Earlier this afternoon Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid sent a message http://www.speaker.gov/... announcing that after 103 years they're going to try and wean the Capitol Power Plant off coal. Good news, but the why is even better.
What caused today's announcement? A few months ago, many of us announced plans for a march on that power plant Monday. It's going to be the first mass civil disobedience about global warming in this country (details here) and it's looking like it will be big. For one thing, 10,000 young people are expected in D.C. this weekend for Powershift '09, the totally cool gathering of college kids at the core of this new movement. They're not official sponsors of Monday's protest--but Pelosi is coming to talk to them, and she knows what's on many minds.
Meanwhile, thousands more folks have registered from across the country--including luminaries ranging from Wendell Berry and Terry Tempest Williams to Kathy Mattea and Gus Speth. James Hansen of NASA, too, who is one brave guy--not to mention the scientist who really sounded the first alarm about climate twenty years ago. They all said they'd risk arrest to get one message out: coal is bad stuff. Bad for the people who have to breathe the smoke, bad for the folks who live where they scrape the tops off mountains to get it, and most of all bad for the climate.
Now, closing the coal pipeline to the Capitol Hill Power Plant is a great victory, but of course Reid and Pelosi could do much better. They have the power to start ending the coal age all across the nation--and by example all over the world. So we'll still be protesting Monday--protesting, celebrating, and planning for yet more fun. Like, for instance, the great 350.org international day of action on Oct. 24.
Hard not to feel a little optimistic at times like this!