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Cross-posted at Huffington Post.

UPDATE: Watch my video briefing on the 2008 election!

When it comes to the outlook for climate and energy policy under President-elect Barack Obama and the 111th Congress, there’s the good news, and then there are the serious challenges that we must work together to confront in the critical year that lies ahead.

Over 4,000 climate activists have been fanning out today throughout the country to welcome our newly-elected President and Congress and urge them to take bold climate action next year. More than 300 of them gathered near the U.S. Capitol today for a Climate Action Now rally co-sponsored by 1Sky, the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN), 350, and other partner organizations. It was freezing in DC today (I should know -- I was there!) but the crowd was still fired up and ready to deliver the call for bold climate solutions to Capitol Hill.

If you're in the DC Metro area, please join us for the Climate Action Now rally near the Capitol Today at noon! Here are the details:

• WHAT: Rally for Climate Action Now, featuring speakers and creative visuals
  
  
• WHEN: Tuesday, November 18th from 12-1pm
  
  
• WHERE: Upper Senate Park, Capitol Hill (see Google map below)
  
  
• Join us on the Hill -- RSVP here.

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Learn more about the rally here. Also, if you have a Twitter account, you can follow updates from the rally on our 1Sky Twitter page -- we'll be using the hashtag "#nov18climate". If none of this makes sense to you, check out Wikipedia's articles on Twitter and micro-blogging or this great Twitter video primer.

UPDATE: Well, that didn't work so well, did it? Unfortunately, Twitter decided to shut down for "database maintenance" just before the rally started, so I couldn't post any tweets during the rally. So, apologies if you were following us at that time. Hopefully our next live tweetering will go better!

As the new Congress gears up for next year, the House Energy and Commerce Committee (a crucial committee for climate legislation) may experience some important changes. Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) is planning to challenge Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), the House’s most senior member, for the chairmanship.

Picture this…

A staffer in a local district office in Maryland calls up her old friend who lives in Chicago, who also happens to work at a local congressional office:

“You know what happened today?”

“What?”

New coal plants are the most urgent threat to our dangerously fragile climate. Just yesterday, an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) appeals board issued a ruling that will essentially halt the construction of new coal plants in the United States for the near term.

Huge news came out yesterday--NO NEW COAL PLANTS! The Sierra Club's legal team has forced the EPA to put an immediate halt on the construction of all new coal-fired power plants in the US. This news marks a huge victory for the climate movement! It's Getting Hot in Here reports:

Just a few hours ago, the EPA released a decision that will put an immediate halt to the construction of new coal-fired power plants in the US. This is an enormous coup for the climate movement.

This is a guest post from Ulla Nilsen, a climate activist from Oakland, CA, and creator of the Solutions to Climate Change Quilt. You can see an image of the quilt at the end of the post. -- Luis

I am bringing the Solutions to Climate Change Quilt quilt to Washington DC for the national day of climate change action on Nov. 18th, and I'm going to present it to President-elect Obama to urge him to make climate change a priority in the first 100 days. You can add your voice to this call to protect our planet's future by signing the back of the quilt.