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Johnse
1/17/2009 5:21 AM | You have to have this clean slate to be able to bring all the other issues on the agenda forward and to improve. I see this one as priority. |
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DotLu
1/17/2009 5:36 AM | Â My 4 things would be allow CA and other states to have their own standards, and then bring the federal standards up to that. Also ban dirty coal plants as well as ban open coal mining that destroys mountains and the environment. Last, commit to clean, renewable energy that will lower CO2 emissions. Hopefully to cut them by 35%.
Do not lease any more land for fuels unless all current leases are being used, |
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Whitehair
1/17/2009 6:09 AM | Fighting global warming has to be priority number one--so much else is dependent on it, worldwide. We must take seriously that if we do not care for this beautiful earth, it will not be able to care for us. |
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ed2291
1/17/2009 6:10 AM | Going for clean energy will help the economy both long and short term as well as help the environment and kill two birds with one stone. I agree this is a priority after 8 years of inaction and hostility to clean energy and the environment. If we are not already out of time, we will be soon. We risk having future generations of Americans and people in all countries view us as the selfish generation who did not act to prevent a clearly forseeable disaster. |
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excalibur
1/17/2009 6:13 AM | A clean slate is importand to say the least. But to build coal plants at all. Ukos should be stopped completely and the money should be used on making this clean green work. There is nothing about coal that is clean.
Strip mining should never be allowed and anyone that would dump anything into the water needs to wake up. If they would try going with out water for 4 8 hours (so they could get a taste of what it would be like without water) perhals they wouldn't be in such an all fired hurry to contaminate something that we all need. Thats kinda like being in the desert and pouring your canteen of water out.
Now that America is finally waking up and people aren't going to stand still for buisness as usual and we have a president that has priiorities in their correct order. We and our children and the generations that will follow have a chance. Thank you President Obama and thank you America. |
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gengie
1/17/2009 6:18 AM | The saddest thing about strip mining is that is pollutes the environment, destroys the topography that has been in existence since before mankind, and provides no substantial financial assistance to the folks who own the land. Big companies destroy without a care for the future...we must stop this!!! Gengie |
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Nicky57
1/17/2009 6:33 AM | Â Little else matters if you have no place to live due to destruction of land, pollution of air and water, other life forms erased. Â Therefore a cleanslate is a first step to responsible and sustainable use of natural resources.
Mountain top removal is desecration of America's landscape with adverse effect on land, air, water and all life forms, including the people and flora and fauna who live on that land.
Not only does it remove land from human and wildlife use, MTR reduces functioning air cleaning by trees it removes; and, creates the substance that pollutes, coal and more waste substance than the area can tolerate. Â Coal by MTR is a life destructive industry.
MTR must stop now and sustainable green industry begun with jobs creation. Â You can do it. Â Please, do.
God bless you, President Obama. Â
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jbrown92
1/17/2009 7:17 AM | Global warming is not just a crisis, it is an oppurtunity. Creating green jobs and infrastructure will lead to economic prosperity, and encourage the rest of the world to take part. And it will help us take on the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced.
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bobatny
1/17/2009 7:17 AM | I am fed up with the destruction of our common heritage so that individuals can benefit. Mountain top removal is just a cheap way to get coal to sell. Dumping combustion products in the air is just a way to avoid paying for proper disposal. When the TRUE and FULL cost of our preaent energy practices are added up wind power used to make hydrogen will not look expensive at all. |
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NJ/PA/FL
1/17/2009 7:22 AM | It's time to take a giant step forward because we're still stuck in the previous century, bound to fossil fuels and nuclear power plants. We could have started the process 35 years ago, but there was still too much profit to be made from those commodities, and the profiteers would like to keep us dependent for their benefit. These energy commodities also have us in conflict with nations who have an abundance of fossil fuel resources to sell and are dependent on developing their economies on them, regardless of the fact that we now realize the horrible harm and destruction. We cannot continue to give in to their economic interests because we're simply postponing the inevitable. We have the right to develop and use better alternatives, and we have the means to do so. Those who benefit from harm and destruction certainly don't have our best interests in mind. |
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XYZ5
1/17/2009 7:23 AM | I would say that the economy needs top priority because with that in order, all other needs would then be able to be met. I have confidence that with the right people, and with the right attitudes, and of course, the right abilities in each category, we can then tackle any of the problem areas. |
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Fred99
1/17/2009 7:50 AM | We can deal with climate change now and have a chance of saving life on our planet as we know it. Or, we can choose to postpone action, leaving the task to the next generation. If we decide to let the next generation take care of the problem, there might not be a solution possible. Isn't the choice obvious? |
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mozart
1/17/2009 7:51 AM | America needs to lead the world in reducing greenhouse emissions-other nations need to start looking to us in a leadership role again for the right reasons-this is our opportunity, let's not blow it, for the world and for our children. |
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Polly Mac
1/17/2009 8:15 AM | We need to treat Earth like the living breathing organism it is.
