It’s Getting Hot In Here

Scott reported last week on Mountain Justice Spring Break Virginia where youth came down from OH, WV, and VA and up from as far as GA to stand in solidarity with local communities in the struggle to preserve their land and culture. Danny Chiotos pulled together a great audio piece from the rally at the Department of Environmental Quality you can listen to here.  And check out this video I compiled of photos from the week:

If you weren’t able to make it out to this amazing week, you can still attend Mountain Justice Spring Break Ohio, March 22-30!

As we know, last week was a CRUCIAL time for international climate negotiations. Whit reported last Monday from New York at the UN forum titled, “The Future in our Hands: Addressing the Leadership Challenge of Climate Change” where delegates heard from youth leader, Catherine Guathier, during the opening session. Young people like Catherine and Whit were there, but where was the President of the United States?

The President ignored the invitation to the UN and strategically hosted a meeting of the world’s “Major Emitters” of greenhouse gases Thursday of the same week. This meeting, intended to derail the process of current international negotiations, was in direct response to the meeting at the UN and denied the urgency of setting mandatory targets for reductions in emissions.

Luckily, young people were not only at the UN last Monday challenging Presidents and Prime Ministers of over 150 countries to show true leadership on this issue; Young people were also confronting George Bush at his own meeting Thursday morning at the U.S. State Department.

Early that morning, I woke from my sleep with an excitement I couldn’t shake. I franticly dressed, stuffed $5 for breakfast and my license into my pocket, and burst out the front door. I’d come to D.C. to participate in the first act of non-violent civil disobedience this country has ever seen for federal action on global warming. As I walked to the Metro, I knew that some time later that day, I would be put under arrest and taken to a D.C. jail for an indefinite amount of time. I’d never been arrested before, but it was a step I was ready to take. George Bush was ignoring and furthermore trying to derail the most important discussion we could possibly be having. I couldn’t sit back and allow for it to be successful.

I joined 70 other demonstrators at the National Mall and we walked confidently from there to the State Department, only a block away. Holding signs that read, “BUSH: WRONG WAY ON GLOBAL WARMING,” we crossed C St. and continued up the driveway. Security officers looked baffled by our presence. They rushed nervously trying to situate themselves between the force of our numbers and the delegates that were entering the meeting. They were too late. We began chanting and our voices echoed through the open doors. We stood together in front of the building for almost two hours before we were warned to leave before risking arrest. We remained there and refused to move. Forty-nine of us were arrested. The delegates were hearing us and we were being heard around the world as U.S. citizens who were speaking out against our country’s inaction on global warming. Together, we embodied power.

We have the unique opportunity to use our bodies as vessels for change. If we are genuine and strategic, acts of non-violence and civil disobedience have the power to change our nation. We have been strong and present voices on our campuses and in our communities. Now is the time for action in our nation’s capitol. Now is the time for us to be the shift.

Now you can ask the Presidential candidates what we’ve all been wanting to know: What is their plan to cut carbon emissions 80% by 2050?

As part of The CNN*YOUTUBE Debates, anyone can upload a 30 second video asking the Presidential candidates (or any individual candidate) a question of their choice. Right now YouTube is taking submissions for Democratic candidates from now until July 22. A handful of those questions will be answered on July 23rd in Charleston, SC during The South Carolina Debate. So far, 315 videos have been submitted. However, only a few of them are challenging our candidates on global warming. So, grab a camera, upload your video, and ask your future leaders, “What is your plan to reduce carbon emissions 80% by 2050?”

“Face the inconvenient truth of global warming every morning…”

Urban Outfitters is now selling coffee mugs that educate about global warming. When hot water is poured into the mug with a printed map of the world, the coastlines disappear as the sea level rises.

And yes, that is a string of greenhouse gases circulating the Earth.

Ridiculous? kind of. Empowering? probably not.

This Tuesday, February 20 from noon-3:00pm, The New York Academy of Sciences will host the “2010 Imperative: Global Emergency Teach-In.” The teach-in on “global warming, climate change, and the built environment” will be broadcast live on the web at www.2010imperative.org. Speakers include James Hansen of NASA and environmental architect, Edward Mazria of Architecture 2030. The teach-in is intended to educate students, faculty, and practicing professionsals in the architecture, planning, and design communities and will be focused on ecological design in a world effected by global warming and climate change.

For more information go to www.2010imperative.org.

With so many students organizing events and demonstrations during this Week of Action, our voice is getting stronger and with this wide-spread collaboration, it’s becoming more unified. The movement is building and more people are beginning to take note. Grist covered our efforts yesterday as “the largest mobilization in the history of the youth global warming movement.”

Let’s continue to build this movement and make our presence known, not only on our campuses, but among decision-makers on the Hill as well. Get involved with the International Photo Petition and don’t forget to send photo petitions and pictures of your events to photos@climatechallenge.org by 3:00pm on Thursday, Feb 1st! (Students pictured at left from the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse petitioned Rep. Ron Kind Tuesday afternoon) And sign the Youth Petition to Congress! Keep up the amazing work!

I spent nine weeks of my summer participating in the Greenpeace Organizing Term, training and learning how to effectively win a campaign and how to increase the pressure in order to do so. I came back to Elon University, where I’m currently enrolled as a sophomore, ready to face up to our administration and demand that they do something about global warming, that they at least start thinking about the issue. As it turns out, they already were.

Continue reading ‘University Turns Over a New Leaf’