Our Mission: To spread awareness about how our elected leaders, in particular our Georgia Public Service Commissioners, are failing to respond to the climate emergency, and to encourage thousands of Georgia citizens to rise up and reach out to them demanding climate action.
It’s Up to Our Elected Georgia Leaders to Require Them to Take Action. Georgia Power is a regulated monopoly, and our 5 Georgia Public Service Commissioners already have the power and the authority to require the company to generate our electricity from clean and renewable sources. Our legislators can also pass laws to require Georgia Power and other electric utilities to transition away from fossil fuels. But our elected leaders are failing us, too.
It’s Climate Crunch Time and Georgia Power is Failing Us. The message from the worldwide scientific community is clear. We must rapidly transition away from burning fossil fuels to generate electricity and toward clean and renewable energy in order to avoid increasingly catastrophic climate impacts. Sadly, Georgia Power, the monopoly electricity provider for much of the state, is doing the opposite: increasing its reliance on fossil fuels and only slowly adopting clean energy.
We Can Create Momentum for Action! Our elected leaders are likely to take action if they knew two things:
1. Cleaning up the electric grid is a critical first step to prevent true climate catastrophe that will impact all future generations.
2. Georgia citizens will only vote for climate champions.
By raising our voices, we can compel action. Dedicated climate activists and scientists have provided us with the information and pathways to act quickly - in as little as 5 minutes!
Take 5 to Reach 5!
The goal: Send in thousands of public comments!
By far, the most important responsibility of Georgia's Public Service Commissioners is regulating Georgia Power, the monopoly electricity provider for most of the state. Our 5 Commissioners have broad authority to set electricity rates and fees and determine energy sourcing. Unfortunately, our current Commissioners have a history of rubber-stamping nearly all of Georgia Power's requests. They have allowed the company to generate huge profits while our electricity bills have risen dramatically, and they have permitted Georgia Power to continue making massive investments in expensive, polluting fossil fuels that harm our health and contribute to climate change—all while slow-walking the transition to clean energy. This is particularly troubling because solar and wind with battery storage are now the cheapest ways to generate electricity in most markets, with prices continuing to drop.
Can we really make an impact? Yes! Public comments are incredibly important. To justify their actions, a Commissioner recently said this about Georgians: "They are not concerned whether its generated with coal or gas. There are pockets of concerns, and we hear those, but they're just small pockets."
We must show them that they are wrong! Georgians don't want our electricity to be generated in a way that will cost us more money, pollute our air and water, and lead to devastating climate impacts. We want to do the right thing for ourselves and all future generations. The Commissioners will vote on Georgia Power's massive, data center driven fossil fuel expansion request on December 19th. This is a 10 GW (our current grid is 20 GW (?) request and according to x will cost around x billion. It is critical that thousands of us reach out to them, objecting to the plan.
All public comments will be officially included in the docket and will be accessible to media and others who can report on the growing numbers expressing their support for clean energy. The mass of voices is key - thousands of public comments would get local, and possibly national media attention, increasing the pressure on Commissioners to vote for clean energy solutions!
Clean energy advocates have made it easy to take just 5 minutes or less to raise your voice in support of clean energy! Click on the button below to make your comment now!
The Commissioners need to know that LOTS OF PEOPLE CARE ABOUT THE CLIMATE AND CLEAN ENERGY
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Our Current Georgia Public Service Commissioners
JASON SHAW - CHAIRMAN
TIM ECHOLS -VICE CHAIR
TRICIA PRIDEMORE
FITZ JOHNSON
LAUREN "BUBBA" MCDONALD
Electricity Generation, Climate Change, and You
In September 2024, the RiseUpForCleanEnergy team was thrilled to receive an Atlanta Youth Climate Action Microgrant! The grant was awarded to us by the Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Sustainability and Resilience, partnering with 21st Century Leaders, and it was funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies. This grant helped us bring two exciting projects to life: this website and a video exploring the connection between electricity generation and climate change.
Creating these projects has been an incredible journey—challenging, rewarding, and a lot of fun! Students from high schools, colleges, and universities across Georgia joined forces to make it happen, united in the desire to convince our leaders to take critical climate action.
We hope that the video and website fire you up to join the fight for clean energy in Georgia. When we show up in large numbers, we can push our leaders to take real action on the climate crisis. We can make a difference together—so let’s Rise Up! 🌍✨
Many thanks to the following for making this video and website possible:
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