It can't survive with its surface stripped away or sealed over, with its air unbreathable and its water not fit for supporting life.
All our policies must be designed to keep our planet in good health. |
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Miss Susan
1/17/2009 8:17 AM | I am appalled by the trashing of our Planet and the creation of wars for the god of energy and personal power! We need to wake up to the fact that this is a DEAD-end plan ... We are committing mass suicide by not putting all our human energies into whatever it takes to switch NOW to renewable and clean energy sources. How can we even consider building one more coal-burning plant?! (ex: Duke Power in North Carolina is going ahead with building one even as hearings into its viability are being held) To repeat .. if we can get humans to the moon, this should be a no-brainer! All it will take is for the Governments ... all of them, from the city, county, state and federal levels ... to work with us!Â
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Rich Heller
1/17/2009 8:24 AM | I am very concerned about methane; it has a much larger direct impact on climate change then C02. Scientists have confirmed that atmospheric levels are increasing "unexpectedly" and that methane in the atmosphere traps heat at a higher level then C02. Scientists know that vast quantities of methane and methane hydrate are currently "locked" under the ocean and in the permafrost. I'm no scientist, but it would seem obvious that the current levels of warming will result in the release of stored methane and sooner then later lock our planet into a virtually uncontrollable warming cycle that will require a global response; if we wait any longer this response will probably be some technological solution that may have unpredictable consequences. I urge you to fund intensive research of this often ignored methane issue and to push for even stronger CO2 limits.Â
There are so many fragile ecosystems that are currently near collapse, drastically changing weather patterns with increased severe weather events, melting of the poles at unpredicted and unprecedented levels; why is it not obvious that stronger measures are needed? Please work hard to protect our planet for our children and future generations. |
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Foggy
1/17/2009 8:26 AM | Bold action is required. Thank you. |
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Nicki41
1/17/2009 8:32 AM | President Obama,
You have an immediate opportunity to address some important issues that affect us all. First, commit us to cut our CO2 emissions dramatically; end the irresponsible mountaintop removal coal mining (we have seen recently the after effects of that policy); direct the EPA to require to require all new/existing power plants to limit their emissions as well as grant a waiver for California to limit global warming emission from cars. Believe me, I know about that. I live in California.
Thank you and the best of luck to you and all your team as well as all of us on our new adventure together.
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Zoe W
1/17/2009 9:13 AM | This is a real opportunity to change our course to a more sustainable use of the resources available to us. Our economy and infrastructure are built on unsustainable principles. If we do not want future generations to inherit a world that would be foreign to us in terms of its biology and resources, we need to do more to preserve what we have through foreward-thinking actions. We should not think of the stimulus as a "patch job;" rather, it needs to be viewed as a reinvention, a re-working of American activities that have a negative impact on the earth. |
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Richard Ludlow
1/17/2009 9:29 AM | Clean energy at an affordable price - means more research, less NIMBYism and a commitment to the common good. It has my vote. |
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mwills4048
1/17/2009 9:59 AM | Change the energy infrastructure. Get off carbon dirty carbon fuels. Put solar panels/receptors on every south facing wall and roof and in America. Put people to work in these projects. Give people jobs cleaning up all the damage inflicted by the oil/coal industries polluters. Give people jobs doing environmental clean-up and remediation. Promote energy efficiency, promote organic/sustainable farming. Promote the growth of local industries that provide products and services to local economies.
