Labels: Green for all, green jobs, green jobs not jails, power shift, Power Shift 07, Van jones

Elizabeth Hightower of Outside Magazine highlights Power Shift and the growing movement of young activists raising their voices and voting power to combat climate change.

(Click image to enlarge)
Meanwhile it helps that Power Shifters are not easily cowed. "We're like dogs," model and organizer Summer Rayne Oakes told me she said after Pelosi's speech. "We can smell fear and have no patience for bullshit." Soon the wave poured over to the West Lawn of the Capitol where thousands more were assembling, a sea of yellow Power Shift tee-shirts bobbing under placards that said - 1SKY! 1FUTURE! 1CHANCE!

Labels: "Summer Rayne Oakes, Billy Parish, Outside Magazine, power shift, Power Shift 07, Powershift climate change, Van jones

Labels: Campus Climate Challenge, Energy Action, Power Shift 07, powershift07, Youth Activism

Labels: climatechallenge, green jobs not jails, Power Shift 07, powershift07, Van jones

Labels: capitol hill, climate change, climatechallenge, Energy Action, global warming, lobby day, power shift, Power Shift 07, PowerShift 2007

Labels: capitol hill, climatechallenge, Energy Action, lobby day, power shift, Power Shift 07, PowerShift 2007

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Elizabeth, who spoke on the Climate Legislation panel at Power Shift a few days ago, chuckled at the sound of worry in the woman’s voice. “And I’ll just add that every single person on The Hill knows you are coming.”

Damn straight they knew we were coming. Even Nancy Pelosi, who showed up to speak at Power Shift, was caught off guard.

Sure she is an ally, but it was clear that she was debriefed about the event 5-minutes before she got to the stage. She was nervous. She had 6,000 teens and twenty-somethings staring back at her and she knew that we were hungry for something real. That would make anyone shake in their shoes. I turned to my friend, Dan Roth, and barked like a dog. “We’re like dogs,” I joked with him. “We can smell fear.” He laughed. A girl in the front row turned around and shushed me, but pretty soon even she was screaming to the top of her lungs, “We want more! We want more. 80 by 2050, 80 by 2050!”

Yes Nancy, we weren’t looking for the same old plan-in-the-can speech because we know the “business as usual” will not inspire real solutions and will not be able to solve the climate crisis. We want change. And change is what we will get.

That was the essence of Power Shift 07. The “First” and “Biggest” in a long list of things”

• First-ever (inter)national youth summit to solve the climate crisis
• Biggest U.S. Climate Summit/Conference on Climate Change
• First time ever that youth have testified to the government on Global Warming
• Biggest lobby day on the Hill for Climate Change, and one of the largest lobby days ever

Perhaps that is why “historic” was on the tongue of every speaker, every panelist, and every attendee. It was a coordinated effort that took 8 months to plan and build, but a lifetime of passion, and a clear, unified vision for the future to pull off.

Fifty states, 300 Congressional districts, hundreds of colleges and high schools, 20+ countries, thousands of Step it Up efforts throughout the nation, and a 6,000-person crowd armed with green hard hats and one hard-hitting message: We will end the Climate Crisis. That was Power Shift 07, in case you were one of the people to have missed it. But don’t worry, you’ll get replays of it on blogs, news networks, newspapers, and everything in between. The four-day event kicked off at the University of Maryland with workshops, training sessions, musical acts, and keynotes. Today we found ourselves in the Official Hearing to the Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. It was jam-packed. Standing room only – which felt more like the energy at a Terrapin basketball game with 2 points to win it in the final seconds rather than a stuffy C-Spanesque committee meeting. I cried. Billy Parish, founder of Energy Action and Cheryl Lockwood, a high-schooler from the Alaska Youth for Environmental Action moved the wall-to-wall crowd to tears.

“I am 26 years old,” Parish said with strength and passion in his voice. “In four months I will be a father…I urge you to consider what we say, not as politicians, but as fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters. This is our future. This is our lives. As Evon Peter said yesterday, ‘The crisis that we are facing today is centuries old. We are not only in an economic and environmental crisis. This crisis is also a spiritual and cultural crisis that is occurring.’” Parish went on to say, “We will solve this, but we cannot do it without you. And if you do not join us, then find yourself another job. We are in the millions, and we are organizing. We put you in office and we will take you out of office. This is our lives at stake.”

So that is how it was. And I left the hearing early to go to lobby my representatives with a tear-stained face. When I got to Senator Casey’s office with 40 others to hear the Legislative assistant say, “Well, we are looking at “clean coal” technologies, because we know we can’t keep on having regular coal as the status quo.”

