Rep. Blumenauer Joins Nike, Starbucks and Clean Energy Companies at Launch of Nationwide 'Race' for American Jobs and Competitiveness

BEAVERTON, Ore. Feb. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Executives from Northwest clean energy and consumer companies will unite with labor leaders at Nike's headquarters on February 16 to advocate national climate and energy policies to create new jobs, restore America's competitiveness and provide for our economic and national security.

The interactive panel discussion will be followed by a 20-minute tour of Nike's state-of-the-art green building, the C. Vivian Stringer Center, which embodies many of the carbon-cutting features on Nike's energy efficient campus.

Speakers at the event, which will also be Web cast live, include:

• Sarah Severn, Director of Stakeholder Mobilization for NIKE, Inc.
• Jim Hanna, Director, Environmental Impact, Starbucks Coffee Company
• Mark Edlen, Managing Principal, Gerding Edlen
• Chandra Brown, President, United Streetcar
• Joe Esmonde, Renewable Energy Liaison, IBEW Local 48
• Garett Brennan, Executive Director, Focus the Nation
• Congressman Earl Blumenauer

The event will kickoff We Can Lead's Race for American Jobs, a campaign focused on the urgency of passing national climate and energy legislation. The virtual Race will continue to Colorado, Ohio and New Hampshire, gathering business leader endorsements along the way, before sprinting to the finish line in Washington, D.C. for meetings with U.S. Senators and the Obama Administration on March 10. 

VISUALS:  Event visuals include Nike campus tour, colorful race banner, race baton designed to collect hundreds of signatures from clean energy business leaders and to be passed from event to event.

WEB CAST/FOR JOURNALISTS OUTSIDE OF OREGON:

If you are unable to attend the event in person, the panel discussion will be available via Web cast at http://www.wecanlead.org/race/

About We Can Lead

We Can Lead is sponsored by Ceres' Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy (BICEP), which includes NIKE, Inc., Starbucks and a dozen other major consumer brands, and the Clean Economy Network, Inc. For more on We Can Lead, visit www.wecanlead.org. 

About Ceres/BICEP

Ceres is the largest coalition of investors, environmental and public interest organizations in North America. Ceres launched and coordinates the BICEP coalition, whose members include Levi Strauss & Co., NIKE, Inc., Starbucks, Sun Microsystems, The Timberland Company, Aspen Skiing Company, Clif Bar & Company, eBay, Gap Inc., Jones Lang LaSalle, The North Face, Seventh Generation, Ben and Jerry's, Eileen Fisher, Stonyfield Farm Inc., and Symantec. For more information on BICEP, visit http://www.ceres.org/bicep

About the Clean Economy Network

The Clean Economy Network, Inc. (CEN) is the national non-partisan advocacy organization for individuals who support the development of a clean economy. It develops public positions on, and actively engages with policymakers and elected officials to lobby for specific legislative proposals critical to the development and growth of a new clean economy.

SOURCE We Can Lead