And finally, thank you President Obama for allowing me to wake up to a dawn of new hope after struggling through an 8 year nightmare. America can and will rise again. We just need hope, and we just need someone to point us the way. I will be one of those pairs of boots on the ground. Just show me what to do!
Morris Wills |
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papaw
1/17/2009 10:03 AM | Reducing global warming should be a top priority. If we do not do everything that we can to repair our planet, then our decendents will not have to worry about the economy. The economy should be high in priorities but our planet comes first. Clean energy should be number one on the list. Thank you. |
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Teddy329
1/17/2009 10:23 AM |
A top priority!
a top priority
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NatalieFoster
1/17/2009 10:38 AM | 4 things Obama can do independently of congress to revv up the clean energy economy! |
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thoreauwalking
1/17/2009 10:42 AM | President Obama, we have to hit the ground running with this. Send a strong clear message that environmental ethics are here to stay in national policy |
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Midget
1/17/2009 11:15 AM | Dear President Obama,
"Clean coal" is an oxymoron. Mountain top removal has destroyed so much in the coal mining states, expecially Tennessee. When you burn coal, there are emissions. We must mandate energy conservation and move from a carbon-based energy system to a renewable, sustainable system. Please heed Sierra Club's call for a Clean Slate. These 4 points are a good place to start.
Thank you,
MaryRose Randall
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MFP
1/17/2009 11:20 AM | Â This should be a priority. We can address energy, environmental and economic issues simultaneously. Â Time may be running shorter than we think. Â MIchael |
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Redrock Rick
1/17/2009 11:30 AM | I strongly support and applaud these four recommendations for immediate actions to jumpstart the economy and reduce global warming. I hope that President Obama will promptly implement these actions. We must end our addiction to foreign oil and harmful fossil fuels and greatly accelerate the transition to clean, renewable, alternative energy sources like solar, wind, geothermal, and tidal.  We must also break the dependence of too many elected officials on fossil fuel industry campaign contributions.  This is the dramatic new course that President Obama must chart for our nation, both to save our economy and our environment. Yes we can, yes we did, and yes we will!Â
Redrock Rick
St. George Utah
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Birder 6
1/17/2009 12:15 PM | Global Warming should be the number 1 issue for the US and the world to tackle.
No new coal fired power plants should be allowed to be built until, and if, an onsite, provable system to gasify and sequester carbon dioxide is available at the particular proposed site. Until then....No new coal fired power plants!
Energy Efficiency is the quickest, and most affordable method to reduce our use of energy.
At the same time, we should be throwing everything we can get to get clean, alternative renewable energy sources on line and working.
We should put a massive effort to upgrade and expand our mass transit system, both locally and nationally. New, or upgraded train systems are many times more cheap to build and maintain than roads.
We need a CARBON TAX ASAP to reduce our carbon inbut by 20% by 2020 from 1990 levels. We must have an 80% reduction by 2050. The key is, it must start NOW!!! |
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LooneyLimey
1/17/2009 12:24 PM | My idea is to combine units, for example Solar Panels/Geothermal Heating and rain water collection into one unit. Have the Feds subsidize it at 100% & 0% interest for LOW INCOME
homeowners, have a sliding scale of subsidy from there, say 80% of cost at 1% interest for a $50K household income.
Make it affordable right away to as many homeowners.
The kicker is that the extra energy get credited to the homeowner at 30% for five years and 70% to the Feds for five years. The feds can use it and share it with the state as well, that gives free energy to the schools and more.
Extend this to Multiple Residential units and the people who rent will save on energy costs and water conservation too.
