

The Olympian- Letter to the Editor: We need a new vision of a clean energy economy

By Sisters Mimi Maloney and Katherine Gray, Olympia

“We need a new vision of a clean, green, renewable and sustainable economy that will create millions and millions of new jobs (that cannot be outsourced), even as we make the necessary transition to a post-petroleum world.”

“Powerful and vested interests will tell us there are no alternatives to our fossil fuel based economy, but there are, and together we can change, not only these stories, but the direction in which we are headed.”

Lexington Herald Leader- “Spill’s Clarity: Put a Price on Carbon”

“The disaster in the Gulf of Mexico reminds us — at the rate of more than a million gallons of spewing oil a day — why this country desperately needs a change of energy policy.”

“The best market-based way to reduce "climate pollution," the heat-trapping gases produced by burning fossil fuels, is to impose a price on carbon. Legislation passed a year ago by the House, but stuck in the Senate, does that.”

The Voices of a New Clean Energy Future is a series from individuals who understand the importance of passing comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation – business leaders, politicians, policy experts, and concerned citizens like you. EDF is proud to highlight their voices and contributions to the climate and energy debate.