CAMBRIDGE – Bill McKibben, dubbed “perhaps the nation’s leading environmentalist” by the Boston Globe, formally endorsed Democratic Senate Candidate Bob Massie and headline a fundraiser in Cambridge Thursday night.

The renowned author, journalist, and environmentalist is known as one of the world’s most visionary thinkers on the environment and global climate change.

“In climate change, the United States faces a problem of historic and global magnitude, which so far, the U.S. Senate has failed to address,” McKibben said, “Bob Massie offers a depth of leadership and commitment to solving this crisis unmatched not only in this race, but anywhere in the country.

. More here.

Bob at the Mass Democratic Convention this afternoon (sorry for my poor shooting, but the audio will give you the gist of it):

Here’s the complete speech, in better quality:

My (short) video here:

People’s Rally for Clean Air  Boston MA 5 20 2011 from michael horan on Vimeo.

No reason to reinvent the wheel when Josh Lynch has already provided a good summary:

Today I got to stand next to more than 50 Massachusetts mothers, children, workers, community leaders, and people of faith to kick off something truly unique – a “crowd-funded” citizen’s campaign to hold Senator Scott Brown accountable for voting to gut the Clean Air Act. At 12:00pm on the sidewalk in front of the JFK Federal Building in Boston, also known as Scott Brown’s district office, we held banners and puppets of Scott Brown and his fat cat supporters “Coal” and “Oil, signs, and a blow-up of the new ad our friends and neighbors funded.

The text of the ad read: “Senator Brown: On April 6th you voted to gut the Clean Air Act. Was it because dirty energy companies and their corporate front groups poured more than $1.9 million into your campaign last year? Are you working for people or Big Polluters?” Interested in joining us in funding the ad? Check it out here.

Right after the rally Marla took our message up the JFK elevators to Senator Brown’s office, delivering word of the rally along with 103 postcards and 240 letters from members of the Massachusetts Council of Churches and Mass Interfaith Power and Light. The messages called on Senator Brown to support the EPA’s ability to regulate carbon dioxide next time a vote comes up on the Clean Air Act and ensure low income people have access to weatherization and green jobs.

At 6:30pm tonight at a podium inside the Newton Marriott Hotel Scott Brown will host a “Women for Brown” fundraiser (with a $1000 minimum) alongside the brand new Women For Brown coalition, a group created to respond to the League of Women Voters’ ads calling Scott Brown out for his April 6th vote to gut the Clean Air Act. We know what Scott Brown is going to say at that podium tonight: “Today in front of my office the political attack machine was at it again, playing politics as usual with the public.” He’ll talk about the “special interest groups” who are attacking him for trying to defend jobs. Yes, he will raise some money tonight. But the more Scott Brown digs in his heels, the more votes he will lose.

Today’s rally was no “political attack machine,” as Brown calls people who criticize him. Today’s rally was everyday-Massachusetts – a state where you don’t get to draw a line between jobs and the environment, the economy and climate change. People here across the political spectrum and in all corners of the state understand the threat of climate change and know that the jobs of tomorrow and today are in clean energy.

Pleased to see Bill Kibben (new activity previously noted here) and 350.org going beyond the one-off media stunts and rallies and getting real. Brown’s a terrific initial target for efforts like these.

Can 350 build the kind of poitical and fundraising muscle move.on did?