Students assemble at the D.C. Convention Center to learn and lobby for green jobs and clean energy. Photo: Flickr

Two girls walk past me with plaid scarves wrapped around their necks discussing whether they should go for the greening your school or the organizing on campus seminar; a young man with a dapper step jams to his iPod with a “Green the Ghetto” shirt; another young man with long blond hair whisks past me taking two steps at a time, clearly focused on making the next panel; volunteers in green-and-white shirts speak into their headpieces to make sure rooms aren’t double booked, volunteers are on hand and everything is going smoothly. Crowds of young students buzz and huddle outside the conference rooms of the D.C. Convention Center; a whole line of students throw open the glass doors and pour in, a rush of cold February air blows past…

This is PowerShift09.

PowerShift09 - the largest training and lobby day for climate change solutions in the history of the United States. It’s amazing to say that. I mean, the “largest,” “biggest,” “brightest,” “most-effective” of anything is totally awesome, but it is of special significance when you can say that is was created for young people, by young people. Young people with clear passion and vision who are seeking outlets to create change. 

These were the same words I reiterated at UCF this past October. As I was registering yesterday I wondered if I’d see anyone from UCF here. Much to my pleasure, I ran into Jason and Jeff, two UCFers that made their way up here with 43 others to rabble rouse and partake in the PowerShift09 festivities. Word. 

It’s crazy to imagine that just in November 2007, we had 5,500 young people here…and now a year and a half later, we’ve assembled together once again - 12,000 of us (I’m just ONE of 12,000 young people!!!) -  with a new-found enthusiasm - and a presence that was not felt back in November. What is it? What is different? I spoke with Nikki from Green for All yesterday because I couldn’t put my finger on it. We concluded that people are refocused, they have a clearer vision. But most of all, they are proud to be here. They are not afraid to say what they think, what they feel. They are not afraid to be judged by their backgrounds, their race, their gender, their affiliation because we are all in this together…There is this - confidence that we do not have to hide behind our struggles, our accomplishments and our vision any longer. Because of this, a cloud has lifted - and the line between politics and passion has blurred a bit…and it all of a sudden seems so human, so real…

This is PowerShift09. This is our power shift.

Posted in Power Shift 2009

Corporations, some politicians and even environmental orgs  have been calling natural gas a solution to climate change. Lets talk about that.

Although natural gas burns a bit cleaner on-site. That is not the whole story.

There are currently dozens of proposals for Liquefied Natural Gas importation terminals in the US, along with proposed natural gas power plants and thousands of miles of pipelines proposed from coast-to-coast.  This introduction of a new generation of fossil fuels directly competes with the energy future we need to be building.

Putting tons of money, energy and political leverage into building new fossil fuel infrastructure directly competes with the renewable energy movement.

Here is a short introduction to LNG:

1. Natural Gas is a fossil fuel.

2. LNG is almost as dirty as coal. While natural gas burns 40% cleaner than other fossil fuels, that is not the whole story. Currently there are over 40 proposals in the U.S. for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) importation terminals. The process of liquefaction, transportation and re-gasification of natural gas into LNG, increases the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions of the fuel by around 30%, making natural gas almost as dirty as coal.

3. There are unaccounted for greenhouse gas emissions. While California has set a policy standard based on the cleanliness of natural gas plants, California would be getting the natural gas to power 14 new proposed natural gas power plants from LNG imported from Russia or Indonesia and piped down through Oregon farms and forests. The emissions would only be accounted for at the natural gas plant. All of the greenhouse gas emissions from the lifecycle of the fuel would not be counted.

4. LNG brings the same problems as oil. Outside of the greenhouse gas emissions, the impact of natural gas hits international communities as well as local areas with intense environmental destruction and social injustice. Natural gas comes from the same geo-political locations as oil, it is often in the same ground cavities. This is not progress.

5. LNG competes with renewables. Far from being the bridge fuel to sustainability that the industry claims, natural gas development and LNG would just lock us into 40+ more years of dependence on foreign fossil fuels. That money and infrastructural overhaul could be used for the development of renewable sources, investment in efficiency and the development of local green jobs.

