Our economic future is dependent on lots of factors, but few are more important than the impact of energy prices and climate instability. Right now we are addicted to increasingly expensive fossil fuels which are holding our economy’s head underwater while they suffocate us with their toxic fumes. Getting rid of coal, oil and natural gas as our sources of energy is the only way we can fight back against this recession and build a more equitable and just world at the same time.

The technology alternatives are available. The majority of Americans want it to happen. Surprisingly enough, the financing is available as well. Sounds easy? Think again! Unfortunately replacing our fossil economy with a renewable one is not as easy as it sounds. When industry lobbyists are deploying record number of lobbyists on Capitol Hill and are donating record sums to political candidates, our work to move away from 20th century energy is coming to a standstill.

First congressional conservatives convinced enough of their colleagues to drop reconciliation provisions for climate and energy from both the House and Senate versions of the 2010 budget. This means that any energy bill tackling the climate crisis will need to receive 60 votes in the senate in order to pass, something that is looking increasingly unlikely as industry dollars are piling in. Unfortunately we lost some of the people we were previously considering as allies in this fight, as Senator Casey (D-PA) joined the climate pirates in threatening a filibuster.

Representatives Waxman (D-CA30) and Markey (D-MA07), two of our biggest allies in the House, didn’t give up hope and introduced a climate and energy bill so full of compromises it wouldn’t go even close to guaranteeing the greenhouse gas reductions we need. Despite being traditionally strong on climate, Waxman and Markey watered down their bill in an attempt to get 20th century fossils like Dingell (D-MI15) to vote in favor of it. I will write another post about the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES), but here are some highlights:

+ Positives: Good renewable energy and energy efficiency targets which might induce the beginning of a shift away from fossil fuels regardless of the presence of a price on carbon.
- Negatives: Really bad cap and trade program leaves window wide open to negotiate how much polluters vs consumers will be forced to pay for emissions, allows enough offsets to cover almost 25% of our current energy use virtually eliminating any need for utilities to innovate until after 2025, and sets targets way below what the scientific community has been calling for.

Markey and Waxman didn’t compromise this much because they all of a sudden turned their backs on us. They compromised because too many legislators still don’t understand the potential and the need of a climate bill to lift us of the recession, protect our national security, and stop the most important crisis in human history – the absolute collapse of our planetary climate patterns. This is as much our problem as theirs. We are the constituents, we are the voters, we need to make our representatives tremble at the thought of further weakening a climate bill.

Make yourself heard! Click here to find the closest congressional meeting in your area .