Nobody’s Chillaxed About Climate Change Around Here

“Yo! What up?”

“Dude, I am so totally stoked about the smokin’ chance we have to make a mega-difference on GHG.”

“Yeah, we need to be completely rockin’ it by the time the Lege fires up in January.”

“No doubt.”

Translation:

“Hello there! How are you doing?”

“I must say, I am very excited about the excellent possibilities we have before us to have a major impact on reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.”

“You are correct. We have a lot of work to do so that we’re ready to be involved when the 2009 session of the Legislature gets underway in January.”

“Of that you can be sure.”

Last weekend, CUB Organizing Director Jeff Bissonnette traveled to Seattle to take part in “Re-energizing the NW,” a climate change and clean energy organizing conference coordinated by the Sierra Student Coalition and the Cascade Climate Network. About 100 students, primarily from Oregon and Washington, gathered near the campus of the University of Washington to literally figure out how to save the planet by effectively addressing climate change.

Over the course of two days, enthusiasm and energy combined with in-depth political analysis, savvy strategizing and hard-core training. While the lingo may not have been the norm at an international climate conference in some world capitols, there was no mistaking the purpose and the drive these student activists bring to the issue of addressing climate change. From organizing on campus to figuring out the lay of the land in state legislatures to mapping out a national drive to impact Congress, there’s no question: these folks mean business. After all, it’s their generation that will begin to bear the brunt of the effects of climate change if we don’t do something about it now.

In workshops from the mundane but important (How to Plan a Campaign; How to Fundraise) to the visionary and progressive (Sustainable Food and Re-localization; Environmental Justice; How to Achieve a Fossil-Fuel Free Northwest), and with an eye to their immediate futures (How to Make a Career Out of Social Change), these climateers tackled issues that would intimidate activists twice their age. And as has been true with college students through the years, late-night conversations went on into the wee hours of the morning. Except these conversations were dominated by details of the physics of fuel cells and financing mechanisms to support large scale energy efficiency projects.

As a former student activist himself not all that long ago (OK, maybe longer ago than he cares to admit), Jeff recognized a lot of the nuts-and-bolts of the conference.  However, new to the student organizing mix were laptops, wi-fi, text messages and Blackberries (overheard: “Oh no, I don’t have Flash on this computer to play the video for my presentation.” “No problem, download it straight from YouTube. There might be some buffering issues but it’ll be fine.”) It was a far cry from Jeff’s days as a student when high tech was an automatic Selectric typewriter with self-correction.

And these students know how to use the tools available to them. Websites, e-mails, meet-ups, mash-ups, MySpace and Facebook provide the backbone of the interactive connectivity that most of these student activists have grown up with. The technology and their mad skillz have developed in parallel so that they are now ready to utilize that technology to organize their peers to play a key role in solving the most challenging issue to confront society.

Some of the activists had just voted for the first time this month. Some just got out of school. But they are assuming leadership roles in their growing movement. No one “in charge” at the summit was older than their mid-20s. But make no mistake, they facilitated the workshops and discussions like pros. They intend to be taken seriously and rightly so. They’ve laid out an ambitious agenda and they’re working hard to increase their ranks. They’ve committed to support the Climate and Clean Energy Rally, sponsored by the Oregon Conservation Network at the start of the Oregon legislative session in support of the Priorities for a Healthy Oregon.

On a national level, they are promoting a National Teach-In on February 5 to urge the new administration and Congress to take decisive action on climate change. They are pushing to bring 10,000-15,000 students to Washington, DC for Powershift 2009 in late February/early March to advocate for effective greenhouse gas reductions. They are organizing town halls nationwide on April 18th through Focus the Nation to raise public awareness about climate change. And they’re not forgetting the details that will enable them to help pass effective climate policies, not just through Congress but through their state legislatures and campus administrations as well. Click on some of those links and see how you can plug in.

Jeff was honored to be asked to participate in the conference as an informational resource person. It was clear to him that the same energy that students brought to the table to sustain the civil rights movement, the anti-war movement and the early days of the environmental movement is alive and well and ready to take its place as a vital part of a larger coalition addressing climate change. “One thing we can be pretty sure of,” he said. “The future will be in good hands.”

Word.

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