Activist Ardor Fuels Green Groups’ Renewed Push on Climate

Environmental organizations are strengthening their political operations and marshaling grass-roots activism in mounting a new campaign for action on climate change, according to The New York Times.

Dozens of green groups led by national players such as the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council have coalesced behind a strategy that includes millions of dollars in campaign advertising, bombarding the Environmental Protection Agency with comments on proposed regulations, and on-the-ground protests.

The Climate Action Coalition, a coordinating body of environmental organizations that is organizing the effort, retooled in 2010 following the failure of comprehensive climate legislation and Republican gains in that year’s midterm elections.

“The national environmental groups said, ‘We need to do more in-your-face activism,’” said League of Conservation Voters President Gene Karpinski. “You can’t just lobby members of Congress with a poll that says people support you.”