I’m Running! I wanted you, my Facebook friends to know first. From my fans to my not-so-much fans, we do have a chance to take our very smart and usually civil discourse to a whole new level. I hope you will all support me. I do know first-hand how rough it is to put yourself on the line in politics, but I think with all my incessant posting on climate change that I had to put my money where my mouth is and do something about it! (PS- The first thing I need is help with getting my petition signatures. The district is 25 cities between Rochester and Plymouth) Go to skinnerforcongress to sign up). Maybe the third time is our charm. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Nancy Skinner Enters 11th Congressional District Race: “We need to change the climate in DC (with more women), the climate for job growth in Michigan (with vision and innovation) and the climate on earth (urgently – with climate candidates)”. Birmingham, MI. March 27, 2014 — Nancy Skinner, who ran for Congress in Michigan’s 9th Congressional District in 2006 and nearly upset a 14-year incumbent Republican, Joe Knollenberg, issued a release announcing today her entry as a Democratic candidate into one of the few House district races in the country that is deemed competitive for 11th Congressional district in Michigan. Skinner wasn’t planning to run again but the experience of this extreme winter’s extreme with record cold in the Midwest, East and down South and a 500-year drought in California, with Australia hitting records of 125% while Alaska was 60% was the kicker. She had been talking to many average people like Eileen, a realtor and mother of two teenagers in Rochester Hills. Eileen and her friends have been discussing all these extreme weather events over the last couple of years with concern and asking if they should be worrying about this. Skinner, who has worked on the issue of climate change and sustainable economic development for 21 years, realized that finally – people can actually see for themselves the extreme weather events predicted by scientists. “The craziest thing, says Skinner, is that transitioning to a clean energy economy will produce a massive economic boom just as it has with every transition of energy sources in our history – from wood, to coal, to oil, to natural gas - new technologies and new demand create good jobs, and in this case, the jobs can’t be exported but the products and technology can make our exports soar. Doing what is right for our survival is doing the best thing we can for our economy. These mothers in Rochester Hills are not in the Climate Change debate wars or belong to any one political party – but they know in their gut that we have changed the climate and they worry about the effect it will have on their children’s lives as it worsens. They should – it’s real, it’s happening 60 years ahead of scientists worst case scenarios (Greenland and Arctic’s massive unanticipated rate of melting has changed the jet stream permanently now and will intensify weather extremes). It’s not just a blip or a rare “polar vortex” event and is not a linear process. The National Academy of Scientists just released a report called “Abrupt Changes”, explaining that small changes in the global average temperature (not daily temps– weather is not climate) can set into motion chain reactions that are uncontrollable. The American Academy for the Advancement of Science this week released a report designed for non-scientists called What We Know, stating “We are at risk of pushing our climate system toward abrupt, unpredictable, and potentially irreversible changes with highly damaging impacts.” Water scarcity will become supremely important for Michigan as the Great Lakes hold 20% of the planet’s fresh water and 10 major cities are under threat of running out completely. As we speak the Wisconsin DNR has a proposal into Governor Snyder requesting a diversion of 10 million gallons of water a day from Lake Michigan to a wealthy Milwaukee suburb. California (which produces half the nation’s produce) is in a 500-year drought and all Americans will feel it at the groceries. It’s simple really. Polling shows solid majorities of both major political parties and religious leaders from Pope Francis to Evangelicals, agree that climate change is a serious threat and needs to be acted on urgently. Our own US scientific bodies like NASA, NOAA, the National Academy of Sciences, the American Meteorological Society, the American Medical Association, and hundreds more professional scientific organizations are practically setting their hair on fire over recent and alarming developments but cannot be heard over the noise of a media distracted by missing planes and partisan politics. The media may cover the enormous number of potholes or the record low temperatures or throw out the word “polar vortex” but they do not connect the dots to climate change. There are very pragmatic changes we need to make now to adapt: like filling the potholes with advanced materials as Boston is doing (a silly-putty like substance that expands and contracts with the cold; an idea developed in a college physics lab) and preparing for potentially deadly heat waves