Got this email today from Pete Griffin of the Energy Action Coalition. Please join the Define Our Decade Campaign - I've participated in two conference calls recently with youth leaders around the country, and this is going to be a BIG year! Don't miss it!
In 2010, through a set of strategically coordinated local actions, we will Define Our Decade with a unified vision for the clean and just energy future we will collectively create.
For two weeks in March (15th-28th), campuses and communities across the country will take part in the Define Our Decade Weeks of Action.
Communities like yours will host events that are most relevant to your work, whether it be a community forum, a demonstration outside a dirty energy facility, a service project, or an event with your elected officials. All of the events will have one unifying element: voting on our clean energy vision for the next 10 years. We will define clean energy on our own terms, engage thousands of new people, and grow our movement in the process.
Go here to see if a March 2010 event is already planned for your community; if not, then sign up to host a Define Our Decade event in your community!
This spring, you'll be able to sign up to participate in a series of 10 summer programs across the country, where we'll fight dirty energy and build the green economy.
At the end of the summer, we'll come together to celebrate our hard work at a smokin' hot party that will kick off an aggressive voter engagement initiative in the fall. We'll prove that young voters will show up to the polls during mid-term elections because important issues are at stake.
We need you to help us by signing up to participate in, or organize an event in March.
In Solidarity, Pete Griffin Campaign Director Energy Action Coalition
OK, this isn't exactly related to the above message, but I stumbled upon this video while looking for something else, and wanted to share - Danny Marx, from the Energy Action Coalition, explains how he uses more Google products than we can name to accomplish EAC's mission.
I received this email today from the Energy Action Coalition. In addition to the actions that Pete encourages you to take, please sign this petition.
Nicole,
Did you hear that Facebook just announced that they will be powering their data centers with dirty coal?
Facebook is building its own gigantic data center in Oregon. For the first time Facebook will have its own facility but unlike Google or Microsoft, which both built data centers in the same area running off hydroelectric power, Facebook’s facility will be powered by dirty coal sourced from an Idaho power plant.
Join this group to tell Facebook to run on renewable energy instead!
Facebook has become one of the essential tools that our generation uses to stay connected with friends, share memories, and take political action. Despite our generation's calls for a clean energy revolution, all of those pictures of you tabling, organizing events, and gathering petitions will sit on a server powered by coal.
Please also consider changing your profile picture to the image to the left (download it here). Facebook must get the message that the generation that uses its services the most feels that clean energy is critical to guarantee a safe and just future!
Cheers,
Pete Griffin Campaign Director Energy Action Coalition
P.S. Have Twitter? Please RT this tweet from one of our young organizers: RT @energyaction #Facebook wants to run on dirty, toxic coal instead of clean energy? Hell NO! http://bit.ly/cCMnnD Pls RT! #NoCoalFB
I just received the below email message from Pete Griffin, Campaign Director of the Energy Action Coalition.
The Energy Action Coalition is a youth-led coalition of 50 organizations working together to fight for a clean, just and renewable energy future.
The White House responded to 2-out-of-3 of the Energy Action Coalition's "It's Game Time!" requests last fall, when we asked him to meet with youth leaders, to address the country on climate and energy, and to attend Copenhagen in person. The President's top climate and energy advisers organized the first-ever Youth Clean Energy Forum in December, and while Copenhagen did not result in a fair and binding agreement, President Obama did directly engage on the issue. We know they are listening to us, so let's get loud.
Next week President Obama will outline his 2010 strategic plan for our country in his State of the Union address to Congress, which the whole world will be watching. As his advisers decide over the next few days what issues will be prioritized in Wednesday's crucial speech, it's essential to let the White House know that we expect him to tell us exactly how our government will work toward solving the climate and energy crisis.
Sign the petition to tell President Obama "It's Game Time!" and that he needs to address the nation on climate and energy during the State of the Union.
As the new administration got to work last year, we waited patiently for our economy to stabilize, for a new strategy in Afghanistan and for an important health care debate to take place.
