Joel Francis Offers Prop 23 Challenge: Explain Yourself Mr. Koch

I’m imagining the scenario in my mind’s eye:

Joel Francis, the Cal State senior who challenged billionaire Charles Koch to meet him “anytime, anywhere in the state before election day” to debate Prop 23, shows up tomorrow afternoon at the office of Koch Industries in Wichita, Kansas.

Ding-dong.

“Hello?”

“Yes, this is Joel Francis, California resident and concerned citizen. On behalf of millions of young Californians, I’m here to talk with Charles about why he is meddling with our democracy by funding a proposition that would roll back progress on climate action and cause billions of dollars in new clean energy technology and green jobs to dry up.  Is he in?”

“Yes. Just a moment, he’ll be right down.”

Then Joel proceeds to demolish Koch in a debate that is aired during prime-time in front of millions of eyeballs.

Here’s the challenge:

Well, it might now go down like that, but we’ll find out soon.

Joel is part of Power Vote CA, a project of the California Student Sustainability Coalition.  The network of thousands of students are urging Californians to pledge No on 23. Opponents of Prop 23 have dubbed it the “Dirty Energy Proposition“ because both out-of-state oil companies and the billionaire Koch brothers (via Flint Resources) have chipped in most of the millions behind this attempt to kill clean energy investments and green jobs creation in California.

Find out more about Prop 23.  Check back soon for updates.

Follow me on Twitter @vanlenning.

Local Clean Energy Alliance Open House and Fundraiser

Join the LCEA for an open house/fundraiser to benefit the The Clean Energy Tour, a series of solar-powered concerts, press conferences, and student leadership trainings throughout California utilizing music, arts and culture to stop the Dirty Energy Prop. The tour is the largest transmedia GOTV (Get Out The Vote) event in this election and features hip hop legends Pete Rock and CL Smooth. It’s the official tour of the Communities United Against the Dirty Energy Proposition coalition, which includes over eighty social and environmental justice groups across California.

This will be your opportunity to meet and socialize with members of the Alliance while enjoying a light meal and supporting this historic music tour to stop Prop 23. This event is open to the public and we encourage all members of the Local Clean Energy Alliance to participate.

To RSVP please contact brenna@baylocalize.org

NO on Prop 23

When: Thursday, October 21, 6-8 pm

Where: Oakland Historic Building

436 14th Street (at Broadway) in Downtown Oakland (12th Street BART station)

Light refreshments and finger food

Each guest will receive a free ticket to the San Francisco Green Festival!

Crush Dirty Energy Prop 23 Video Round Up

With just over two weeks left until election day, more and more Californians are pledging to vote no on Prop 23, the deceptive dirty energy prop funded by out-of-state Texas oil companies and the billionaire tea-party funding Koch brothers.

Several awesome videos have come out recently–some serious, some funny–but all getting the message out about the importance of defeating Prop 23 if we want to move towards a clean energy future.

The song “Valero Oil of Texas” was first performed at the Berkeley and Oakland rallies organized by the Credo Action/Greencorps folks, with lyrics written by volunteers Nancy Schimmel & Bonnie Lockhart.  Here’s a new video out with more instruments and professional production. It’s sure to go viral.

The Stop the Dirty Energy Prop folks asked Californians to send in photos of themselves showing their opposition to Prop 23.  Here is the resulting video:

Van Jones Makes Calls With Citizens to Urge Voters to Crush Prop 23

Becky Bond and Van Jones rehearse before calling voters to urge No on Prop 23

(Published on Ecolocalizer) On Sunday evening Van Jones joined hundreds of San Francisco Bay Area residents at the First Congregational Church to call voters to urge them to vote no on Proposition 23.

Prop 23 is the deceptive ballot initiative funded by Texas oil companies and the billionaire Koch brothers that would suspend California’s landmark greenhouse emission reduction law AB 32 (Global Warming Solutions Act).

Regular engaged citizens as well as luminaries like George Lakoff joined Van Jones, Michael Kieschnick (CEO & President of Credo/Working Assets), and Becky Bond (Credo Action’s Political Director) to make calls.  They all underscored the importance of not merely beating Proposition 23, but crushing it overwhelmingly. Organizers also emphasized that since voters can begin mailing in their ballots this week it is critical to contact as many as possible.

“This is not a fight we picked. They are on our turf, in our backyard, using our rules,” Kieschnick said of the out-of-state oil companies Valero and Tesoro and the billionaire Koch brothers.

Van Jones reminded the crowd of their recent history of mass mobilizing against the invasion of Iraq and on-going wars. “We’re getting the moment back for this movement,” Jones said.

“These people are not spending hundreds of millions of dollars to crush your dreams because you suck. They don’t have lunatics on TV twenty-four-seven because you lack power.  They’re doing this because you do have power, you are a force to be reckoned with,” Jones said.

“Do you think they’re getting up in the morning trying to figure out how to create jobs for Californians?” Jones asked, then hilariously play-acted crying on the part of the CEOs of Tesoro and Valero.  The two CEOs put out an editorial on Friday complaining they were just so tired of being cast as villains, after even Schwarzenegger called them out for “self-serving greed.”

Poor them.

The words of Jones and Kieschnick rallied the crowd to action.  Out came the cell phones and everybody started making calls.  Volunteers made thousands of calls and had hundreds of great conversations about Prop 23.

As Kieschnick said, “The old guard oil companies won’t go easily into a future where they don’t dominate the energy scene. We have to win here, crush it here, or it is a big step backwards.”

Credo is continuing to contact voters everyday until election day. Consider plugging in whatever way you can, but the most effective thing is to call voters and get pledges to vote no and volunteer. So consider volunteering a few hours of your time to phone-bank.  That’s environmentalism in action.

Take Action: Go to the Credo Action Campaign site to find your local office and events.



5 Reasons Why Californians Must Crush Prop 23

The showdown for a clean energy and clean air future is here and we should be jolted. In November we all have to come out in force and vote no on the Dirty Energy Proposition 23. And we must not just beat Prop 23, we must pulverize it like the dust beneath our feet.

Here are the 5 top reasons why Californians must crush Prop. 23.

Read my full Op-ed on HuffingtonPost.

California’s Prop 23 tests public support for a clean energy economy

Source: Sacramento Bee

If you haven’t yet heard, California’s Proposition 23 has become a lightning rod of debate about the clean energy and air future of not just California, but of the nation.  The proposition would suspend California’s landmark greenhouse emission reduction law AB 32 (Global Warming Solutions Act), one of the most ambitious in the world.

The New York Times yesterday called it a showdown, saying that it has “jolted environmental leaders who are worried that a vote against the law in this state — with its long history of environmental activism — would amount to a powerful setback for emission control efforts in Washington and statehouses across the country.”

Several rallies against Proposition 23 around California have already been held and are continuing on an almost daily basis.

The deceptive Orwellian name given to it by oil-slick proponents is “California Jobs Initiative”, despite the fact that it would reduce state revenue and stall the growing clean energy job sector.  Opponents have dubbed it the “Dirty Energy Proposition“ because