So here in the Energy Action Coalition Office in D.C. (and across America) we are kicking planning for the national conference into high gear and we have realized that we need a name that will capture the power and passion of the student movement. We got together yesterday to start thinking and trying to come up with something that works, and we have a few ideas to work with. Given that this is your conference, we figured that all of you would be the best people to get some feedback and insights from. Here are some of the thoughts we had on it.
1) We agreed the name of the conference should follow its function. People felt that the main purpose of the conference was A) to raise awareness about climate change as an issue in the primaries for the ‘08 election and lobby congress and B) to really strengthen, deepen, and broaden our movement. So the title should ideally encapsulate both of these ideas.
2) Some people felt that we should not try to tie ourselves to closely to any one group so as to risk alienating as few people as possible. (Ex: Putting too heavy an emphasis on environmentalism might turn off people who are more concerned with the justice/humanitarian aspects of climate change).
And here are some of the names that we have been talking about:
Youth Climate Crisis Convergence: Act Today. Imagine Tomorrow.
Youth Climate Challenge Convergence: Act Today. Imagine Tomorrow.
Convergence for Climate Justice : Youth confronting the challenge of our generation/ Youth changing the climate on global warming.
Youth Convergence for Climate Justice : Act Today, Imagine Tomorrow
Climate Change America
Please think about this, change the titles, create a new title, comment if there is one you like and let us know how you all feel about this. Please post your thoughts as comments so that everyone can see them. Once we have gathered all of your thoughts and finalized the name, we will be sure to let you all know! Keep looking for more posts about this national conference and start getting excited for it!
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Hey there Energy Coalition folks,
Couple of comments on your proposed title — global warming vs. climate change, the battle over which term to use. While many state that the term “climate change” is the most appropriate (which is argauable), the term “global warming” is time and time again shown to resonate best with the public. SO a first suggestion might be to throw “global warming” into the creative mix.
The other thing I would point out is that unfortunately the term “justice” as recieved a bad rap over the last few years and many people think of masked anarchists, throwing tear gas back at police.
That being said, here’s a couple I would like to throw into the mix:
Global Warming Youth America Conference
Global Warming Youth conference: Our future, our responsibility
American Youth Conference on Global Warming
Our future is now
Hope this helps. Keep up the great work, and good luck on your conference. Let me know if you want someone to come do a cool presentation on PR Spin and Global Warming — fighting the denial industry.
Kevin
Desmogblog@gmail.com
I think the conference should be called Climate Change America! Help us change america, stop the climate crisis, create a just world and a new energy future
I think it should be called Climate CHANGE America - lets change this country for the better. Stop global warming, rebuild justice and create a new energy future.
Even though I am not youth, I like the use of the term convergence. So many issues are impacted and problems coming together due to the carbon issue. Best wishes on your conference.
first part
Youth Power
Youth Power Convergence
Youth Power Shift
could also add the year (Youth Power 2007)
second part
Stop Global Warming, Save the Future!
Stop Global Warming, Start a/Join the Movement!
Stop Global Warming, Start a/Join the Revolution!
my personal fav is:
Youth Power Shift 2007: Stop Global Warming, Join the Revolution!
A national youth and student climate change convergence to help jumpstart a just and sustainable future for all
Amy and others,
Thanks for putting this out to the community. I love that idea and think we need to do more of it within our work. You’ve done some good thinking about the name for this event. I like the word “convergence” as well. My thoughts are that the shorter you can make the name the better. If you think of a lot of the memorable summits and convergences throughout history, you typically remember one or two words I think. Two great examples of this are the first national conferences of the Student Environmental Action Coalition in 1989 and 1990 - Threshold and Catalyst. These were calls out to build a movement, and the results far exceeded their expectations. Here is an inspiring quote from an article on Catalyst published in 1990:
“On the first Friday in October, I and 30 others from Duke and UNC packed ourselves in 2 vans, from which we emerged sixteen hours later in Champaign, Illinois. We didn’t know–nobody knew until we all arrived–that seven thousand other students were also on the road, coming from every state in the U.S. and from several dozen other countries. We set up camp, along with several thousand, in the State Fairgrounds near the U. Illinois campus. The plenaries took place in the Assembly Hall, a massive concrete saucer, around whose perimeter were arrayed tables from the plenitude of national and local environmental groups.”
