With the Senate climate fight really kicking off this week with a round of hearings in the EPW Committee our Senators need to hear from us more than ever. That’s why I arranged a little meeting between Maryland Senator Cardin (who sits on the committee) and Maryland climate activist MA Sheehan. To remind the Senator what hard core climate activists many of his constituents are, MA gave him copies of some photos from our big October 24th climate march through the driving rain to the White House. She also handed over a few dozen handwritten letters from constituents, to add to the 1000 that we delivered to the Senator over the summer.

The mere fact that the Senator took the time to meet with (and pose for the lovely picture shown here) speaks volumes about the impact all the grassroots love we’ve showered upon him has had. An even better indicator is the statement Cardin made at the start of the EPW hearings on Monday. In it he talked about the plight of his constituents on Smith Island, the economic benefits of clean energy, and his excitement over the increased transportation funding and consumer protections “polluter pays” principles built into the Kerry Boxer bill. All of this