There is no stopping the youth climate movement! Stories are pouring in from everywhere about 300, 400, even 900 people attending campus screenings of An Inconvenient Truth. Tuesday was a big day for the Week of Action! Youth in Ottawa rallied on the front lawn of Parliament Hill to call for national action to achieve Canada’s Kyoto commitments. In New York City, Bloomberg reported that Columbia students and other activists delivered lumps of coal to Merrill Lynch for their role in funding the TXU Power Plant project. At Winona State in Minnesota students stripped down to shorts and t-shirts with the message, “Keep winter cold!”. New reports are coming in every hour. Send your updates and media clips to josh@energyaction.net and your photos to photos@climatechallenge.org.
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Here are the updates we have received from students from Tuesday…
From Callie Runestad, Winona State University
On Monday at noon, Winona State University’s Environmental Club kicked off the Week of Action with a Keep Winter Cold activity in the middle of campus. Students met wearing only shorts and t-shirts to emphasize what students will be wearing if climate change continues at the rate it is currently. Students built snowmen, had snowball fights, and did snow angels in their shorts and t-shirts to celebrate the fun that winter weather can bring. During the event, posters were hung saying “KEEP WINTER COLD” and explaining the Week of Action and the events that will be taking place later in the week.
From Corrinne Jean Thomas, Michigan State University
ECO kicked off the Week of Action with help from the Loneliest Penguin. A penguin wandered around the campus handing out information about climate change and collecting signatures for a climate neutral MSU petition. ECO successfully collect over 200 signatures. Pictures with the penguin were collected and will be posted on Facebook for publicity. The campus newspaper, The State News, published a short blurb of the rest of the events for the week today. They will be putting a more in depth article in Thursday’s paper. As for the rest of the week:
TUESDAY: Climate Change Video Booth: ECO will be asking students, professors, and staff opinions about climate change.
WEDNESDAY: Keep Winter Cold: A demonstration at The Rock on the impact of climate change on Michigan and what will be lost if dynamic steps aren’t taken immediately.
THURSDAY: An Inconvenient Truth: There will be a showing of a collection of student videos as well as Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth at 7:00pm at B106 Wells Hall.
FRIDAY: Save The Ales Wrap Up Party: To celebrate a successful week of action and fun get together for ECO and friends.
Press coverage
More photos
From Nina Rizzo, Global Exchange: Cal State University, East Bay
Students had a huge community event w/ 2 screenings, multiple schools and panel of professors w/ Q&A. Media too. They are inviting public officials from 3 cities and the mayor.
Press coverage
From Sarah Fleetwood, Georgia College and State University
Have a global warming day! Volley ball, “melted-glacier-water”, summer clothes in the shivering cold, all to welcome the coming end of winter. We also made excellent pro-global warming signs that are posted all around campus with phrases such as “global warming - no more pesky weeds, in fact no more pesky plants,” “only you can cook the planet” and my personal favorite - “swim snowy swim” (accompanied by a picture of a polar bear with those floaty water wing things on it’s front legs).
From Meredith Epstein, St. Mary’s College of Maryland
We are doing a bunch of events including our screening of An Inconvenient Truth and staking 6 feet of sea level rise on campus, all culminating in a Polar Bear plunge into the St. Mary’s river that runs through campus.
Press coverage
From Mary Nichol, Student PIRGS: Salem State University
MASSPIRG students at Salem State organized a video petition drive to collect messages to be delivered to the Class of 2027. In front of a huge banner that read “What’s Up Class of 2027,” students said short messages on what they are doing now to fight Global Warming. They also got 100 students to participate in a “Step It Up” photo shoot calling on Congress to cut Carbon 80% by 2050. And for the take home message, they made a huge cardboard sign with little tags that could be torn off. Each tag contained a way that a student could cut global warming at home.
From Lizzie Cooke, Furman University
The approximate volume of coal consumed by an average Furman student in a year will be dumped at a well traveled part of campus accompanied by a display board encourgaing folks to support the Environmental Action Group’s wind energy campaign and worked by group members during class changes. the display also includes a model of “Furman University and Coal Plant” this is a cardboard structure that looks like a little kid’s drawing of a school house, has a “furman” sign on it and three stacks off the top blowing dry-ice-produced smoke out the top. the tallest smoke stack is addorned with a bumper sticker that reads “have a global warming day!”
From Lauren Newman, Stanford University
“We are probably the most privileged people to ever walk the planet,” Biological Sciences Prof. Terry Root said last night to a packed Cubberley Auditorium. “Our actions now can affect the next 500 generations.”
Root spoke to an over-capacity crowd that had spilled out into the isles to watch Al Gore’s Academy Award-nominated documentary “An Inconvenient Truth,” which projects the apparent effects of global warming on the Earth. The screening was part of the Stanford Climate Change Campaign’s (SCCC) Week of Action and was inspired by the nationwide Campus Climate Challenge.
“The reason we gathered these people together to show them the movie was to demonstrate that as a community, climate change is an issue we really care about,” said sophomore Lauren Finzer, a member of the Stanford Climate Control Crew, a smaller group within the SCCC. “Our main goal is for Stanford to make an institutional commitment to lower emissions and to take leadership on the climate change issue.”
From Carrie Wisinski, University of Wisconsin, La Crosse
This is a photo of Captain Planet (Bjorn Bergman) overlooking petition signing of the Talloires Declaration as students enter the screening.
