Hollywood Actress Urges Young People To Support Strong Clean Energy Bill In Congress

Media Contacts

Environment California

Los Angeles, CA − With only days to go until Congress votes on a landmark energy bill that puts a first-ever federal limit on global warming pollution, actress Amy Smart urges young people to call their legislators and ask them to support clean, renewable energy.

“We have wind and solar and other energy sources that are clean, that never run out, and that get cheaper all the time,” said Amy Smart, actress and Environmental Media Association board member. “It’s all possible and all of it must start now, before global warming ruins the planet and robs our children of a healthy future.”

Environment America and The Environmental Media Association (EMA) released the video in which Amy Smart urges people to contact Congress in support of strengthening and passing the American Clean Energy and Security Act (HR 2454) and spread the word through email, Facebook, blogs and Twitter.

“Special interests are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to defeat this bill,” said Dan Jacobson, Legislative Director for Environment California, Environment America’s California affiliate. “We need to make sure that Congress hears from their constituents and not just lobbyists for the coal and nuclear industries.”

Ms. Smart and the environmental groups urge Congress to move the bill and strengthen it in three key ways:

1-    Ensure More Clean Energy for America
Strengthen renewable electricity provisions to ensure that 20 percent of electricity sales are generated from clean renewable energy by 2020.  Increase the energy efficiency requirement so that utilities achieve 10 percent energy efficiency by 2020.  Strengthening these standards will reduce our dependence on rapidly depleting, foreign and dirty sources of energy, as well as generate hundreds of thousands of new clean energy jobs.
 
2-    Give EPA Necessary Authority
Preserve EPA’s ability under the Clean Air Act to require existing power plants, refineries and other sources to meet up-to-date carbon pollution standards.
 
3-    Make Polluters Pay for Their Pollution
Increase the percentage of the pollution allowance permit dedicated to delivering energy efficiency and renewable energy, creating green jobs and training workers to fill them, and protecting natural resources, public health and vulnerable communities here and around the world.
 
 “By strengthening and passing the American Clean Energy and Security Act, the House of Representatives can take a critical step toward a new clean energy economy for America that creates jobs and reduces global warming pollution.  Our members, partners and allies are mobilizing as never before to capture this historic opportunity,” concluded Jacobson.
                          
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Amy Smart is a film and television actress and environmental activist.  She has stared in a number of hit movies such as, Varsity Blues, Road Trip, The Butterfly Effect, and Crank among others.  She is a speaker for Heal the Bay, a board member of Environmental Media Association (EMA) and an activist with Environment America and Environment California.

Environment America is a federation of state-based, citizen-funded environmental advocacy organizations.  Professional staff in 27 states and Washington, D.C., combine independent research, practical ideas and tough-minded advocacy to overcome the opposition of powerful special interests and win real results for the environment. Environment America draws on 30 years of success in tackling environmental problems.  Environment California is the organization’s California affiliate
www.environmentamerica.org.

The Environmental Media Association (EMA) is a Non-Profit 501(c)3 Organization founded in 1989 by Cindy and Alan Horn and Lyn and Norman Lear.  EMA is dedicated to harnessing the power of celebrity and the media to promote sustainable lifestyles and believes through positive role modeling the entertainment community can inspire consumers to take action. The organization has grown into a diverse group of industry professionals from film, television and music dedicated to the mission of promoting environmental awareness through the entertainment business and the media.  EMA serves as a valuable link between the entertainment industry and the environmental community.
www.ema-online.org