The Power of Collective Action

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Sweeping changes, like those needed now to address the climate emergency, have never been brought about by just a few individuals. While we need inspirational leaders who devote their energy to understanding issues and solutions, and who can deliver fiery speeches that engage others, the actions of even a large group of leaders is not enough to enact major systemic changes. History has shown that major changes can happen quickly, but only when massive numbers of people raise their voices together. It is the combined impact of inspiring leaders doing a lot, and many others doing just a little, that leads to change. This demonstrates to business and elected leaders that an issue is critically important to their customers or constituents. For elected leaders specifically, it shows that people who took the time to organize and express themselves will also take the time to vote them out of office if they don't respond.​​

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The First Earth Day and Its Major Successes

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The first Earth Day took place on April 22nd, 1970, marking a massive outpouring of support for environmental action. Twenty million Americans—10% of the total U.S. population at the time—took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums to demonstrate against the impacts of 150 years of industrial development, which had left a growing legacy of serious human health impacts. Their efforts were effective! During the next decade, substantial U.S. environmental legislation was passed, including the Endangered Species Act, Marine Mammal Protection Act, Superfund, Toxic Substances Control Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act. The Environmental Protection Agency was created, DDT was banned, as was lead in gasoline.

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The Plan for Earth Day 2025

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The theme for Earth Day 2025 is "Our Power, Our Planet," recognizing how crucial it is to move toward clean renewable energy and away from generating electricity by burning fossil fuels. An expected 192 countries and over 1 billion people around the globe will participate in events and activism on April 22nd. We encourage you to be one of those people! For inspiration ,visit earth.org, the official organizing website.

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Many Voices Needed NOW to Join the Fight for Clean Energy in Georgia

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We can't wait until April 22nd to take action. It is imperative that Georgia citizens raise their voices now in support of clean energy. On January 31, Georgia Power filed its 2025 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) with the Georgia Public Service Commission. Georgia Power, the monopoly electricity provider for most of Georgia, is going back on its promise to retire most of its coal power plants by 2028. They are now requesting permission to continue burning coal—the least economical, worst for our health, most destructive for our climate way of generating electricity—through at least 2035. This is a devastating move for Georgia's people, economy, and the fight to prevent further global warming.

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Our five elected Georgia Public Service Commissioners have the power and authority to reject Georgia Power's plan and instead require the company to invest heavily in clean renewable energy and energy efficiency programs. Beginning in March, the Commissioners will hold public hearings to hear from Georgia Power and interested parties that object to their plan. Environmental, business, and government leaders are organizing now to intervene during these hearings and propose clean energy alternatives. They have done the research and will provide experts who will testify that clean energy is demonstrably better for our health, economy, and future. However, they won't succeed in convincing Commissioners to deny Georgia Power's fossil fuel requests unless many Georgians speak up. We learned this during the surprise off-cycle IRP hearings held in 2024. Despite strong opposition from environmental organizations (Sierra Club, Georgia Interfaith Power and Light, Georgia Conservation Voters, Georgia Wand), the Clean Energy Buyers Association (representing over 100 companies doing business in Georgia), the Georgia Coalition of Local Governments (representing residents of Atlanta, Savannah, Decatur, and Athens-Clarke and DeKalb Counties), and the Department of Defense and All Federal Executive Agencies, our five Georgia Public Service Commissioners voted to approve Georgia Power's massive fossil fuel expansion request.

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This outcome was disheartening but illustrative of the need for individual voices. There simply weren't enough Georgia citizens who reached out to the Commissioners to demand action. While approximately 75 people, including many students and physicians, attended the hearings to make verbal public comments directly to the Commissioners, and almost 250 Georgia citizens submitted written public comments through the Commission website, it wasn't enough to convince our Commissioners to pay attention to the climate science and take action. 

 

When interviewed for a February 2025 newspaper article, Commissioner McDonald actually said: "The average consumer out there wants to be able to turn the light on when they ask for it, and to be able to pay the bill. That's what they want. They are not concerned whether its generated with coal-fired gas. There are pockets of concerns, and we hear those, but they're just small pockets."

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We can prove him wrong. Our main goal is for thousands of people across Georgia to submit written public comments supporting clean energy during the 2025 IRP cycle. This level of engagement will attract state, and possibly national, media attention. This attention is critical because one of the main reasons people don't reach out to our Commissioners is that almost no one knows they exist, let alone that these five people will chart our state's energy future. And, by operating in such obscurity, Commissioners are not being held accountable for their decisions and actions. If you haven't done so already, please take 5 minutes now to submit your public comment. 

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And please also sign up for action alerts so that we can let you know when it is a key moment to sign a petition ore Finally, we can't forget about the Georgia Assembly. Our state senators and representatives can pass legislation that will set clean energy targets, limit fossil fuel interests' ability to use their influence and money to direct legislation that only benefits them while harming everyone else, and give the Georgia Public Service Commission more direction to take necessary action. Action alerts will be sent asking you to take just a minute or two to sign petitions supporting these efforts.

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Let's be part of making history. Let's rise up together and create change. Let's do this!!