I gathered my energy and stood up. “I think I speak on behalf of everyone in this room, the 6,000 young people on the Hill today, and the millions of young people that we represent to say: All coal is the status quo…”

Remember, remember the Fifth of November.

Here begins our journey. Here begins the Power Shift.

Labels: climatechallenge, Energy Action, global warming, grassroots activism, lobby day, Power Shift 07, powershift07, Summer Rayne Oakes

Labels: Campus Climate Challenge, climatechallenge, Energy Action, lobby day, power shift, Power Shift 07, powershift07, Van jones

We have registered over 5,000 young voters to champion for clean renewable energy and green jobs on Capitol Hill. November 2-5. Join us! powershift07.org

image by: Christine Irvine

Labels: Campus Climate Challenge, Energy Action, lobby day, power shift, Power Shift 07, Power Shift 2007

This is my letter to Mayor Greg Nickels of Seattle. He became the 51st and current mayor on January 1, 2002. He recently launched Seattle Climate Action Now, a grassroots campaign encouraging everyone in the Seattle area to reduce global warming pollution at home, on the road and in their neighborhoods. He also spearheaded the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, an accord signed by over 600 US cities committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

I'll be writing and meeting with mayors from many cities throughout 2007-2008 in order to bridge climate change action happening on university and city-level.
Click on the letter to enlarge and feel free to adapt your own letter from it.

Labels: Climate Challenge, Energy Action, power shift, Power Shift 07, President's Climate Committment, Seattle

Labels: 1 Sky, 1 Sky Campaign, Energy Action, NY Times, power shift, Power Shift 07, Summer Rayne Oakes, Thomas Friedman

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Labels: climate change, Energy Action, Power Shift 07, Powershift, PowerShift 2007, Youth Activism

at home in Pennsylvania

One fallen leaf cannot replace the beauty of autumn.

My flight from Paris to NY had been canceled, which left me stranded in France. Drag, right? I got the chance to meet and have dinner with two great couples that I normally wouldn't have had otherwise, (we're planning to rendezvous back in NY some time soon); had a chance to catch up on some e-mails; composed some Power Shift 07 invite letters to Mayors of various cities, which I'll send out on Monday; and just got an opportunity to take a quick jaunt down the boulevard. It was actually the first sunny day since I've been here. What a difference a little sun makes! How grey paris is otherwise!

The street here is lined with tall stands of sycamore. There seems to be no autumn in the city - not like what we have in the Northeast. Even though, a littering of browned and brittle leaves huddle together on the sides of the walkways, as is to hide from the tromping feet of fellow passerbys.

I shuffled

Unconsciously through a trailing pile of leaves.

Crunch, whoosh, crunch.

It was the same sound my feet would make through the wooded trails behind my house on a cool October day. I can easily count it as one of my favorite sounds in the world. The sweet scent of soil mixed with red maple, sweet birch, and glistening inky caps would fill my lungs with each passing step. If I were lucky, I would find a big yellow sugar maple leaf to take home with me, and press it between the pages of my old Rodale herb book.

The extra day in Paris was worth it, if only for just that memory.

Labels: Paris, Power Shift 07, Powershift, youth climate change movement

Be Carbon Neutral™, in partnership with SustainUS, is now offering a special "Bali Edition" Wind Turbine Brooch as a gift to donors contributing $699 or more to send youth members to the Bali delegation.

Be Carbon Neutral™ features Al Gore and Summer Rayne Oakes donning select jewelry made by Anthony Aletto from reclaimed metal using carbon-free processes. Be Carbon Neutral™ will offset the donor's emissions for one month and an accompanying greening guide provides solutions to continue the green journey.

Labels: Be Carbon Neutral, Be Carbon Neutral jewelry campaign, climate change, climate change solutions, Donate Bali, eliminate carbon, global warming, Power Shift 07, Summer Rayne Oakes, sustainus

Julia Bonds, Goldman Prize winner, was born and raised in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia. She's a coal miner's daughter and the director of Coal River Mountain Watch. Over the past six years, Bonds has emerged as a formidable community leader against the horrible destruction of mountaintop removal mining.

In 2001, Bonds and her family became the last residents to evacuate from her own hometown of Marfork Hollow where six generations of her family had lived. Marfork had been virtually destroyed by mountaintop removal mining, which involves completely blasting off the tops of mountains so that huge machines can mine thin seams of coal.

Labels: coal, coal mining, Energy Action, Julia Bonds, mountaintop removal, Power Shift 07, Power Shift 2007, Powershift

Power Shift 2007 to Take Place November 2-5, 2007 in College Park, MD

Washington, D.C. On November 2, 2007, thousands of young people will converge on our nation's capital for Power Shift, the first-ever national youth summit to solve the climate crisis. The conference will engage high school and college students from all 50 states about solutions to global warming and how they can put those solutions into practice on their campuses, in their communities, and in the political arena.