6. Local communities don’t want LNG. Communities all over the country have fought the development of LNG infrastructure because of the environmental, economic and safety concerns. LNG Companies have targeted areas, then after being pushed out, continue to simply move up the coast line in search of less politically powerful communities to house the large importation terminals. After LNG developers were driven out of California by opposition, the companies simply packed up and moved to Oregon, where they are now up against organized communities and state politicians that oppose the plans.

If  you are at Power Shift 09, please join us for discussion about natural gas.

Natural Gas: Sunday 11:15AM RM: 204B.

Also, please check out these resources:

www.lngpollutes.org

http://www.energyjustice.net/naturalgas/

Posted in global warming

I’m here at Power Shift ‘09 with 11,000 of my closest friends, and we’re trying to pass bold national climate legislation.  We know that one lobby meeting on Monday, while amazing, isn’t going to be enough to get what we need.

That’s why Power Shift is asking everyone to pledge to hold an in-district lobby meeting with their senator or representative during congressional recess, April 6th -19th.  We have over members of congress taken already, and we have a ton of time left!

If you’re at Power Shift, come over to the table and make sure your rep is up on the map.  If you’re at home, (sorry you couldn’t make it!) start thinking about how to bring Power Shift to your district.

We’re everywhere.  Increaste the pressure until we win!

Posted in global warming

I’ll admit I get a little sentimental sometimes, but damned if I wasn’t awestruck by all of the amazing people I met and re-met yesterday while here in DC for Power Shift. From Rainforest Action Network founder Randy Hayes to Indian Youth Climate Action Network super-star Caroline Howe, and numerous leaders and leaders-to-be in from the campus clean energy movement like Lindsey Berger from Missouri State and Markese Bryant at Morehouse College, I got to shake the hands of so many changemakers I just about wanted to cry on my metro ride home.

That doesn’t even get into the speakers Majora Carter of Sustainable South Bronx was there, and Van Jones of Green For All was amazing as always, brining home the message that the clean energy revolution doesn’t mean much if we don’t deal with all our other social ills, and that we can have clean coal as soon as we have unicorns pulling our cars. (I heard a few young women say they kind of liked the unicorn idea..) Gillian Caldwell of 1Sky brought her two biggest inspirations for climate activism on state - her six year old daughter and four year old son. (I’m a sap, I definitely cracked a tear for this one and thought about my daughter who turns three next week.)

Two Obama administration officials spoke to 10,000 young people and said unequivocally that our generation elected this president. That’s right, this is our administration. EPA administrator Lisa Jackson told us that “science is back” at the EPA and that the “EPA is back on the job” after eight years of Bush. Ken Salazar, secretary of the interior, promised the department would no longer be the department of fossil fuel extraction. Billy Parish reminded us that the number one challenge in passing strong legislation this year is making the economic case, which is strong - clean energy investment creates three times the jobs dollar for dollar that dirty energy does.

And in case there was any doubt, former mayor of Salt Lake City Rocky Anderson came right out and said it - every politician that isn’t doing everything they can to transition us off of coal is the enemy, and mustn’t ever be re-elected again. I took away a lot of inspiration last night, and the first full of the conference is just beginning.

I think we just might shift the power this year.

Posted in global warming

Avec environ 11,000 étudiant(es) et jeunes à Powershift 2009, un centaine des étudiants canadiens au conférence se demandent “Où est notre PowerShift?”

L’énergie ici à Washington c’est inspirant. C’est le premier fois que ce nombre des jeunes se sont mobilisé pour cet enjeu - l’enjeu qui est évidemment l’enjeu principale de notre génération. Au cours du conférence, les 11,000 étudiants participent à plusieurs ateliers et tables rondes au sujet des questions sociaux, économiques et écologiques qui font partie du plus grande question du changement climatique.  

Pendant notre discours régionale, plusieurs Canadien(nes) se sont remarqués que cette mobilisation en masse n’existe pas au même niveau au Canada. Pourquoi est-ce que on n’a pas un mouvement national visible et habilitée au Canada? Est-ce que la faute des grands distances qu’existent entre nos régions? Où peut-être les politiques de la régionalisme? Néanmoins, ceci est un enjeu qui concerne tout le monde et on doit se mobiliser. 

Les canadiens aux capitale américaine vont se réunir demain pour discuter ces possibilités.

Peut-être on aura un PowerShift Canada dans l’avenir?

Posted in Canada, global warming