Children’s Health & Environment
Roundtable
Wednesday October 15
6:00-7:00 pm
Forest Dale Elementary School, Carmel
10721 W Lakeshore Dr, Carmel IN
Join environmental science & policy experts to discuss
Obama’s plans to protect Indiana’s children by rebuilding
America’s environmental frameworks
Prof. Maria Lopez
Dr. Gabe Filippelli
Prof. Eric Dannenmaier
“We cannot afford more of the same timid politics when the future of our planet is at stake. ... .
This is not the future I want for my daughters. It's not the future any of us want for our
children. And if we act now and we act boldly, it doesn't have to be.”
- Barack Obama, Portsmouth, NH, 10/8/07
More information at www.barackobama.com/issues/energy/
Sponsored by the Hamilton County Democratic Central Committee
“This nation can and must do more to protect and promote the health of children.”
o Senator Obama has been a strong supporter of expanding the Children's Health Insurance Program
(CHIP) to cover more uninsured children.
publish long-overdue rules for how home contractors should deal with lead paint hazards.
credits to property owners who eliminate or contain paint hazards in homes where low-income young
children or women of child-bearing age live
state, national, and international level to ensure preparedness in the event of pandemic influenza.
- for more information: http://obama.senate.gov/issues/health_care/
I support Barack Obama because he has the vision to achieve US energy independence; the integrity to rebuild environmental protections dismantled over the past eight years; and the demonstrated leadership to reach across the partisan divide to represent the entire American public. I have spent more than twenty years as an advocate for sound energy and environmental policy and an advisor teaching about long-term sustainable development. I began working on energy policy while I was still in college in Missouri, and now continue my work as an environmental law professor in Indiana. I recognize the importance of preserving and expanding jobs even while we develop energy alternatives and protect public health and the environment; this is a need that people in the Midwest understand better than most. Meeting this need calls for innovation and cooperation, and Barack Obama is a proven coalition builder and leader. From the time he was a community organizer and state Senator in Illinois, Obama has moved beyond the special interests and animosity of the past. He has offered detailed energy and environmental policies that will move our country forward after too many years of delay. I trust him to lead a new administration that will value – just as we in the Midwest value – good jobs, energy independence, and environmental sustainability.
I am supporting Senator Obama for President because I strongly feel that a McCain administration would give us four more years of detrimental Bush environmental policies. To continue to be a world leader, America has got to break our dependence on oil and set a strong example for how best to manage our natural resources. Now more than ever, our country needs to be innovative, and Senator Obama has shown that he is willing and ready to move us forward into an era of change.
As a resident of Alaska for thirty years, I have seen dramatic, adverse, costly changes from human caused global warming – including eroding villages, dying forests, massive fires, shrinking lakes, a disappearing ice cap, starving polar bears, and disrupted traditional cultures. Through the use of geothermal, wind and other resources, we have the tremendous potential to harvest renewable energy in our state and nation.
I support Senator Obama because he and Senator Biden understand that we must address the human causes of global warming and because they strongly support renewable energy – and have voted accordingly. This is simply not the case with the McCain/Palin nominees. Reporting from the frontline of global warming, I can vouch that there is no time to lose and that the stakes are too high to ignore either science or action. Our nation needs and deserves leaders who can bring us together, boldly and intelligently, to address our most pressing energy and environment needs; and Senators Obama and Biden are that team.
We are happy to offer you what you've been asking for - an Obama t-shirt that you can proudly wear to show your support of the greenest candidate to ever run for president. Enjoy!
Last night, our amazing and dedicated enviro team in Texas, along with UT-Austin Students for Obama and National Geographic Correspondent Lisa Ling, presented a great discussion that is featured in the following article posted on the Daily Kos....
Which Presidential Candidate has pledged to commit $150 billion dollars and 10 years of effort to bring clean energy to the United States? Which candidate has the ability to help bring enough good Democrats into office that we can take decisive action against global warming, and push for a sustainable energy policy? Which candidate has the potential to turn his grassroots campaign movement into a force to bring environmental issues to the forefront of our national concerns?
These questions were on my mind this afternoon, as I attended a panel discussion organized by UT’s Students for Barack Obama on Obama’s energy policy.
The panel featured Dan Kammen, an internationally-recognized expert on global warming and energy policy and one of Obama’s top advisors; Jim Marston, Texas state director of the Environmental Defense Fund; and Representative Mark Strama, a local legislator with a strong history in grassroots activism. The discussion was a mixture of science and activism, with equal time discussing finite policies as the importance of GOTV this weekend here in Texas. It was refreshing to hear this mix of academics and politicians talking about the intersection of pragmatism and idealism. All agreed that because Obama is the candidate best capable to help get Democrats elected in Red States, and the candidate most likely to carry Red States in the general election, he will build a genuine coalition and take office with a legitimate mandate. This will make it all the more possible for him to carry out his legislative agenda, and bring the needed change that his opponent seems to dismiss like so many nickels and dimes.
