Albuquerque,
NM - Today, local youth
with the 1
Sky campaign organized a press conference and panel in order to
demonstrate
broad public support for the clean energy economy. Speakers from a local
clean
energy business and grassroots environmental organizations joined
prominent
youth advocates in highlighting the growth in New Mexico’s clean energy economy.
Operation Free, a coalition of veterans and
national security groups, provided a statement explaining their mission
to
secure America
with clean energy.
“I see
hasty decisions, I see economic decline, I see companies buying the
future – my
future – and I see the horrible effects of our addiction on oil
spreading
across the Gulf of Mexico…,” said
16-year old
Akilah Sanders-Reed, the event organizer and the Regional Coordinator
for the 1
Sky campaign. “I don’t want that. I want to
be able to live my life on a planet
where decisions are based on good, not gold; where our economy thrives
on
sustainable practices, rather than wasteful infinite growth for
temporary
profit; where the lives of people are more important than the lives of
corporate names; and where I can feel safe from the catastrophic
consequences
of our dependence on oil.”
1 Sky
and the Clean Energy Works Coalition also presented members of the staff
from Senator
Udall and Bingaman’s offices with over 2,500 petitions from New Mexicans
urging
passage this year of bold, comprehensive legislation that advances clean
energy
and protects the climate.
“In the wake of the worst
environmental disaster in U.S. history,
Americans want comprehensive action on clean energy and climate to
reduce
pollution, enhance our national security, and put our country in control
of its
energy future…,” said Sanders Moore, Advocate with Environment New
Mexico. Moore also
spoke on behalf of the Clean Energy Works coalition in New Mexico, a
diverse coalition committed
to passing comprehensive
climate and clean energy legislation at the federal level.
A
September 2008 study predicted a $100 billion public investment program
will
create 2 million green jobs in just two years, and that investing in
clean
energy produces four times as many jobs as investing in the oil
industry; the
study was done by the Center for American Progress and the University of
Massachusetts-Amherst Political Economy Research Institute. In
addition, 71 percent of voters in a Pew
Environmental Group survey stated that federal investments in renewable
energy
and energy efficiency will create millions of jobs.
“Every
day that we delay passage of
comprehensive clean energy and climate change legislation, we send
another $1
billion to unfriendly and unstable countries that don't have America's
best interest at heart,”
said veteran Chuck Tyler, NM State Director with Operation Free. “Our
dependence on fossil fuels makes America
less secure, and we look to our Senate
leadership to lead once again in securing America with clean energy.”
Following
the panel, a short movie clip by local producer Kevin Hansen about
climate
change here in New Mexico, including
interviews from Albuquerque
citizens, was premiered. View video
here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVInHCEnIt8.
“We
owe it to ourselves, and to the future, to switch to clean energy,” said
Akilah
Sanders-Reed. “We have the power to
become sustainable, and bring thousands of jobs right to our community. By
investing in green jobs and a green
economy, we can lessen our dependence on foreign oil, help the
environment, cap
climate change, and become the prosperous state and nation I know we can
be.”
