UPDATE: This campaign is now out in French, German, and Spanish as well.

SOLIDARITY ACTION: Help communities in Kosovo overcome a proposed coal plant beign pushed by the World Bank and the United States State Department: http://www.350.org/kosovo

We're harnessing the power of this movement to stop a proposed coal plant in Kosovo. And it’s not just any coal, it is lignite coal, the dirtiest kind. We need to support the people of Kosovo in their struggle to move beyond coal and enter a new phase of development based on clean, renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Kosovo is a tiny country in the Balkans that sits on the fifth largest reserve of lignite coal in the world. It doesn’t quite match the scale of Canada’s tar sands in terms of total carbon, but for a country as small as Kosovo, the proposed coal plant there, being pushed by the United States government and World Bank, is most definitely their version of the Keystone XL pipeline.

Right now we have just a one week opening to try and dissuade the World Bank from going ahead with the proposed coal plant. Already the movement calling for alternative energy solutions on the ground in Kosovo has been gaining steam, and it is aided by new reports detailing the clean, more affordable alternatives available to Kosovo. Unfortunately the World Bank and the US State Department have not sufficiently considered those alternatives and are bent on burning this dirty coal. That’s where we come in.

Click here to send a message to the World Bank telling them to back off coal in Kosovo.

This week is critical because right now an “expert panel” from the World Bank is reviewing the proposal and assessing whether to move forward with the financing and planning process for the plant. They are due to report their assessment next week, and it’s essential they get the message that our movement is prepared to stand together with the community there fighting for alternatives to coal. We need to raise the alarm on Kosovo’s carbon bomb now.

Click here to add your voice calling for no new coal in Kosovo today: www.350.org/kosovo

The victory over the Keystone XL pipeline demonstrated the power of standing in solidarity across the globe against climate injustice. The struggle was led by local communities in Canada and the United States along with hundreds of North Americans willing to put their bodies on the line and go to jail for the cause. But we all have a stake in keeping Canada’s tar sands oil in the ground, and we effectively added our voices together, through petitions, photos, sharing articles and updates online, visiting US embassies, and more. We have tremendous power when we act together.

This week we’re standing with Kosovo. Next week or next month it could be anywhere else on the planet. Many of you are involved in your own local climate struggles: fighting fossil fuel projects, creating local solutions, and advocating for new policies that will move your city or country beyond fossil fuels all together. 350.org exists to help catalyze, coordinate, and connect these efforts. And when there are critical moments when this global movement can unite around a common cause -- whether it be stopping the Keystone XL pipeline or pushing to phase out fossil fuel subsidies -- we will. 

One thing’s for sure: the struggle for climate solutions is going to require that we all work locally in our own communities, and that we stand together globally when we can. Right now, for Kosovo, we can. Please sign on today. 

In solidarity,

Will and the 350.org team

P.S. To build a global groundswell against Kosovo's Keystone, we need to spread the word far and wide -- can you take a second to share the action with a couple of clicks on Facebook and Twitter? Many thanks in advance. 

A guest blog from our friend Steve Kretzmann, cross-posted from our friends at Oil Change International.

On Tuesday, January 24, as Washington readies for the annual State of the Union address, more than 500 people in referee outfits are converging on Capitol Hill to “blow the whistle” on Congress. Why? Consider these two facts:

1. The American people believe (rightly) that Members of Congress are more responsive to their campaign donors than to their own constituents.

2. Americans of all affiliations clearly favor ending fossil fuel industry handouts.

Americans are sick of watching Congress receive bribes from the fossil fuel industry to vote for scams like the Keystone XL pipeline and fossil fuel subsidies. We see what’s happening, and we’re declaring it out of bounds and unsportsmanlike from this point forward.

The five biggest oil companies alone have made more than $1 trillion in profits over the last decade. It’s absurd that these companies still demand, and still receive, handouts from Congress paid for by taxpayers. This isn’t about energy or jobs – it’s about greed and corruption.

Listed below is some useful information about the cycle of dirty energy money corruption going on in Congress.

Money In – Campaign Finance

(All data is from Oil Change International’s Dirty Energy Money campaign which uses public data made available by the Center for Responsive Politics.)

Since 1999, the coal, oil and gas industries have shelled out more than $93 million to current members of Congress.

The trend is increasing with each election cycle, and current members of Congress took over $25 million in campaign contributions from the oil, coal and gas industries in 2009-2010.

Through October of 2011, dirty energy interests had given this Congress $7.8 million in this cycle alone.
Speaker Boehner has received the most money from the fossil fuel industry during this term, with more than $287,000 received from the oil, gas and coal industries.

It is worth noting that direct contributions to candidates are only one way that the fossil fuel industry exerts influence. Substantially larger sums of money are mobilized by SuperPacs and other entities.