which kill more people than all natural disasters combined. Examples include 1995 -700 dead in one weekend in Chicago (I was there at the time and they had to store bodies in refrigerated food trucks because the morgues were overwhelmed), 15, 000 dead in France in 2003 and 15,000 dead in Russia in 2010. Seniors especially will need air conditioning and municipalities will need cooling centers, emergency transportation for shut-ins and alternate communications if there are overloaded power grids and blackouts – because there will be. The environment was never a political issue until recently – from Teddy Roosevelt to Nixon’s establishment of the EPA, and George H.W. Bush’s expansion of the Clean Air Act and successful cap-and trade program among utilities, which ended the acid rain problem. The entire world came together to solve the ozone hole problem with the Montreal Protocol under Reagan. Major corporations, including the big five oil companies (excluding Koch brothers) are ready to act according to the New York Times and even planning on making profits on it. Exxon Mobil has taken a major step by including “a climate risk assessment” in their report to shareholders and a spokesman said they may have to part ways on climate change with some of their Republican friends “in the interest of their shareholders”. On Wall Street, certain investment funds are quietly dis-investing from “climate sensitive” stocks. Major insurance and Re-Insurance giants are demanding action as property losses skyrocket. The playing field has shifted dramatically as the science and modeling improved and the extreme weather events predicted have proven costly to businesses, from small famers to giant corporations. One plan that has widespread support even among conservative economic advisors to Reagan, Arthur Laffer and George W. Bush, Henry Paulson, is a tax on oil companies where 100% of it is returned to the taxpayers in the form of a dividend. Besides putting more disposable income into consumer’s pockets, which fuels the economy, it shift market signals and rewards innovation, new cleaner technologies and jobs that can’t be shipped overseas. The last holdout in America preventing us from acting rationally and profitably to a threat that will jeopardize our very survival, right now and worsen with each decade, is essentially two brothers, David and Charles Koch whose net worth is more than $80 billion. They are funding ads through their PAC, Americans for Prosperity, taking aim at Obamacare to win the U.S. Senate back and pack the U.S. House with their quasi-lobbyists to ensure that action on climate change does not go through. It’s the Koch brother’s prosperity they worry about not Americans, so I’ve started AmericansForKochBrothersProsperity as a satirical way to raise money to help me fight back. Climate change has begun and it will worsen with each year and decade ahead. Insuring against the greatest risk we face –our survival, just as we insure our homes, is the only rational course of action. I am working to bring more brave men and woman with me to congress by starting climatecandidates to recruit not only “climate candidates” but a whole “new climate in congress” – a climate of cooperation. All we lack now is the courage and political will. Women like Eileen and mothers throughout the district know in their guts that something is wrong. Climate change has begun. It will worsen with each year and decade. We can heed the science and act now. I am just one woman from Michigan. I am not wealthy. I am not powerful. I am concerned enough about our fate to put my fate on the line. I am everything the Koch brothers fear. I am a Democratic candidate for the 11th Congressional district of Michigan.” Skinner still resides in Birmingham, but the newly-drawn districts in 2010 have her living in the 11th district, roughly half of her previous 9th congressional district where she came within 4 points of a huge upset, and won numerous cities in the district. The Detroit Free Press called Skinner “Joe Knollenberg’s near-death experience.” Skinner graduated with a Business Degree from the University of Michigan, and majored in Finance. In addition to her years in radio and on national TV, where she argued vigorously for the auto bailouts at a time when national polls were against it, Skinner worked on renovating the Fox Theatre Building for the Ilitch family and on downtown renovation. She won a Presidential Award for her work rebuilding flooded Mid-Western towns as models of environmental sustainability. Skinner also started Nextwave Media Studios in Troy, a full service TV and media studio. The parent company Nextwave Inc. was a for-profit business incubator for start-up and second stage businesses. Skinner used her business skills to help develop business plans, access capital and develop media campaigns (traditional and new). Skinner has already been endorsed by the national group Blue America. Skinner’s full length statement can be seen at SkinnerforCongress. ### PAID FOR BY SKINNER FOR CONGRESS ’14 WWW.SKINNERFORCONGRESS.COM skinnerforcongress
Posted on: Fri, 28 Mar 2014 01:17:26 +0000
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