In the end, 30 senators attended the climate change all-nighter — nearly 1/3 of the Senate! While neither Mr. Toomey nor Mr. Casey participated, both now have a clearer sense of the concern of some of their constituents, thanks to 22 overnight calls EACH from members and supporters of PA IPL (or more — one dedicated caller said he called Washington plus 3 district offices for each Senator!). The only hour we missed the whole night was midnight to 1:00 AM. We will have the chance to remind them of these calls again when we make our visits to Capitol Hill in May.
Are you interested in participating in regular call-a-thons — maybe daytime ones? Let us know.
Read more about the all-nighter:
- An excellent summary from one of the leaders of the group
- A quote each from 28 participants (2 more joined later)
- An article that starts with an old, unconcerned quote from one of the all-nighter’s headliners.
- A series of tweets and reports that took place through the night. Photos.
In the end, only Democrats—and not all of them—participated, but there are climate change responses from both sides of the aisle. Want to check out a couple of Republican pieces?
- Former Republican Congressman Bob Inglis authored this March 2014 opinion piece. He is now director of the Energy and Enterprise Initiative at George Mason University, the leaders of which have remarkable Republican credentials.
- 4 former heads of the EPA, all appointed by Republican presidents, co-authored an opinion piece in August 2013.
- Penn State’s own Richard Alley identifies himself as a lifelong Republican in his Earth: The Operators’ Manual (contact PA IPL for a showing in your congregation or community). The second and third segments particularly focus on low-carbon energy solutions.
We NEED vibrant and impassioned climate change debate, but the debate needs to be about solutions and responses:
- How should we balance adaptation and mitigation?
- How can we respond effectively, morally, and faithfully?
- How can we make a fast, significant start to reducing emissions in order to buy time for further innovation?
- What are the large-government solutions, and what are the marketplace solutions? Which are best applied how?