Crossposted from Climate Progress.

If you want to know just how determined activists are to stop the proposed tar sands oil pipeline from Canada to Texas, listen to this:

Last Saturday morning, August 20th, more than 50 activists were arrested in front of the White House. They were handcuffed, stuffed into blistering-hot paddy wagons, and informed that they would spend two nights in a crowded, harsh DC jail. The U.S. Park Police

This week, five CCAN staffers, including myself, were arrested in front of the White House in an effort to compel President Obama to deny a permit for the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

President Obama will decide later this year on TransCanada's permit for the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, which will send 900,000 barrels a day of the world's dirtiest oil to US refineries, allowing further development of the Alberta tar sands. Mining oil from tar sands creates three times more carbon emissions than conventional oil extraction and our top climate scientist, NASA's Dr. James Hansen, has said that the development of the tar sands would be "essentially game over" for the climate.

Today CCAN Director Mike Tidwell was a guest blogger for Climate Progress. Here is his post:

After a decade as a full-time climate activist, I've come to depend on two potent forces to keep me going. One is the blogging of Joe Romm. It keeps me informed

"In 1979, President Jimmy Carter put solar panels on the White House. In 1986, President Reagan removed them and they were never replaced. Years later, Unity College in Maine adopted the panels where they have lived ever since. Until now." Bill McKibben, the founder of 350.org has organized a solar road trip from Unity College down to Washington, DC to ask President Obama to re-install solar panels on the White House roof as part of the 10.10.10 Global Work Party events.

"Nothing replaces legislation that really cuts carbon," said McKibben. "But one way to build support for those changes is to show how easy it is to start to work. It's time for President Obama to roll up his sleeves and get to work at his own home and in Congress."

The movement to get solar back on the White House is spreading rapidly and CCAN's Mike Tidwell weighed in on the efforts. "President Obama's stimulus package included many incentives for Americans to 'go green' in their daily lives," said

Some Thoughts on the Democratic Party's Failure to Fight on Climate

"I am firmly convinced that the passionate will for justice and truth has done more to improve (the human condition) than calculating political shrewdness which in the long run only breeds general mistrust."
Albert Einstein, "Moral Decay," 1937

1)---Harry Reid's statement yesterday about why he would not be putting forward legislation on the climate crisis blamed the Congressional Republicans. It's true that, with a few exceptions, Senator Susan Collins of Maine being at the top of the list, the Republican Party deserves withering criticism for their joined-at-the-hip allegiance to Big Oil and Dirty Coal.

If in the wake of the president's flaccid oval office speech there is still any doubt lingering in anyone's mind about whether the administration is planning to use the spill as a chance to unleash a game-changing energy policy strategy, a recent DNC oil-spill messaging briefing should put them to rest.The report, compiled by pollster Joel Benenson and the League of Conservation voters, shows an unequivocal voter tilt in favor of policies and politicians that support a shift towards clean energy and outlines an energy-messaging strategy the authors claim will help those policies and politicians win votes in the coming months. The "pillars" of that strategy, along with their "key dimensions" are:FRAME THE OPPOSITION- Big Oil and corporate polluters who have blocked energy reform for decades- Politicians protecting the special interests that fund their campaigns

ILLUSTRATE THE COST OF OUR DEPENDENCE

- Our dependence on oil hurts our economy, helps our enemies, puts our security at risk:- $1 billion a day on foreign oil, oil spill destroying jobs and livelihoods

TAP INTO DEEPLY HELD VALUES

- Put America back in control of our energy situation- Cut foreign oil spending in half- Invest in energy that's made in America and creates millions of jobs for Americans

If, as Politico's Mike Allen suggests, this briefing is the kind of thing the White House is using to shape its energy strategy, it's no surprise that we were underwhelmed by the president's speech the other night. While the oil spill may represent a potential turning point in US energy policy, the Benenson approach certainly doesn't represent anything close to a potential turning point on energy policy messaging. Except for the bit about the "oil spill destroying lives and livelihoods" there is absolutely nothing in this messaging that politicians haven't been saying for years. We've heard all about those big oil baddies and their buddies in Congress who have "blocked energy reform for decades" and kept us all dangerously dependent upon fossil fuels. And yet here we are with a stalled Senate clean-energy bill, a quickly changing climate and a Gulf full of oil.

