Weekly Round-Up: Real Rallies, Verizon's Astroturf, Van's the Man, and Cavemen

The summer is slowly winding down before the Labor Day weekend, but who's been relaxing? While senators were getting shouted down all week at town halls and rallies, 1Sky groups and supporters were out in force this week with real, honest grassroots actions.

1Sky supporters spent the week gathering at their senator's local offices to send them “Back to DC” next week to promote a strong clean energy bill. 1Sky Chicago and Clean Air Arkansas neatly summed up their experiences with their blogs posts. Dave on Footprint Zero makes in interesting point in discussing the Chicago rally, especially in light of our country nearing double-digit unemployment rates:

Strong climate change/energy legislation is going to create new jobs for real people rather than destroy our economy and reduce our competitiveness. What might get destroyed are excessive profits for lazy energy industry executives and their army of lobbyists, which is why the astroturf push is so strong for doing nothing.

Speaking of astroturf, Verizon Wireless customers who support clean energy might want to change their cell phone carrier. The company is facing a possible boycott by its customers for sponsoring Massey Energy’s "astroturfy" Friends of America Rally in Holden, W.V. Sue Sturgis at the Institute for Southern Studies writes:

It's not surprising that Massey Energy -- the fourth-largest coal producer in the U.S. and a major mountaintop removal operator -- would be sponsoring a rally against legislation to regulate greenhouse gas emissions... what is surprising is that one of the rallies sponsors is Verizon Wireless (who) has long touted its positive environmental record.

By supporting the utility-led astroturf event, the company may face boycott calls from groups such as Center for Biological Diversity, GreenpeaceUSA, Powershift and other groups. If you are a Verizon Wireless Customer, take the time now to make your voice heard by visiting these sites or calling customer support to voice your concern over sponsoring Astroturf.

At least Verizon Wireless had the good sense to pull their sponsorship for Fox's Glenn Beck Program. The controversial talk show host’s recent attacks on White House green jobs guru and 1Sky Ally Van Jones have been nothing if not morally and socially repugnant. Beck has been on the offensive this week, with insane attacks on Jones, calling him “subversive revolutionary”, a "communist", and a “mysterious czar” with direct influence on President Obama. Eva Paterson, Equal Justice Society’s president and founder, defend’s Van’s record in her HuffPo post:

Mr. Beck's unfounded attacks are misleading and false. All of us who know Van are so very proud of him and the work he is doing to improve the lives of ALL Americans. He has touched and improved thousands of lives in the course of his career. Now he is in a position to help millions. He will do well because Van is a true patriot, who loves his country. In his book, Van draws a distinction between "cheap patriotism" and "deep patriotism." I highly recommend that chapter to Mr. Beck.

Finally, from the grunts of Glenn Beck to the grunts of real cavemen poised to keep us in an energy stone age, we leave this week with a great video. Caveman Energy Caucus spotlights representatives who voted no on American Clean Energy and Security Act. And we love the video -- it’s a “hit” (OK, no spoilers, keep watching).