Dear Washingtonian,

As early as September, Obama will decide – on his own, without Congress – whether to approve construction of the 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline. This pipeline would pump climate-wrecking tar-sand sludge all the way from western Canada to refineries in Texas. Simply put: this is a full-blown climate crime. Period. And we must stop it! You and me. Us. Together. I’m proud to say I’ve already pledged to join the likes of Bill McKibben, Danny Glover, and NASA’s Dr. James Hansen in calling for peaceful civil disobedience day after day at the White House from August 20 to September 5. Won’t you join me? This truly is a line in the sand. The tar sand!

Sign up to fight the tar sands pipeline here.

 This is one of the most important climate actions of our generation, and it's coming right to our backyard. We're expecting thousands of clean energy patriots to descend upon Washington for the tar sands action, and many are in need of places to stay. If you can spare some space, please post your housing availability here.

Locally, the DC solar community acheived a major victory this week when the Distributed Generation Act of 2011 unanimously passed its final vote before the DC City Council! This legislation is expected to bolster the DC solar energy industry for at least the next decade, creating thousands of jobs along the way. This new law creates the market mechanism needed to allow homeowners, churches, community organizations, businesses and government buildings to go solar! While there is much left to do to make solar affordable and accessible to every DC resident, this bill was a very important step. I encourage you to take a few moments to send a quick email to   This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it thanking the council members for their support.

Finally, as the words above confirm, the climate movement is all about motion. It’s about moving away from dirty energy sources like tar sands and toward wind and solar power. Which is why CCAN is so happy to be part of the international Moving Planet day of action on Saturday, September 24th. If you have a bike, a baby stroller, a skateboard, a set of roller blades or anything else that rolls without pollution – you’re going to want to be part of this creative, unifying, inspiration day of global action. Join our events near you in Annapolis and Alexandria.

Onward,

Mike Tidwell