By PAUL LAVERACK
EL NUEVO SOL

Citizens organize a petition drive in the San Fernando Valley of northern Los Angeles on September 24, 2011, as part of the Sierra Club’s “Beyond Coal” campaign. Los Angeles currently gets around 40% of its electricity from two dirty coal-fired power plants in Arizona and Utah, and while the city already has a plan to move away from coal over time, the Sierra Club wants to accelerate the pace of change, so that LA is beyond coal by 2020.

Volunteers fan out across the working-class Latino neighborhoods of Arleta, Sylmar, Pacoima, and Panorama City to gather signatures and leave informational door-hangers at homes, to build support for this citywide shift toward more renewable energy and conservation strategies, which a UCLA study says will bring 18,000 clean-energy jobs to Los Angeles. The volunteers are asking local citizens to contact LA City Councilman Tony Cardenas, who is vice-chair of the Energy and Environment Committee, which has the power to force the Department of Water & Power to move toward more sustainable energy resources.

This “Beyond Coal” action is timed to coincide with Moving Planet, a massive global day of action for climate justice, organized by the environmental organization 350.org – there are over 2,000 events in more than 175 nations around the world.

See the short video below for more on this story.

Tags:  350.org activism activist arleta beyond coal California climate climate action climate change coal energy global warming green green energy green jobs Los Angeles moving planet Pacoima panorama city petition protest sierra club signature solar sylmar tony cardenas wind