Now after Tuesday's vote in Massachusetts, the balance in Congress has changed, and may alter again after the critical midterm election in November. Likewise, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday that corporations - like the dirty energy companies! - can donate huge sums of money without regulation to political campaigns. This will have an impact on not just the possibility for progress on climate and energy, but the country's broader agenda.
It's time for leadership on the issue that underscores everything. We need a clean environment in an energy independent world now, so that we can end violence and begin reinvesting resources in other important areas.
Let President Obama know that it's time to get specific and deliver on our last remaining request. Sign the "It's Game Time!" petition and tell him we want to hear his plan.
This event Global Youth Powers Up took place @ the Fresh Air Center on December 10th, Young Future Leaders Day.
The Fresh Air Center is a rapid response digital media hub in downtown Copenhagen where global bloggers and NGO online campaigners connect, coordinate and collaborate on strategic narratives. I get a lot of my news from fellow bloggers who are working there.
Global Youth Powers Up speakers: * Jessy Tolkan, Executive Director, Energy Action Coalition.
* Deepa Gupta, Executive Director, Indian Youth Climate Network.
* Anna Rose, Founder and Executive Director, Australian Youth Climate Coalition.
Here's a video recording of the event. The audio level varies for a minute or two in the beginning but is quickly resolved:
Here's another event that happened earlier that same morning, according to 1Sky's Gillian Caldwell:
I was greeted on my 8 am arrival at the Bella Conference Center by dozens of youth in orange T-shirts. The front said “How old will you be in 2050?” and the back said “[don’t bracket our future]”, (a reference to key and controversial language in negotiations which is often bracketed).
This post will mostly likely receive lots of updates over the next few days as I stumble upon more information, but here's some info about young climate activists who are traveling to Copenhagen for COP15.
April Hillman, a sophomore at the University of Vermont is heading to Copenhagen along with some other UVM students and professors. They are going with a delegation of 25 young Americans organized by SustainUS. SustainUS is a nonprofit organization of young people advancing sustainable development and youth empowerment in the USA.
photo: Some of the SustainUS delegates @ training camp in DC Aug 24th
SustainUS was on a Washington, DC radio station this morning for a program about youth and Copenhagen. You can listen to the archived program here.
When asked why it was important for her and the other SustainUS delegates to go to COP15, Jessica said "because they need to see the faces of the young people who will be living with the consequences for the rest of our lives."
For more interesting information about what the students will be doing at COP15, and their other sponsors (elected officials, universities, companies), see this article from the University of Vermont.
To learn more about the other SustainUS delegates go here. They are so awesome!!!
You can follow these delegates on Twitter - stumbled upon this yesterday: @SealTheDeal2012: Want to follow US student climate tweets from Copenhagen? This list includes 18 US #cop15 youth.
The Daily Iowan reports that Holly Jones, a senior from the University of Iowa, has been chosen to go to Denmark along with one youth delegate from each Midwestern state as a part of a program called "Expedition Copenhagen", sponsored by the Will Steger Foundation. As part of the application process, students were required to submit program proposals detailing how they would spread the word about the conference when they return to Iowa. The foundation chose one youth delegate from each Midwestern state to attend the U.N. conference, which will attract leaders from across the globe including President Obama.
Stonyfield Farm is supporting Expedition Copenhagen and will be providing video coverage on Facebook here, beginning on December 7th. A new segment will be posted daily @ 12noon EST. One of the Stonyfield correspondents is Wood Turner, the Executive Director of Climate Counts, which was one of the nonprofits that had a booth on Jack Johnson's 2008 Tour! Small world.
You can also follow the Expedition Copenhagen delegates (students) here on this Will Steger Foundation Twitter List.
The Iowa United Nations Association is sending a delegation of 30 people including professors, graduate, and undergraduate students from Drake University; Grinnell College; Iowa State University; Rice University in Houston, Texas; the University of Iowa; and Wartburg College. Student members of the delegation were chosen through a competitive selection process based on their academic achievements and community-engaging program proposals. Support is being provided by: Drake University Law School Agricultural Law Center, Iowa Center for Research by Undergraduates, University of Iowa Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research, University of Iowa Center for Human Rights, University of Iowa Office of the Provost, University of Iowa Student Government, Physicians for Social Responsibility Iowa Chapter and Rice University.
