ReEnergize Iowa: Take Political Action with your Feet

David Sievers, a ReEnergize Iowa field organizer with Sierra Student Coalition, and John Campbell, political director for the United Steelworkers in Iowa, write about ReEnergize Iowa's upcoming march and encourage others to attend.

Take political action with your feet: Join global-warming march
John Campbell and David Sievers
July 30, 2007

These days, you can't go far without hearing about global warming. The debate is over: Global warming is real, and it's happening faster than anyone predicted. And it will have drastic consequences in our own lifetimes if not addressed.

But in all of this talk, we aren't hearing about the solutions necessary to address global warming - solutions that will create new jobs and a better world for us all.

Scientific consensus tells us that if we cut global-warming pollution 80 percent by 2050, a doable 2 percent cut each year starting now, we can stop the worst effects of global warming. And the best way to do this would be to build a clean-energy economy with millions of new jobs for Americans - jobs that would stay in America. We can create an economy driven by people who design, construct, weld and teach about efficient technologies and clean energy.

Considering that the United States lost 3.3 million manufacturing jobs between 1998 and 2004, a clean-energy economy would benefit us all. Iowans, in particular, stand to gain a great deal: We already have the third most wind power in the nation, and the potential to create thousands of new jobs in wind-turbine construction and other clean-energy industries. Further, with trade policies that protect workers and the environment, we can lead the nation to a sustainable and stable future.

But despite the undeniable scientific evidence and the potential for tremendous economic gain, our state Legislature and nation's capital haven't caught on. We can change our light bulbs and ride our bikes to work, but the scale of the problem demands national action on an equal scale.

The debates about American public policy are already taking place in coffee shops, factory floors, office towers, churches, inner-city neighborhoods and affluent suburbs. We know that sound energy policy based on current technologies and future research can create 2 million new jobs and strengthen our economy while reducing global warming. Efficient transportation systems, heating systems and lighting can reduce our dependence on foreign oil, making us more secure.

We need to demand from our leaders the clean-energy future we know is possible, and that means not just advocacy, education, and research, but also taking to the streets. Imagine the civil-rights movement without the March on Washington or the peace movement without the March on the Pentagon. To echo the success of those movements, we need action.

That is why the United Steelworkers, Sierra Student Coalition and Sierra Club have joined together: If Washington won't act, we will. In the tradition of past transformational social movements, youth organizers and citizens from across the state will come together in the March to ReEnergize Iowa to ensure that bold action is taken.

With the caucus season in full swing, all eyes are on Iowa. This summer, we have the chance to put global-warming solutions in the spotlight.

Join us as we walk from Ames to Des Moines this week, calling for a clean-energy economy and real global-warming solutions. Walk for an hour, a day, the whole march, or just attend the final rally. Washington needs to wake up to the solutions to global warming. As Iowans, we are the people to wake them.