Monday, January 29th marked the kick off of University of Wisconsin-La Crosse’s Week of Climate Action with a screening of An Inconvenient Truth, with more than 250 students and community members in attendance. The screening was followed by a Q&A with UWL Alumni Ryan Schryver. Ryan helped found the UW-L Progressives and was an active member of UW-L Environmental Council. He is now working as a Grassroots Organizer for Clean Wisconsin and was recently trained by Al Gore to give presentations and lead discussions on global warming. As attendees left the screening, many stopped to sign petitions and take a photo petition with Captain Planet. Oh Wednesday, students will attend Student Senate, where a resolution in support of the Talloires Declaration is being proposed. More than 1000 students have signed a petition is support of Chancellor Joe Gow signing the Declaration, which is a ten-point action plan for incorporating environmental sustainability on-campus. Throughout the week, Captain Planet will be joining students in photo petitions and urging students to call Representative Kind on Thursday’s call-in day to support action on global warming in Congress.
From Mary Nichol, Student PIRGs: Rutgers University
NJPIRG students at Rutgers are sending invitations to Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) asking him to speak at a future screening of An Inconvenient Truth. They’ll also be kicking off a campus-wide energy-saving dorm competition. Today, Grist gave a shout out to their action! Check it out.
From Thomas Chandler, University of South Carolina
“Box people” - it’s a big cardboard box and you hunker down in there. To passersby it looks like just a box carelessly left lying about campus, but when you see folks coming (through the peep hole of course) you jump up and pull this string which causes the box to fly open like wings. All over the wings are facts and pictures and such about global warming and how USC students can pressure the school to reduce it’s carbon footprint by support SAGE’s LEED campaign.
Press coverage
From Mary Nichol, Student PIRGS: University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
WISPIRG students at UW-Milwaukee kicked off the week of action with a showing of An Inconvenient Truth that was attended by 150 students! Secretary of State and environmental science professor Doug La Follette attended the showing and gave a short introduction to the film followed by Q&A after. After the showing students were outside the theater collecting Campus Climate Challenge pledges, filling out interest cards, scheduling students for volunteer opportunities and intern overviews and people were lining up for our “Step It Up” photo shoot calling on Congress to cut Carbon 80% by 2050.
Week of Action Related Media Coverage so far:
Print Media
1/9 (Open Press) - http://www.theopenpress.com/index.php?a=press&id=15534
1/9 (Grist magazine) - http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2007/1/9/133555/6274
1/19 (ABC News) - http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/GlobalWarming/story?id=2805553&page=1
1/22 (USA Today) - http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2007-01-23-eco-university_x.htm
1/23 (Arundel Digest, MD) - http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2007/01_23-11/TOP
1/25 (Southern MD Online) - “SMCM Students to Dive into Frigid Waters on Feb. 2nd”
1/26 (OSU, the Lantern, OH)
1/29 (Holy Cross, MA) - “Global Warning: Screenings of ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ among student-led efforts to educate campus about climate crisis”
1/29 (The State, SC) - “Best bet | ‘Inconvenient Truth’ at USC”
1/29 (The State News, MI) - “University students to offer education about climate changes, future impact”
1/29 (CSUEB News and Events, CA) - “An Inconvenient Truth, Panel Discussion Jan. 30″
1/29 (Ohlone College, CA) - “Help Stop Global Warming!”
1/29 (The Daily Colonial, DC) - “An Inconvenient Truth Kicks of Green Week”
1/29 (The Johns Hopkins University Gazette, MD) - ‘An Inconvenient Truth’
1/29 (Warren Wilson College, GA) - ‘Climate Week of Action’
1/30 (Grist Magazine) - Have Some Class: Week of Action in Action
1/30 (The Stanford Daily, CA) - Film Kicks off Climate Change
1/30 (Collegiate Times, VA) - Saving the world: Campus Climate Challenge
1/30 (FOX News, NY) - Environmental Group Delivers Lumps of Coal to Merrill Lynch to Protest Texas Power Plant Project
1/30 (The Gateway, NB) - Story
1/30 (Bloomberg News, NY) - Merrill Targeted by Global Warming Protest Over TXU
1/30 (Treehugger) - Want To Take a Climate Stand On Campus?
1/30 (The Campus Press, CO) - “An Inconvenient Truth” Sheds light on grim environmental future
1/30 (Canada.com) - UN Report confirms climate change happening now
1/30 (Ottawa, ON: PDF file) - 24 hours (free newspaper in Ottawa, page 5)
1/30 (Ottawa, ON: PDF file) - Rush Hour (free newspaper in Ottawa, front page pic)
1/30 (Ottawa, ON) Ottawa Citizen
1/31 (The Roanoke Times) - Kayak launches climate change events at Tech
TV
1/28 (CBC Newsworld, Canada) - Rosa (Sierra Youth Coalition Director) and Trevor (local organizer) interviewed
1/29 (CTV Newsnet, Canada) - Anjali (SYC) interviewed before the rally and Rosa after
1/29 (Canada AM on CTV) - Rosa (SYC) interviewed at the rally
1/29 (Ottawa, ON) - CTV
1/29 (Ottawa, ON) “Robert Fife on the green political climate” also uses some video from the rally from that previous site
Radio
1/29 (Ottawa, ON) - Rosa interviewed on CFRB (Ottawa radio station)
1/29 (Ottawa, ON) - One of the easy listening Ottawa stations… one of my friends heard about it at work but didn’t know which station it was
Week of Action Press Release
Week of Action Sample Local Release
Are you a reporter looking for the inside story?
Contact: Michael Crawford, Communications Director, Campus Climate Challenge
202 247-0965 or Michael@energyaction.net
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