I’m not much of a gambler myself, but I would never have bet that Congress would roll the dice and gamble against Mother Nature to open up the nation’s coastlines to offshore drilling. Last night you and I were dealt a bad hand by the House of Representatives, and Big Oil walked away as the big winner – again.

On the heels of two major hurricanes in the Gulf, the oil spills and gas price spikes we’ve already seen in recent weeks, this vote basically places a bet on the big oil companies at a time when we should be placing all our chips on energy efficiency and clean renewable energy sources.

But the game isn’t over yet. The next round of this high stakes game of political poker comes next week when the Senate votes on offshore drilling. We still have time to change our luck.

TAKE ACTION! Tell your Senators NOT
to play with our national coastlines
or our global climate.

It’s time to stop giving big oil companies tax breaks they don’t need and handing over irreplaceable national assets for their corporate profits.

Congress should focus instead on passing legislation that cuts tax breaks for Big Oil and returns that money to taxpayers to help offset rising fuel costs; doubles the average fuel efficiency of existing cars to at least 50 miles per gallon; invests in public transportation; and provides incentives for renewable energy so we can move toward a clean energy future.

Global warming isn’t just a risk, it’s a certainty, and we have to reshuffle the deck now if we want to avoid big losses from sea level rise, stronger hurricanes, and intense droughts in the near future. We have to quit our addiction to oil and invest in energy efficiency and renewable energy now.

Renewable energy, efficiency and cleaner transportation choices are a win-win for all of us. Changes like these will bring clean energy production into the US, create lasting new jobs, and help stabilize our economy.

(editors note, this post prepared by Greenpeace activist Kate Smolski)