At Power Shift, young leaders from all backgrounds will share ideas, learn new skills, make connections and ultimately use their collective experience to create a fresh, inspiring vision of the future, one focused on America's potential to build a clean energy economy, achieve energy independence, create millions of green jobs, increase global equity, and revitalize the economy.

Power Shift's agenda includes issue briefings from the nation's leading scientists and policy experts, training sessions on organizing, advocacy and media relations, an "opportunities fair" featuring some of the country's leading environmental employers, and built-in networking opportunities for attendees. Conference participants are also urged to attend a Lobby Day November 5 on Capitol Hill, aimed at urging elected representatives to embrace bold, meaningful, and comprehensive legislation to solve the climate crisis and put America back on the path to a clean and just energy future.

"Special interests have taken precedence over human interests for far too long," said Richard Scott, a student at the University of Maryland studying political science, public administration, and theater. "By joining together to share our ideas and passion we will be establishing a national voice for our generation. We need to raise this collective voice to reach our elected leaders and demand that they take global warming seriously." Along these lines, event organizers have invited 2008 presidential candidates and influential environmental advocates to address the conference.

"Our world is at a crossroads," added Craig Altimose, Power Shift Organizer. "The actions we take today as a society to address the challenge of climate change will determine the future of our generation and generations to come. The time has come for us to make a change."

About Energy Action
Energy Action Coalition is a group of over 40 leading youth environmental and social justice organizations working together to leverage their collective power and strengthen the clean energy movement in North America. In August 2006, Energy Action launched The Campus Climate Challenge, a joint campaign by 37 organizations from the U.S. and Canada focused on uniting students to pass 100% clean energy policies on their campuses. Since its inception, the Climate Challenge has spread to students on more than 500 high schools and college campuses.

For more information on Power Shift, including a full conference agenda, registration guideline, and how to be a campus recruiter for the conference, please visit powershift07.org.

Labels: Campus Climate Challenge, carbon neutrality, Energy Action, Power Shift 07, Power Shift 2007, Powershift, Youth Activism

We have over 1,300 young people signed up for Power Shift, the First National Summit to Solve the Climate Crisis run entirely for and by young people this NOVEMBER 2-5 in D.C.. Keep the people coming!

Labels: Campus Climate Challenge, Energy Activism, Power Shift 07, Powershift, Van jones, Youth Activism

Midwest group march. photo: Christine Irvine

photo: Christine Irvine

What it took to get off my ass.
I didn’t get truly involved in the youth climate change movement until the beginning of this year. It wasn’t as if I didn’t know it was out there. On the contrary, I knew Billy Parish early on – when Energy Action and the Campus Climate Challenge were just a glimmer in his eye. We had our own paths – I was working on environmental issues – but aside from my work in mine reclamation, it was in an entirely different capacity. Our work was linked, but not necessarily collaborative or even synchronous.

Part of my work shifted in February 2008. I had more opportunities to work on climate change issues – through new clients and a growing base of friends and colleagues feverish for the issues.

I didn’t find the movement. The movement found me.

I wasn’t aware how big and how connected this entire movement was until I called Richard at Energy Action in February. I was specifically looking for a contact in Australia to fill me in on what universities were doing down under in regards to climate change. President Levin from Yale University had just finished speaking at DAVOS on Yale’s climate change policies and was headed to Australia to get other universities to follow their lead. It occurred to me that I knew very little of what was going on in Australia.

In enters Anna Rose, 24: a vivacious young woman and founder of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition. Richard directed me to Energy Action’s Google excel sheet of Climate Change organizers and told me to reach out to her.

Perhaps a name and a contact on a virtual spreadsheet do not mean much in this day and age, but it was at that point that I suddenly felt connected to the movement at large. All of a sudden my work for Yale in the U.S. was being connected to the work on the ground in Australia. For some that may not seem so huge, but for me it was a revelation: A revelation that the next greatest movement was underfoot and I had just dipped my toe in the water.

I’ve never met Anna Rose. One e-mail and one phone call with her, however, brought me a step closer to the movement. All of a sudden I started to feel…ownership.

A sense of ownership…That’s the key to revolutionary movements: tapping the power of peer relationships, feeling a sense of responsibility – like you are “one of the team.” If you’ve ever played sports, you’ll know what I mean. Did you ever miss the last basket – or conversely hit the three-point shot in the last two seconds – to win the game? That sense of loss or gain, that sense of camaraderie you felt with the other team members – is because you have stake in something that you care about.