This can really be viewed as an investment by the people to the people. There are winners at all levels, homeowners, contractors, manufacturers, local and state governments as well as the Federal Government. Which benefits the people.  WIN. WIN. WIN. |
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vodolija
1/17/2009 12:56 PM | Please read "The Green Collar Economy"! The entire platform is there in that remarkable book. Van Jones should be one of your main advisers in this area. Also, please take very seriously Mr. Jones words about social justice in connection with the development of green economy and our own survival on this planet. We absolutely need to part from our coal and oil dependency and urgently focus on renewable/clean energy sources if we care at all about our children and future generations. We should hold ourselves, people whose role is to representat us, and your administration responsible for these critical decisions at this critical moment.
Milina Jovanovic
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Rocky rococo
1/17/2009 1:30 PM | nOTHING IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN THIS FOR MY CHILDREN'S GENERATION! We must act immediately. |
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Boice
1/17/2009 1:47 PM | A clean slate for the environment is so very important after eight years of neglect by Pres. Bush and his allies. The environment crosses political lines-- we all live on this same earth! It needs to be protected for future generations. No drilling for oil in protected and fragile areas. No more coal-burning facilities. No more removing the wolves from the Endangered Species List.  In with wind power, solar energy, hybrid cars, etc. We need a clean slate immediately. Thanks.  M. Boice |
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Cindy Angerhofer
1/17/2009 2:00 PM | We will not have a future without being good stewards of the earth and advocating and facilitating the same care by all nations. We can have reliable energy for the present and the future without having to rely on the environmentally devastating practices and greed of many of the big energy companies. For one example, check out the impactful work of RE-AMP (a community of 10 foundations and 70 NGOs using system-mapping and shared learning to align their clean energy strategies across seven states in the upper Midwest) at reamp.org. We expect Brazil to protect the Amazon and we blow up mountaintops to mine coal in one of the most richly biodiverse regions in the US!?I think we are smart enough to support a regional economy in the Appalachians that utilizes this natural resource thoughtfully and sustainably rather than annihilating it.Â
Thanks for making energy and the environment a top priority of your administration!
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Highloop
1/17/2009 3:08 PM | Energy and the environment appear to me to be the linchpin to our economy, health and welfare. therefore I will cast my vote to the four major proposals above.  Thank you Barack Obama for allowing me to vote the issues which have been so devisive these past 8 years. Thankyou.   Dgaenicke |
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Bobwhite
1/17/2009 3:19 PM | I would add mandatory recycling and composting of all materials everywhere in the country. Southern California has a good program to model a Federal mandate after and this would create jobs and reduce expenses for land and landfills as well. |
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frannie111222
1/17/2009 4:13 PM | Developement of renewable energy, reduction of our CO2 emissions, making MTR mining illegal make sense if an individual is concerned with the long term habitability of the planet and the quality of life of not only this generation but future generations. Pleasae do all you can to address these issues. |
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WendyB
1/17/2009 4:25 PM | Our enviorment is one of the important issues that need to be addressed immediatly.
Each issue intertwinds with each other. Beside peace in the middle east, the billions
of dollars, I believe it to be a trillion, that would buy alot of health insurance, fiancial crisis,
 education funds, invest in natural energy resources, preserve wild life, not just for the
the beautiful  creatures but we need them for global warming, Our food and water supplies.
I believe these are the most important issues that we are dealing with. Stop giving to WallÂ
 Street and the rich and start giving it to programs, not special intrest groups, but for national
programs. Religon need to stay out of it too. Then there is us. We are at a stand still right
now, you maybe like me disabled and can not do much with an unemployed 55 year
old partner. His 17 year old son lives with us, about to lose the roof over your head.
Counting your pennies to buy something to eat. We need to change our ways, no gas to
look for job. Be involved, the changes. Your voice does count, speak up for your civil
and constitutional rights. However, your actions make the bigger difference. Be aware,
sign petitions, rally, donate, recycle.
Please add issues you feel are important. Abortion, cloning, all these chemicals, the moneyÂ
spent on these could be put towards so much more.Â
Add please
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bdpiano
1/17/2009 4:50 PM | We have a solemn duty, a moral obligation, to preserve and protect the environment and the natural world from which we came, not simply for ourselves, but for the many generations that will follow us. For too long we have viewed nature as a hindrance, as something to be plowed under, chopped down, and removed for our own short-sighted goals. We must begin to recognize that we are inextricably linked to the natural, wild lands and web of life around us. If we continue to close our eyes and our minds to this simple truth, we will surely open the door to our own downfall. I hope and pray Mr. Obama will enact policies that will lead us on a path of environmental responsibility. God bless! |
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ER_inIL
1/17/2009 5:33 PM | I agree with all the above. |
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user_54186553
1/17/2009 5:57 PM | Pollution: bad.
