This Earth Day, Act Blue for an Energy Smart Congress

On Earth Day, we celebrate our unique blue planet and look for ways to advance a sustainable future. So this Earth Day, let's Act Blue and do something that can have a lasting and significant impact: support Energy Smart and Earth Friendly candidates for Congress!

One of the highlights of the 2006 elections was the defeat of former Congressman Richard Pombo (CA-11), a man who seemed to make it his singular mission in Congress to rape and pillage the environment, including leading the charge on repeated attempts to gut the Endangered Species Act and open up ANWR for oil drilling.

Pombo competed with Senator James Inhofe (R-Exxon) for the honor of the most environmentally irresponsible member of Congress. The rabid anti-environmentalist was ousted by now Congressman Jerry McNerney, a renewable energy businessmen who says he was motivated to run for Congress to fight for energy independence by his son, who joined the military after 9/11.

In the 2008 elections, we face an unprecedented opportunity to shift from Energy Dumb to Energy Smart, Earth Friendly candidates. Clearly, shifting from Energy Dumb - heck, just plain dumb! - President Bush to a President Obama or Clinton would be a great shift to Energy Smart government, but there are many Congressional races that are critical as well.

Energy Smart blogger, A. Siegel has cataloged an initial list of Energy Smart candidates running to depose the worst Energy Dumb, environmentally irresponsible members of Congress out there. He's also set up an Act Blue website where you can easily make donations to support these Energy Smart candidates.

To make it onto this list of Energy Smart vs Energy Dumb candidates, races must meet the following criteria:

A challenger to an incumbent.

The challenger understands energy / environmental issues and will bring a radically different perspective to the Hill compared to the incumbent.

The race looks competitive, open for the potential for support and attention moving it toward the win column. (Especially campaigns that are not currently on top-list opportunity lists at this time.)

If you live in one of these Energy Smart candidates districts, you can find their websites on A. Siegel's post here and look for other opportunities to support these excellent candidates.

So this Earth Day, Act Blue for an Energy Smart Congress!

(We've even got a shot at knocking of James Inhofe! I couldn't think of a better present to deliver to Mother Earth for Earth Day than that...)