The WSJ recently reported that Big Oil, eager to avoid new regulations of its dirty energy supply, is going to take a cue from the health care reform protesters who have resorted to intimidation tactics like shouting down members of Congress at their in-district town hall meetings.
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Early confirmation of Big Oil’s plans came in the form of a memo from the American Petroleum Institute (API) that was leaked to colleagues of mine here at Greenpeace. According to Kevin Grandia, writing on Huffington Post, the memo details how, “Taking a page from the playbook of Astroturf campaigners currently crashing health care town hall events across the country, API hopes to similarly sully productive communications between Congressmembers and their actual constituents at public events scheduled for the coming weeks.”
Greenpeace does not support the Waxman-Markey bill that API is attempting to "organize" against, but that’s no reason to let bullies hired by API dominate the debate and drown out rational voices calling for science-based climate policy. So it’s more important than ever that we keep the pressure up and make as loud a call as possible for an aggressive response to global warming.
Greenpeace has organizers around the country who’d be happy to help you get involved with actions and protests in your community. Check out greenpeace.org/volunteer to find an organizer near you, or to sign up to get more information from one of our national organizers if you’re not near one of our field organizers.
The important thing is just that we all get out there and make sure that corporate-backed astroturfers don’t hijack this debate. The time for real global warming policy is now, let’s make it happen.
