As much as I like being on the cover, there are at least half a dozen other people who deserve more recognition for the agreement than myself. That includes the Midwest Regional staff of the Sierra Club who did so much work on it, Becki Clayborn and Bruce Nilles, along with other leading volunteers like Diane Hughes and Verena Owen. CWLP deserves some credit as well. I don't think they would have done all of the things in the agreement without some prodding from the Sierra Club, but it was clear early on in the negotiations that CWLP's leaders had genuine concern for the environment.
I especially like that the article quoted what I said about clean energy being a wilderness issue. There's some debate within the environmental movement, and within the Sierra Club in particular, over whether too much focus is being put on clean energy issues as opposed to land preservation issues. Land preservation was the central (and almost the only) issue of focus in the environmental movement before 1960. As much as I appreciate what was done in the past, this is no longer a movement of wealthy outdoor enthusiasts whose main focus is protecting their recreational playgrounds.
A quick look at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park web page on air pollution makes it obvious that you can't protect wilderness areas without confronting pollution from coal power plants. Beyond the short-term effects to plant life and air quality, the problems related to climate change will have further detrimental effects on natural areas throughout the world.
The Times article does a great job of running down the problems associated with coal power plants. I also like the quotes from Robert Kennedy Jr. who is probably the most effective spokesperson for the environment that I've ever heard. He co-wrote Riverkeepers about his work in the organization of the same name and it articulated much of what I was thinking about the environmental movement at the time I read it.
The article also mentions CWLP's Smart Energy Forums to seek public input on where to direct their energy conservation efforts and related issues. Check out the schedule for the meetings here and be sure to attend one!