My sense of ownership in the youth climate movement may have waned quickly if it weren’t for another significant moment. (Just goes to show you that sometimes you need a few kicks in the pants to get your ass out of bed). That particular event was an e-mail from Billy Parish. I wish I had saved it. It was simple. It was straightforward. Someone reading over my shoulder may have found it to be insignificant. I found it to be monumental. It was in regards to Power Shift. He and the group just decided that they couldn’t wait until next year to do the conference. The time was now. The e-mail said something like this:

“What would you do if you had 5,000 youth at your fingertips?”

Damn that Billy Parish. (And I mean that in the most loving of terms).

This is the stuff dreams are made of. I met Billy in 2003. We both received Udall Scholarships that year and were flown along with seventy eight other scholars to Tucson, AZ for the awards ceremony. I remember him gathering about two or three dozen of us in the conference hall and telling us his desire to build a campus-wide climate change movement. I doubted him. I thought to myself: “Yeah, you say this now, but as the intoxication and energy from meeting everyone comes to an end and people go their separate ways, it’ll be a hard sell.” I was wrong.

The more I spoke with Billy, the more I realized he is a force of nature. I mean really, this kid dropped out of Yale because he was moved by this movement. He realized that this stuff isn’t going to wait for us to graduate.

Shit man, did you read the news today? The Northwest Passage is melted. Polar bears will be a dying species by 2050. Africa continues to get drier. Hurricanes continue to hit harder. It’s not a time to be lazy. It’s a time for action.

Energy Action and The Campus Climate Challenge, (whether you realize it or not), have emerged as a powerful force in this movement. Most of us in it don’t realize it yet. We don’t realize the capacity that we have – as individuals and as a revolutionary movement. I know my own energy and enthusiasm – transferred from Anna’s and Billy’s and others, has been passed on. I know I have given others a sense of empowerment, and in turn, other young leaders are emerging and their willpower and energy serve as fuel for other new leaders. It’s infectious. It’s contagious. It’s inevitable. That’s what keeps me waking up bright and early every day. That’s what makes me believe that this is what I was always meant to do. It’s the most powerful positive feedback loop I’ve ever seen and felt, except this one has the potential to spiral out to infinity.

I call Massimo (a good friend, climate change psychologist at CRED, and one of the members on Power Shift’s communication team) weekly and our energy and enthusiasm transfers so much back-and-forth over the phone that I’m afraid the both of us are going to hop out of our skins from excitement. You need people like this in your life because there are so many naysayers out there who tell you “No, No, No,” “I don’t know,” or “That’s probably not going to happen” all the time. It can wear you down. Frankly, I don’t even care if all of Massimo’s and my ideas get off the ground for Power Shift – but it’s the moment of dreaming up all the possibilities that are rejuvenating. All of them may not get done, but the few that will…are going to be spectacular.


This is the most important thing you will ever do in your life.
If you don’t believe that, then you don’t deserve to be in this movement.

I mean that.

I came to that conclusion over a Power Shift communications call a couple months ago. Someone (I don’t remember who) made the statement that we shouldn’t hold the march on Monday because students would have to go back to school. She wasn’t just speaking for herself, she was speaking for what was on the mind of other students like her. I can’t be angry at a statement like that, because I felt that way at some point in time too. But at that moment, however, I had a raging fit of passion that has not subsided because I have come to the conclusion that this is the most important thing that we will ever do in our lifetime. If you do not think that this is more important than an 8AM biology class, then what on God’s not-so-green earth are you doing? We have got to believe that this is significant because if we don’t, then who else will? How will we inspire others if we cannot lead by example? How will we get people to take ownership if we don’t show them that they can be a part of the solution?

I’ve spent quite a bit of time over the last eight months connecting with people, seeing more colleges sign up to the President’s Climate Commitment, watching the Power Shift story shapeshift with each contribution. The youth climate movement is roiling, boiling magma coursing deep underneath the technological crust of wikis, google docs, e-mail strings, and social networks. We are all little volcanoes – blogging, organizing, speaking, writing, lobbying – from Australia to North America, China to Europe – connected by this magmatic movement.

This is in real time. The movement is alive. It breathes. It’s a story and an action coursing through all of us, waiting to be unleashed. Think about all that untapped energy that lies in each of us still waiting to be opened like Pandora’s Box. My question to you: When will you wake up and realize that we are what fuels the change?

Power Shift is our opportunity to unleash what lays dormant inside of us. We are the movement. We are the people we have been waiting for. This is what we were meant to do.

November 2-5, 2007 – Maryland University, College Park; I’ll see you there.

Labels: climate change, global warming, Power Shift 07, youth climate change, youth climate change movement