FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 4, 2009
CONTACT: Josh Dorner, 202.679.7570
Sierra Club Announces Climate Recovery Partnership, Dr. Donald Kennedy as Campaign Chair National Environmental, Labor, Political, and Business Leaders Gather in Washington D.C. for 2nd Annual Good Jobs, Green Jobs Conference
Washington, D.C.—At the second annual Good Jobs, Green Jobs Conference beginning today, the Sierra Club announced its Climate Recovery Partnership and its chair, Dr. Donald Kennedy. The Climate Recovery Partnership is comprised of six integrated campaigns designed to meet three fundamental challenges: cut greenhouse gas pollution to prevent runaway global warming, prepare for climate transition, and strengthen natural ecosystems for climate recovery.
"We must prevent runaway global warming by changing our energy course in the next decade," said Carl Pope, Sierra Club Executive Director. "But our climate is already changing. We must help human communities and natural ecosystems survive the coming period of unstable weather the climate transition. And once we have slashed greenhouse emissions, we will need to sequester the excess carbon dioxide already emitted in the last century. Only ecosystems oceans, grasslands, wetlands and forests can repair and eventually restore our climate. That's why the Sierra Club is launching its Climate Recovery Partnership."
The multi-faceted Climate Recovery Partnership includes six individual campaigns, around which the Sierra Club will organize its vast grassroots network, national leadership, and other resources:
*Move Beyond Coal
*Curbing Carbon
*Clean Energy Solutions
*Green Transportation
*Resilient Habitats
*Safeguarding Communities
Dr. Donald Kennedy Announced as Climate Recovery Partnership Campaign Chair
The Sierra Club also announced today that former Stanford University President, Dr. Donald Kennedy will serve as campaign chair for the Climate Recovery Partnership, with additional campaign leadership to be announced at a later date. In remarks delivered today to the 2,500 attendees of the Good Jobs, Green Jobs Conference, Dr. Kennedy discussed the urgency of the challenges before us and explained why he has agreed to be one of three campaign chairs for the Climate Recovery Partnership:
"My own background is at the juncture of science and policy," said Dr. Kennedy. "In my academic career and as editor-in-chief of Science Magazine, I have witnessed the steady march of scientific proof of global warming as an undisputed threat to this planet, and the need for strong and sustained actions to address this threat.
"That's why the Sierra Club has launched the Climate Recovery Partnership, a groundbreaking effort to solve the climate crisis and help our environment recover using the latest technology and the power of thousands of Americans mobilized to push for change. And this is why I have accepted the challenge and honor of chairing the Partnership.
"We call it a partnership because saving our planet will require cooperation among all of us, from businesses to labor unions, environmentalists to policy makers, religious leaders, communities of color, Republicans, Democrats, and independents."
Dr. Donald Kennedy is President emeritus of Stanford University, having served as its President from 1980-1992. He served as the editor-in-chief of Science, the journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science from 2000 to 2008. His present research focuses on policy regarding trans-boundary environmental problems such as major land-use changes; economically-driven alterations in agricultural practice; global climate change; and the development of regulatory policies. He co-directs the Environmental Studies Program in the Institute for International Studies, and oversaw the introduction of the environmental policy quarter at Stanford's center in Washington, DC.
Kennedy is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. He served on the National Commission for Public Service and the Carnegie Commission on Science, Technology and Government, and as a founding director of the Health Effects Institute. He currently serves as a director of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and as co-chair of the National Academies' Project on Science, Technology and Law. He received AB and PhD degrees in biology from Harvard University.
Second Annual Good Jobs, Green Jobs Conference Begins with Sierra Club as a Key Sponsor
Hundreds of Sierra Club activists are joining national environmental, labor, business, and political leaders at the Good Jobs, Green Jobs Conference, being held in Washington, D.C. from February 4-6, 2009. The conference--which is being coordinated by the Blue Green Alliance, United Steelworkers, and the Sierra Club--will feature three days of keynote speeches and workshops, a Green Jobs Expo, and a national advocacy day during which hundreds of activists will take their green jobs message directly to Capitol Hill.
In addition to Dr. Kennedy, other featured speakers include EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson; Senators Amy Klobuchar, Sherrod Brown, and Debbie Stabenow; Representative Keith Ellison, Governors Kathleen Sebelius and Martin O'Malley, United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard, Green for All Founding President Van Jones, and many other national leaders.
During the conference House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be presented with the 2009 Blue Green Alliance Green Jobs Champion award in recognition of her extraordinary leadership in promoting good, green jobs.
For more information on the Good Jobs, Green Jobs Conference, please visit: http://www.greenjobsconference.org/ .
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