It’s Getting Hot In Here

Power Shift is the monthly newsletter for the Campus Climate Challenge with updates, insights and the low down on whats next in the fight to stop global warming. Send feedback, good or bad, to Michael at michael@energyaction.net.

The Contents

• Energy Action Coalition Members in Newsweek
• Take Action!
• Campus Campaign Highlights - Victories, events, actions and more.
• News and Views - Who’s doing and saying what
• Resources; Creating a Green Fund, Media Guide

Energy Action Coalition Members Featured in Newsweek

Jared Duval, national director of the Sierra Student Coalition and Mark Orlowski, executive director of Sustainability Endowment Institute are quoted in the Newsweek article Its Hip to be Green. The article gives a good overview of the youth climate movement. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17996838/site/newsweek/

Take Action!

Energy Justice Summer Energy Justice Summer is part of a grassroots movement catalyzed by students and youth to promote clean, just energy options, and to oppose the development of dirty energy facilities in the United States. Through our projects this summer in Southeast Ohio, the Carolinas, and Florida, we will be standing with community activists fighting proposed dirty energy facilities in their backyards (and who are asking for help), gaining important organizing and activist skills, contributing to local service projects, helping to build lasting and meaningful change in people’s lives, and laving lots of fun! So, help us fight the highest concentration of proposed coal-fired power plants in the nation, the “nuclear renaissance” in the southeast, and climate destruction - go to http://www.energyjustice.net/ejs today and let us know if you’re interested!! EJS is a growing collaboration between the Energy Justice Network, the Southern Energy Network, the Student Environmental Action Coalition, the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, Nuclear Watch South, Rising tide North America, and the Sierra Student Coalition. No More Hot Air We know that we need more than hot air on global warming. Send a video message to the Presidential candidates on climate issues. Also ask them what’s their plan”to reduce American carbon emissions 80% by 2050. Go here for more details: http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/1272. Check out a sample message from Yale students here: http://youtube.com/view_play_list?p=678401CBB798DC55. Climate Superstar, That is What You Are Join the ranks of past Brower Youth Award winners like Billy Parish, May Boeve, Shadia Wood and other activists: apply today at http://www.broweryouthawards.org! May 15 deadline is the deadline for the 8th annual Brower Youth Awards - an award recognizing six young people ages 13-22 for their outstanding activism and environmental achievements with a $3,000 cash prize, a trip to California for the award ceremony and wilderness camping trip, and additional resources and support for their work.

Campus Highlights

CCAN - DC Step It Up Action - Unveiling of Congressional Photo Petition Students from Towson University, UMD - College Park, and American University in addition to youth organizers unveiled the Energy Action Congressional Photo Petition in front of the Capitol at the DC Step It Up! action. Turnout was excellent, with over 1000 attendees. In addition to hearing from youth and environmental justice speakers, attendees formed a human postcard that spelled out “80% by 2050″. Press coverage was excellent including pieces in the Washington Post, ABC World Reports, and Reuters. Check out video of the DC Step It Up action: YouTube Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soQ0AK-Idws . MD Student Leaders featured in front-page Washington Post piece of about Climate Change From the Washington Post:

“Young people might not be turning out at demonstrations against the war in Iraq in numbers rivaling Vietnam War protests. But the environment is becoming their galvanizing force: Thirty-seven years after the first Earth Day in the United States, the topic is more than an issue. It’s personal. “For, like, the whole history of the environmental movement,” begins David Bronstein, 19, a freshman at St. John’s College in Annapolis, “we’ve been saying: ‘Do it for your children. We have to protect the Earth for them.’ But that argument has shifted. I’m fighting for my future.” Over the weekend, thousands of students at more than 1,400 “Step It Up on Global Warming” events from Alaska to New Mexico to Maine asked Congress to place limits on carbon emissions. Earth Day returns Sunday, and as University of Maryland freshman Andrew Nazdin told 200 high school and college kids gathered Saturday on the Mall, “We’re proud of the students of the ’60s and ’70s, but now it’s our turn to rise to the challenge of our generation and end the climate crisis.”

To read the full article, click here: Full Article. American University signs Taillores Agreement From AU memorandum - AU Statement “The 14th annual Campus Beautification Day will be held Tuesday, April 10 (rain date: Wednesday, April 11). During the Campus Beautification Day festivities, we will hold a short signing ceremony to signify AU’s adoption of the Talloires Declaration, a 10-point action plan for colleges and universities committed to promoting environmentally responsible behavior in their daily activities. The declaration has been signed by nearly 300 university and college presidents worldwide. Coupled with our biodiesel vehicles, materials recycling, green building design for the new SIS building, arboretum status, and other initiatives, adoption of the Talloires Declaration is an exciting example of our commitment to environmental sustainability.” Southern Alliance for Clean Energy - Students Making the Grade in Tennessee The results are in: in a single week, students at *two* universities in Tennessee voted in resounding support to raise their student fees in the name of a clean energy future. 71% of the voters at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga (UTC) approved a $10 fee increase, while the University of Memphis (UofM) referendum passed with a 69% majority of the largest voter turnout on record. Beyond the support voiced through the vote, the UofM Environmental Action Club (www.VoteYesForGreenPower.com) has also collected over 2,500 signatures specifying that the fee be set at $20/student/semester. Students support half of the fee being allocated towards on-campus sustainability projects, such as recycling and energy efficiency, while the other half be used to purchase clean, in-state, renewable energy from TVA’s Green Power Switch. Sierra Student Coalition- Student Environmental Leadership Training Programs Whether new to organizing or you’ve been at it for a while, this program will help you take your organizing to the next level. This action-packed week of trainings, speakers, discussion, and networking will equip you with all the skills you need to run effective, strong campaigns to demand action on climate change–from your school, from your community, from your elected officials. No where else can you get all this in one place so easily, so cheaply and have so much fun doing it! APPLY NOW: http://www.ssc.org/sprog

News and Views

U.N. Draft Urges Re-brand of Global Warming. Bill Ties Climate to National Security. Bush Presses Coal Liquids to Cut Gasoline Use. Logging, Nuke Plants Can Fight Global Warming, GOP says. Can the World Share the Burden of Climate Change? Climate Change Effects on Asia “to Alarming to Contemplate” says Researcher. Millions Face Hunger from Climate Change. UN Says Climate Change to Hit Southern Europe Hard.

Resources

Creating a Sustainability Revolving Loan Fund: A Guide for Students AASHE has published a new how-to manual, entitled Creating a Campus Sustainability Revolving Loan Fund: A Guide for Students, that provides step-by-step directions for establishing a campus sustainability revolving loan fund. The guide, which is written by two sophomores at Macalester College, is based on the experiences of the authors in setting up a revolving loan fund at Macalester College. The guide provides several examples of how institutions have used revolving loan funds to fund sustainability projects. http://www.aashe.org/highlights/cerf.php Shout it From the Rooftops: A Guide to Climate Media Advocacy You are doing awesome work in your community or on your campus so, of course, you want to share that with the world! That’s why Energy Action has created a new media tool kit that can help you do just that and more. Media coverage can also help you drive your campaign forward. Check it out here: https://campusclimatechallenge.civicspaceondemand.org/wiki-sources/media-guide. The media tool kit was compiled by yours truly. Please email me with feedback at michael@energyaction.net.