Global warming: worse
Non-renewable, non-sustainable energy and environment policy: worst.
Renewable, sustainable, clean energy: good
Protection of our environment: better
Responsible stewardship of the Earth: best
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photon
1/17/2009 6:15 PM | Â Military: Â Too expensive, too big, makes more enemies than it kills. Cut the budget and apply to single payer healthcare |
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suzie'Q
1/17/2009 6:17 PM |  Cleanslate is a good word-for so many things and I care about what i have read about what to do for clean energy  protection of our envionment and i like the word Clean SLate for so many things that it can mean.    I care about the slaughter of Wolves and endangered animals because of global warming etc    Please  I am proud to have this New President and Vice President and their cabinet.  So much has gone wrong in the last 8 years and we should be a proud Country   end wars  my nephew was one of the first Marines into Irag   and i Prayed for his safe return. He is Home.  I thank God and hope Clean Slate means so much to this great new President      who is trying to do the right things to save this Country and around the world     Peace  it starts at home everyones home and i pray for peace in everyones Home  it starts there. |
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KaVTA
1/17/2009 7:24 PM | I just voted up on this issue, and the original number didn't change. It started at 7990 before I voted. It should be 8000 now. |
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KaVTA
1/17/2009 7:26 PM | Scratch that last comment! The number is now 8000 for this issue!
Thanks. |
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elcirn
1/17/2009 7:37 PM | I volunteered for Obama/Biden since June 2008. I am a disabled RN and I was able to make many, many phone calls from home for MoveON.org. I also attended a few team calling sessions and met some terrific people. Of course, I was ecstatic when we won the election! Our slogan was Change We Need, now I really like "Cleanslate". It says so much so simply!
Respectfully submitted,
Lorraine C. Cordeiro
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ReikiPatty
1/17/2009 8:47 PM | Dear Mr. President,
I am SO GRATEFUL that you are our new President! My sons (ages 8 and 10) and I worked for your campaign through MoveOn.Org, calling people to remind them to get out and vote for you. My sons called total strangers, not because I made them, but because they've seen the destruction of this great nation by the Bush administration, and they wanted to make sure it never happens again. They want and need a world of beauty in which to grow up!
PLEASE make the CleanSlate proposal one of your absolute TOP priorities. It will put thousands of Americans back to work, reduce health care costs by reducing toxins in the environment, promote tourism revenue by protecting natural beauty, and keep America's place as a global leader secure. The United States MUST take an immediate stand--not as a global leader of pollution, but as a leader of global stewardship.
Mr. President, our country was once saved by a President who had the foresight and wisdom to invest in the Interstate system that today we take for granted. We, the People, elected YOU to save our country today by having the foresight and wisdom to invest in green energy solutions. I pray my grandchildren may take for granted the use of renewable energy sources, and have to consult their history books to learn of coal burning and mountaintop removal!
May the Creator of all the Earth guide your decisions throughout your Administration. THANK YOU again for accepting the challenge to lead America to a better future!
Patty, David, and Kevin |
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RogerMark
1/18/2009 4:12 AM | Wow! An opportunity to make a real difference in our lives today and in the lives of our children - one that makes sense from an economic, ethical, and equity perspective - we need to work together to realize bottom line benefits of these priorities - and recognize the future is now - and act. |
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Glenn67
1/18/2009 4:40 AM | Â This is THE priority, if one pays any attention to scientific evidence. Science doesn't lie, and science doesn't give in to wishful thinking. Let's respect the science and recognize the scope and scale of this threat. If we don't seriously curb climate disruption, everything else fails. |
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carekar
1/18/2009 5:51 AM | this should definitely be a priority. Let's make wise choices for our earth! And for our children and grandchildren.. |
