Greenpeace

Quinlan Brennan is an intern with the Student Network at Greenpeace. In the lead of to the mid-term elections, Quinlan has been researching the money flowing from corporate polluters to politicians campaigning for office. With the election over, Quinlan has these thoughts on how young Americans can take action to beat dirty energy money in our politics:

This past Wednesday, after months of record spending by corporate polluters in the 2010 midterm elections, we all woke up to a new political reality covered in dirty energy money. Big coal and oil companies spent millions to buy elections across the country. I've had enough & so have most people my age. 

So, I spent some time on the streets of Washington, DC getting people to show their support against the corrupt elected officials who take cash from dirty energy companies.

After talking to a couple groups of people, I finally seemed to find an opening line to draw people in. By simply asking if they have a minute to take a picture, people were willing to stop. Then I explained that companies like BP, responsible for the largest environmental disaster in our nation's history, are also playing dirty in our politics, buying influence with OUR members of Congress. This got people’s attention.

I found that once I explained about where some politicians' get their campaign cash, individuals seemed interested to take a picture and stand up against funding from polluters. I also noticed that while a few people will ignore you, keep trying and don’t single out certain groups, because lots of people are fed up with dirty politics.

This was my first time doing something like this and although at times it may be a little frustrating, when you get people that agree to take a stand against the dirty energy money in Congress it makes everything worth while and can be a lot of fun! See:

Follow our Student Network on Twitter @GreenpeaceSN to see more as other students get these photos on their campuses. And join us. After this election, we have to tell our Congress that NO polluter money should be in their pockets or in our energy policy.

The dust from Tuesday’s election is still settling but it seems to me that one thing is CLEAR –  by injecting millions of dirty energy dollars into politicians’ pockets this election cycle, big oil and king coal have succeeded in polluting not only our air, water, and communities, but now our democracy too.

So what do we do? Anyone that cares about the health of our planet and the health of our government needs to stare the problem of dirty energy money straight in the face and call that spade a spade. So, here’s what we’re up to:

 

On campuses across the country students are starting to mobilize. Young Americans KNOW that during this election their representatives cozied up to polluters like BP and Massey Coal and they’re not fooled. Anything this 112th Congress does around energy and climate will be directly influenced by the polluting industries that bought their election. So – we’re calling them out. 

As campuses capture hundreds of images of young Americans demanding an end to dirty energy politics, they’re also using those images to engage with the media and pressure their newly elected/reelected congressmen and women.

Start following us on twitter @GreenpeaceSN, where we’ll be posting twitpics of our activists’ work after this election. And keep an eye on the hashtag #dirtyenergymoney.

This election doesn’t change the fact that we all deserve clean air and water, and that our leaders should side with the people they represent, not corporate polluters. But it does change the reality on the floor of Congress, with more allies of corporate polluters in control.  So, if you, like us, want clean energy jobs NOW, not later, and an end to the era of polluter power – take on the REAL problem, the problem of dirty energy money in Congress.

Follow us on twitter @GreenpeaceSN and download your own dirty ben franklin money to start taking pictures on your campus to call out this Congress. Just message us on twitter and we’ll hook you up.

Ryan Thomson is a graduate student at NC State University and a Greenpeace Student Network Organizer. This fall - as the election approaches, Ryan and the NC State Greenpeace crew have been focusing on the dirty money coming in from big polluters to influence elections and control our energy policy. After orchestrating an event last week on the 6month anniversary of BP's Gulf Disaster, Ryan had these thoughts to share:

This past Wednesday marked the six month anniversary of the Deep Water Horizon catastrophe that forever altered the chemistry of the Gulf ecosystems.  In mourning the losses of this tragic day, some of us found cause for action.  Politicians have maintained this domination of oil and coal through turning a blind eye in exchange for massive campaign donations.  NC is a primary example of how corporations such as Progress Energy, Exxon, Duke Energy and Dominion govern our current energy policy.

For our 3 representatives alone here in Wake County, these donations total over half a million dollars. And they're non-partisan, with democrats and republicans in North Carolina both choosing to soak up polluter cash.  Despite the fact that humanity has already reached 388ppm globally, we continue to blow up Appalachia and pillage our coasts in search for fossil fuels.  It’s easy to see the effects of massive campaign contributions given the endless signs demanding your vote bought and paid for by polluter corporations.

 

Despite some miserable weather, we did what we could with what we had.  We didn’t have the grandest set of numbers but we compensated by increasing our energy as we chanted throughout the brickyard.

We demand that politicians stop taking campaign contributions from these polluting industries and begin acting in accordance with preserving our climate.  We protest, petition, and mobilize only because we understand what is at stake.  Otherwise it will not be long before our coasts resemble that of the Gulf.  We made our points and at such a place as NCSU, it proved a truly symbolic gesture.

 

This’ll be a quick one, folks. We just wrapped up the event at NC State in Raleigh today – October 20th – the 6month anniversary of the BP Oil Sprill & a day that marks the race to election insanity – when candidates are raising last minute cash anyway they can to out-advertise, out-scare-tactic, out-do their opponents.

Here in Raleigh, like most places, the question has been raised: will young people turn out to vote on November 2nd or not? This generation is not fuel for statisticians’ analysis for journalists’ coverage. Young people will turn out and vote when politicians show and prove that they’re more interested in OUR future than they are in the profits of corporate polluters.

As November 2nd inches nearer, big polluters are shelling out major cash to boost the candidates that will do THEM the most favors.  At today's event, NC State's activists looked the status quo politics of dirty money straight in the eye and said "NO," issuing a challenge to North Carolina's politicians to stop taking money from big oil and king coal.

Check out some photos from the event and keep your blog eyes here. The NC Students will add their own thoughts on this page soon. The message today was clear – No more dirty money, no more dirty politics.

I always relish the moments when my friends and colleagues hear I'm headed out on the road again. "You're going to Vermont? You're going to Denver? You're going to Denmark? FOR WORK!??!" They ask, with inevitable incredulity. Why, yes. Yes I am. This week - I'm headed to Raleigh, North Carolina. For work.

As the mid-term elections approach, Our Student Network is taking aim at corporate polluters buying influence state by state over our nation's energy policy. Polluters like ExxonMobil, like Koch Industries, like Progress Energy, and BP give millions of dollars to willing politicians who then go to Washington ready to representative their corporate interests instead of the interests of the American People.

 

 

This week, at NC State University, our Student Network activists are standing up. October 20th will mark the 6 month anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon Disaster in the Gulf. And 6 months later, polluters' money continues to corrupt our politics around energy and the environment. Our NC State Greenpeace students, like you, have had enough. Their media event on Wednesday will demand an end to polluter-subsidized politics in North Carolina & will educate and engage hundreds of fellow youth voters.

Stay tuned this week. We’ll be live tweeting @GreenpeaceSN and on my twitter @RuMor_Truth as this group of young voters turns up the heat on North Carolina's politicians and their pockets lined with dirty money.

Want to get involved? DO IT! We can get serious about our dirty energy problems when we get serious about the dirty money in our politics.