The Greenpeace Student Network is in Copenhagen - students from around the world, plus Greenpeace staff. Follow them on Twitter.
From a news outlet in South Dakota:
Several staff members from the Alliance for Climate Education are on their way to Copenhagen. Best way that I know of to follow them is probably the ACE twitter feed. You can also read their blog where they are blogging daily about the youth perspective in Copenhagen.
For example, I found this on their blog:
Even if you are not going to Copenhagen, you can still help put the pressure on the delegates!
During the Copenhagen climate negotiations, Dec. 7-19, the Energy Action Coalitions, its partners, and Copenhagen youth delegates will be coordinating rapid response efforts in the United States so that the movement can receive breaking updates and collectively engage in the negotiations.
From the Power Shift website: With your help, we'll assemble a Rapid Response team of hundreds of people so that on a moments notice we can generate thousands of phone calls, get our message out to the media, and effectively mobilize together.
The goal of this rapid response team is no small task: to affect the U.S. negotiation position. But if enough of us engage in a timely way together, we can do just that.
Sign up for the Rapid Responder Team here. It's a very minimal time commitment!
If you know of other delegations that should be listed here, then please leave me a comment!
In the third and final segment of the Clean Energy Economy Stakeholder Briefing with Youth Leaders, top White House staff on clean energy listen to reports back from several breakout sessions focused on improving engagement between the White House and youth leaders. See reports from the breakout sessions here:
To watch the rest of the video footage from the afternoon's events visit the White House video website, here.
Then check out this fantasticblog post written by HeadCount's Executive Director, Andy Bernstein who attended the event.
Here's the post from the US State Department about their attendance at the event.
The write up from the Roosevelt Institute is here. I liked this part:
While there has been expressed disappointment with some of the back and forth between administration officials and forum participants, this event clearly demonstrates the Obama White House’s commitment to engaging with young Americans on the most challenging issues that our country faces today. Never did the Bush White House convene such a summit, and even the Clinton administration rarely provided this kind of access to Cabinet Secretaries, department heads, and other important and trusted advisors to the President.
Here's the report from Tomasso of Campus Progress. I like this part of his post:
We can help free them from the shackles of King Coal. This forum was a great first step and opened the door for more collaboration between the White House and young activists. What it also did was demonstrate that the efforts and tactics we have used up to now have been extremely successful. As Jessy Tolkan (always the rebel rouser) explains, we must ratchet up our energy and our efforts to change the Senate just like we changed the White House.
A summary prepared by two young US Department of Interior staffers who attended the event - Nate Hundt and Jonathan Jourdane.
Morgan was recently a senior at Williams College. There, he was a Chinese major, student body co-president and one of the leaders of Thursday Night Group, the campus climate action group. Since graduating, Morgan worked on a community energy efficiency campaign in western Mass, co-directed NH SPROG for the SSC and worked on Power Vote in Cleveland for 2 months. He then left for China for 2 months where his interests have been turned to for-profit models of change and specifically solar hot water systems.
To get more updates from Morgan you can follow him on Twitter.
To get more updates from HeadCount you can follow the organization on Twitter.
And in terms of moving forward with the movement, check out this great open letter to John Carson, the field director for the Obama campaign and is now the chief of staff at the Council on Environmental Quality, who moderated the White House event. It was written by Zachary Stark-MacMillan of the Cascade Climate Network.
Also check out Jessy Tolkan's summary of the day's events, here. Her post includes this slideshow, with photos taken by Alec Loorz and Gabe Elsner.
photo: Congressman Ed Markey, Chairman of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, held a special Congressional briefing with student leaders on Monday, March 2, 2009 in 2172 Rayburn House Office Building - "Youth Climate: Green Jobs, Clean Futures."
