| Dear Daniel Stafford,
After hearing suggestions of a climate policy yet to come from President Obama at his inauguration, and then again at the State of the Union address, the nation finally heard some new, clear policy proposals outlined at last week's historic climate change speech at Georgetown University.
Faced with a Congress that won't act on climate change, the president delivered proposals that can be enacted without legislation -- and endorsed some action steps that all of us can take as well.
"Push your communities to adopt smarter practices," he said. "Invest. Divest. Remind everyone who represents you at every level of government that sheltering future generations against the ravages of climate change is a prerequisite for your vote."
Though it's only one word within a much broader speech, we applaud the president's endorsement of the fossil-fuel divestment movement that we profiled in our Jan/Feb Green American. To help you invest in clean energy and divest from fossil fuel companies, we link you to our resources below.
Even more encouraging were the policy directives: EPA limits on carbon pollution from new and existing power plants, 20 percent renewable energy for the federal government within seven years, and an impossibly high standard (no exacerbation of carbon pollution) the Keystone XL pipeline must meet to win approval. We must hold him to his word on these. "The plan to double solar and wind power generated on public lands is especially encouraging ," says Brandon Leavitt, owner of Solar Service, Inc., whose business we celebrate in this month's Faces of the Green Pages. We agree. Find out more about Brandon's work to advance solar energy in Illinois below, and please send the president a message that you applaud his new directives on the climate, and we'll hold him accountable for his promises.
Here's to progress,
Alisa Gravitz,
President,
Green America
P.S. Please consider a donation to Green America. Your gift advances our climate work, supports the green businesses like Solar Service, Inc. in our greenpages.org, and helps us keep publishing the Green American. Thank you for your support.
 Thank the President and Hold Him Accountable
 "I do want to be clear: Allowing the Keystone pipeline to be built requires a finding that doing so would be in our nation's interest," said President Obama. "And our national interest will be served only if this project does not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution. The net effects of the pipeline's impact on our climate will be absolutely critical to determining whether this project is allowed to go forward."
We applaud all of the renewable energy solutions proposed in the president's speech last week, and we especially applaud the new standard to which the Keystone XL pipeline will be held. Bisecting the country with a new dirty tar sands pipeline would be a climate disaster, so the project -- by the president's own standard -- is a non-starter.
Please share your thoughts with the White House. The president deserves praise for the positive steps he's taking despite the inaction of a do-nothing Congress... and we'll remind him that we'll keep him accountable on Keystone XL.
CALL: 202-456-1111
E-MAIL: White House contact form
WRITE: The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
 Meet Brandon Leavitt of Solar Service, Inc.
 GREEN AMERICA: What inspired you to start your green business?
Brandon: "In July, 1975, I attended Buckminster Fuller's World Game seminar where he assigned our class to solve the world's energy crisis, giving us 25 years to phase out the old and bring in the new, with only one rule: our solution could not become someone else's problem. That led me to a job with a solar design firm in Florida that eventually led to marketing, sales and engineering opportunities of solar hot water systems.
In April, 1977 I decided to bring solar home to Chicago ... On the July 4th weekend of 1977, we installed the first solar hot water system in Illinois on my parent's home. That system is still working great today!."
Read more with Brandon »
 Find Fossil-Free Investing Resources
 "Investing in fossil fuel today seems like investing in the whaling industry in the mid-1800s -- old technology, still dominant, but clearly not the future," says John Streur, president of Portfolio 21, whose company pursues a strategy of screening out fossil-fuel investments.
On our "Go Fossil Free" page, find screened mutual funds from Portfolio 21 and Green Century funds, and clean-energy funds from Pax World. Community development mutual funds are also fossil free, since they focus on other issues, like affordable housing and local job creation. Find also financial planners and asset managers happy to build a custom fossil-free portfolio for you.
Go fossil-free »
| July 4 Energy Independence offer: Earn $500 from Sungevity by helping your friends go solar
When you sign up for OurSungevity and share Sungevity's solar-leasing plan with your friends, your friend will save $500 on their solar system, you get $500 for the referral, and you score a win for clean energy in the US »
Join our Climate Ride Team, Sept. 21 - 25, NYC to DC. Raise climate awareness, raise funds for the climate, and complete an amazing 300-mile bike ride.
Get an "I am a Green American" Klean Kanteen when you support Green America as a monthly donor.
Your monthly sustainer gift to Green America supports all our green economy programs. Plus, all paying Green America members receive a subscription to our magazine and a copy of the National Green Pages -- in addition to the Klean Kanteen »
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