The panel was moderated by UT Professor Michael Webber, who started with a powerful introduction that reminded me of the importance of sound energy policy both to Texas, and to the rest of the planet. He remarked on how UT’s great wealth came in part from the oil found under university lands, and how many alumni now lead the world’s biggest oil and gas companies. Yet as we look to transition away from fossil fuels and towards alternatives, the Jackson School has looked to become an innovator in green energy, here in Texas and beyond. Webber spoke about how finally global warming was gaining traction, and for the first time would be considered a major issue, one that might turn the tide of the election. He spoke of the Republicans and their policies of high production and high consumption, in contrast to the ideal position of Democrats, many of whom advocate for low production and low consumption.
The event drew an impressive crowd for a Friday afternoon in a hard-to-find campus building, and perhaps most inspiring were the number of students....
Last night, our amazing and dedicated Texas enviro team, joined by Students for Obama at UT-Austin, presented a roundtable discussion on energy and the environment that is the subject of the following posting on the Daily Kos. National Geographic Correspondant, Lisa Ling, was also a surprise guest.
The event drew an impressive crowd for a Friday afternoon in a hard-to-find campus building, and perhaps most inspiring were the number of students...
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/2/29/20228/1083/219/466594
Wow! Thank you citizens of Iowa! You have clearly told the world that you think Barack Obama is the best Democratic leader for the United State. You also provided an inspiring demonstration of how well the democratic election process can work, something especially poignant in light of what has recently taken place in Pakistan and Kenya.
Barack Obama’s message of HOPE and CHANGE that we can believe in has clearly struck a chord with Iowans and will continue to strongly resonate with voters in New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.
I can’t wait to be in New Hampshire this Tuesday when Obama’s momentum continues to surge, eventually clinching the Democratic nomination for president of the United States.
Step It Up, an energetic, innovative organization promoting a national day of climate action, is asking our country's leaders to take on the most important challenge of our time - global warming. Barack Obama addresses that challenge in the response below...
Dear Friends,
I commend Step It Up for its grassroots awareness and activism campaign because stopping catastrophic global climate change is the great challenge of our generation. We have to act decisively, we have to act now, and we have to act together.
You know what has to be done, and we share the same goals: investing in green energy and the people who are going to invent and produce the next generation of fuels and renewable electricity; reducing carbon emissions by 80% by 2050; aggressively reducing emissions from coal plants.
Step It Up is taking this movement to the streets of America. Only the power of millions of voices united for change can unseat the forces that have prevented progress for decades. I look forward to working with you to meet our common goals.
To read more about my accomplishments and my plans to stop global warming, please visit barackobama.com/issues/energy.
Thank you for actively supporting a cleaner future. I look forward to working with you.
Sincerely,
Barack Obama
Campaign staff member, Jarel LaPan, tells us what's going on New Hampshire...
The Obama campaign hosted a series of environmental forums throughout New Hampshire in July and August as part of a continuing effort to realize Senator Obama’s campaign vision - to inspire citizens to come together and voice their ideas on how we can move forward as a society, even as we face great challenges. In Epping, Milton, Portsmouth, Hancock, Lyme, Berlin and Moultonborough, we gathered environmental activists and concerned citizens to discuss our common commitment to preserving the beautiful landscapes of our childhoods for future generations.
Through one-on-one conversations, attendees learned about each other's backgrounds and discussed the origins of their passion for environmental causes. We aired frustrations about the lack of political leadership on combating climate change and our hope that, through this campaign, we can transform this nation’s energy policy to reflect the public interest, rather than the interest of energy industry lobbyists. As the forums wrapped up, our organizers shared Senator Obama's plan for a new energy policy that will allow us to create a cleaner future as well as a more secure future, as we wean ourselves from our dependence on foreign oil.
During our travels through the state, it was exciting to see how much passion environmental protection elicits from New Hampshire citizens. So much work has already been done but what we need is national leadership that draws on the progress made at the local level and unifies our efforts as a country to fight climate change.
Have you measured your carbon footprint lately? Does it look like the Abominable Snowman’s or Tinkerbelle’s? The Obama campaign is working hard to minimize its footprint on planet earth. How is this being done? By making a thorough and diligent effort to reduce overall carbon emissions in a variety of ways within the campaign.
Telecommuting, videoconferencing and minimal reimbursement of taxi fares results in a staff that is energy efficient and particular when choosing to travel via planes or cars - public transportation is the preferred way to go. Since the campaign doesn’t provide disposable plates, cups or eating utensils around headquarters, one must bring their own reusable supply from home or resort to finger food. Bottled water is not supplied either. Email is the modus operandi for everyday communication as well as nation-wide invitations and promotional materials instead of snail mail, as the latter would result in paper waste and carbon emissions from delivery.
Energy-efficient hardware, fluorescent bulbs and post-consumer recycled paper are also a must at Obama headquarters. The installation of thermometers, window shades and heat exchangers has resulted in less carbon emissions and air-conditioning and lower electric bills, a win-win situation for all.
To be entirely complete in adopting sustainable working practices, the carbon emissions from Obama’s campaign travel are counterbalanced by the purchase of carbon offsets through a charter company that bills the campaign accordingly. This means that every mile Senator Obama flies is carbon neutral – a praiseworthy practice that benefits our planet every day.
Are you using sustainable business practices? Tell us what you’re doing – we’d like to know.