Of course where this messaging really fails big time is on the "deeply held values" front. To win a policy debate it's not enough to tap into values unless you tap into them in a way that gives you a rhetorical advantage over your opponent. But it's hard to see how Benenson's effort to tap values like independence or patriotism differs noticeably from the GOP approach. Sure, switching to clean energy would "put Americans back in control of our energy situation" and "cut foreign oil spending"; but according to Republicans so would expanded off shore drilling and mountain-top-removal mining. So where's the rhetorical advantage?It's no surprise though that the value pillar should be the weakest of the three. The tendency to put far too much trust in the polls and far too little trust in their core progressive values, has always been the Achilles heel of progressive leaders like the President. This kind maddening political calculus is undoubtedly what informed the decision to turn the president's speech into a hollow piece of rhetorical posturing, and it's exactly the kind of political calculus that will prevent the president and his allies in Congress from passing any really meaningful climate and clean energy policies. Only by turning away from the pollsters and back to his core progressive values like empathy, as George Lakoff brilliantly argued recently, will the President find the political and moral strength he needs to successfully lead the country out of the oil- spill and climate crises and into a clean energy future.

We have been shocked, outraged and deeply saddened by the events since the April 20th oil rig explosion in the Gulf.

Mike has been using every opportunity to spread the word that at this volume of operation, human error guarantees that BP-type spills will happen again. No new regulations will tame this beast. The only thing that will tame it is a reduction in the use of oil itself. If we don't like massive, economy-wrecking spills, we must begin to transition rapidly to an economy where there's just a lot less oil to spill.

In the past week, Mike's been interviewed by Katie Couric, Diane Rehm, and syndicated columnist Clarence Page.

We're also making sure Va. Governor Bob McDonnell knows that Virginians want Wind, Not Oil (Have you signed the "Wind Not Oil" petition yet?)!

Now we need to make sure the Obama administration hears our concerns and acts upon them.

On Saturday, 350.org supporters in New Orleans will attend a rally where they will call on President Obama to ban offshore drilling and invest in clean energy. They will sign a banner that reads PRESIDENT OBAMA: THIS IS YOUR CRUDE AWAKENING. That banner will be brought to Washington DC, where CCAN will join with 350.org to deliver it at a rally in front of the White House.

Can you join us on Tuesday from 12:30-1:30pm to march from the Interior Department to the White House and deliver the message to President Obama?

RSVP here or visit the Facebook Event Page for more details!

WHAT: Crude Awakening March to the White House

WHEN: Tuesday, May 11 12:30-1:30pm

WHERE: Meet in Triangle Park, across from the Interior Department at 18th & C St. NW

* We will depart Triangle Park at 12:45 sharp! *

This is a unique moment, and we have the opportunity to shape the national story around this terrible disaster. Do we want to just stop any new offshore drilling, or do we want to take one step farther and begin the wholesale transformation to clean, safe energy? How about some of the old "yes, we can," spirit?

Please join us next Tuesday, and thank you for your commitment and your action.

Just because you read it in the paper doesn't mean it's true.  I'm tired of the papers pretending to represent the views of all Virginians when, in fact, they're filled with global warming skepticism and a drill-baby-drill mentality. That is why I'm happy to introduce CCAN's newest feature, "Virginia Climate Clips," bringing you recent climate news compiled from papers all across Virginia. I'm contacting concerned climate activists weekly to get our voices heard! There's a big hole in the news right now. Every day I read about how how climate change isn't real, wind farms are the next Armageddon and, if you picked up today's paper, EVEN President Obama's misguided decision to open up our shores to offshore drilling sounds like a good idea
 
These papers aren't reporting the whole story and it's time to get our voices heard.  I will send out "Climate Clips" every Thursday, which will include tips, a sample letter, and articles to respond to.  Hopefully these stories will inspire you to submit a letter to the editor reacting to any of the articles I've pasted in these emails. 

Feel free to circulate this far and wide.

If you are interested in not getting these emails please just reply and I will remove you from this hand selected list of Climate Activists.  If you are receiving this as a forward and would like to subscribe please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with Climate Clips in the subject.

PS- If you want an extra set of eyes to look over your letter please don't hesitate to call me (804) 335-0915  or send it my way.  Also if you could forward me any letters you do submit so I can keep track that would be great!

CLIMATE CLIPS: Issue 1: April 1, 2010
1. Tips on Submitting Letters
2. Sample Letter
3. This week's "Climate Clips"

Today President Obama announced a proposal to open vast expanses of water along the Atlantic coastline, including Virginia, to oil and natural gas drilling