Jessy Tolkan, Executive Director of the Energy Action Coalition, published a great post today, Voices from Hopenhagen, about youth involvement in the climate movement.
From her post:
In March, 12,000 young people descended on Washington for our Power Shift 09 summit, and told leaders that we want a bold and just climate and energy future. This fall, thousands took the same message back to their local communities for Regional Power Shift 09 summits in 11 states. On the year anniversary of the historical 2008 presidential election, we launched the “It’s Game Time, Obama!” initiative in which more than 50,000 actions were taken to ask the President to meet with youth leaders, give an address to the nation outlining his strategy and attend Copenhagen in person. All of this work culminates Wednesday in a meeting at the White House with senior officials to discuss our vision for next year and how we will reach consensus and achieve the goals we set for ourselves.
The White House has arranged for a meeting December 2nd that will bring together emerging young leaders from non-profits, businesses, and community groups along with experts from federal agencies, members of the Cabinet, and White House officials to engage in a dialogue. President Obama has not yet indicated if he will attend personally, but will be represented by his team.
In attendance at Wednesday's meeting will be Andy Bernstein, Co-Founder & Executive Director of HeadCount. Andy blogged about it today, on the HeadCount blog.
From Andy's blog post:
Last week, while on the way to see Phish in Philadelphia, I got an unexpected email from…the White House.
"We would like to invite you to join us for a Clean Energy Economy Forum to discuss the important role young leaders have in creating and sharing this opportunity..."
A few more emails started coming in. The next was from a key environmental group, the Energy Action Coalition, inviting me to a brainstorming and strategy session of youth-oriented leaders attending the White House meeting, which is Wednesday afternoon.
Read more about HeadCount's involvement in the climate change movement here.
The event will be hosted at the White House on Wednesday from 4 - 7pm EST, and will also be webcast to young people across the country at: www.whitehouse.gov/live.
You can not only watch the live feed, but you can also participate.
Join the webcast of the forum and participate in the live discussion. Throughout the event, the White House will take questions and feedback from the Facebook Live Chat.
The forum will be webcast live on the White House website at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/live or on Facebook with a live discussion board at: http://apps.facebook.com/whitehouselive/
From Jessy's Huffington Post post:
If you'd like us to ask a question at the meeting on your behalf, just send us a tweet @powershift09 and add the hashtag #ClimateQs. We will do our best to incorporate your perspectives into the day's events.
@PowerShift09 circulated this tweet on November 26th:
White House to meet with youth climate leaders next Wed!! @jessytolkan asks for your questions: http://bit.ly/8mvGtX #ClimateQs
Pete Griffin (@WhatUpPete), Campaign Director @ Energy Action Coalition, circulated this re-tweet today:
RT @PowerShift09: Don't forget to send us your #ClimateQs for President Obama's team at our Wednesday White House mtg!
Finally, according to Consequence09's website, Power Shift's It's Game Time, Obama! Campaign is encouraging people to host and attend house parties during the event. To advertise or locate an event near you, check this page.
Following the event - Wed night, December 2nd - everyone is invited to this celebration sponsored by the Energy Action Coalition, the Hip Hop Caucus, and the youth climate movement.
Celebrate our collective efforts to get our carbon down and put our country on a sustainable path towards a clean energy future now! Or ... simply join us for a good time on a Wednesday night.
Carbon Get Down Party @ the Park at 14th 920 14th St NW (between K and Eye Streets) Washington, DC 20005
No RSVP required, no charge at the door, complimentary hor d’oeuvres from 7pm to 9pm.
Upload your photo to the It's Game Time, Obama website, here. I just uploaded the photo featured in my December International Climate Action blog post.
Please try to participate in this campaign ASAP - Pete Griffin, Campaign Director/Chief Creative Office of the Energy Action Coalition sent out this Tweet today:
Im headed to the White House tomorrow and need to have over 50,000 actions taken at www.ItsGameTimeObama.org. Plz help! RT!!! - about 15 hours ago from web