I wasn’t there, but I’m sure it was much more than the name that brought 7,000 people to Illinois. It was probably the right moment in time, the vision, and a lot of inspired work from people who did much more than they ever thought they could. Here are some ideas for a name:
Climax
Arise
New Dawn
Eclipse
These are some great ideas! I like the first one, “Youth Climate Crisis Convergence: Act Today. Imagine Tomorrow,” although I might suggest switching the oder to “Imagine Tomorrow, Act Today” (along the lines of Think Global, Act Local). I also really like the Climate CHANGE America idea, especially for it’s brevity (as per Josh’s suggestion), and the reference to changing America’s cultural and political climate.
Here’s a couple other suggestions and permutations exploring those ideas:
(These three try to get a little bit of the youth angle into the Climate CHANGE America name by referencing our concern for the future
Climate CHANGE America: Our Future, Today
Climate CHANGE America: Our Future, Our Responsibility
Climate CHANGE America: Imagine Tomorrow, Act Today
(Combining a couple of themes and explicating getting the youth thing in there, which is probably imporant
Climate CHANGE America: Youth Climate Crisis Convergence
Climate CHANGE America: National Youth Climate Convergence
Keep up the great work on this conference. I am trying to figure out a way to get a bunch of Oregon students all the way across the country for this conference. Let’s make it big!
Power Shift 2007
Stop global warming, start a revolution.
also, ditto on what Josh was saying, and i dig the Arise idea too.
As the guy who always ends up making the t-shirts I have one comment. KEEP IT SHORT
Hi from Iowa!
I am not a fan of the word “convergence.” I do not think it is as clear as “conference” or “summit.” We want to be creative, but we also need to be clear in what we are actually hosting. On that same note, the title of the conference needs to be very explicit in what it is: a national youth conference on climate change. So why don’t we call it that? “National Youth Conference on Climate Change?” Sure, it isn’t jazzy or super catchy, but that is what we can use the subtitle part for. I like Gabe’s suggestion of “Stop global warming, rebuild justice and create a new energy future.” With good graphics and a good website, we don’t need an ultra-creative title.
There are my two cents.
Janie
Hey guys,
To second Josh’s proposal, what do you guys think about Climax as the main title. We could include a subtitle such as “youth mobilizing to stop global warming” or “youth confronting the crisis of our generation.” I think that it helps to signify how important this is. We could see it as the end of the way we currently deal with climate change and the beginning of a new future were we radically expand the scope and breadth of our movement, creating a more diverse and infinitely more powerful YOUTH climate movement. This could even be seen as the climax of the old systems of oppression, unjust power distribution and ecological devastation and the beginning of a profound social revolution. I appreciate all of your comments, they have been considered in our discussion. We’d like to have the name by Saturday, so continue to comment and let us know what you all think. Look out for a poll coming soon.
I switch mine to Youth Power Shift.
It’s simply the best name ever, in my humble opinion.
Let’s see some polls!
Hello Amy, EAC, and everyone!
I must say that the brainstorming is generating some great conference names…
Personally, I really like using the term “Power Shift” although, upon looking into that a bit, I discovered that 2020 Vision just had a National tour in the Spring titled “PowerShift 2007: A National Tour on Energy Security + Global Warming”
I don’t know if this technically matters, but I just wanted to put that out there.
Additionally, I would like to reiterate Josh’s and a few others comments on the title being short; it’s the only way people will remember it.
SO, hear are the results of my brainstorming:
Climate Change America: Mobilizing the Youth Power Shift
Power Shift 2007: Climate Change Climax
I also like Jessy’s idea—-Climate Change America: Imagine Tomorrow, Act Today!
I suggested that we have a poll to see what people think. I hope we can do that.
I like
Climate CHANGE America: Our Future, Our Responsibility
I will see if I can get a poll up, unfortunately as we transfered hosting..it removed my earlier installation of polling software and I will have to come up with a good embeddable solution. Will try to get it up ASAP.
I also like [ Re:Generation ]
Btw, I like Clean Energy Generation: Rising to the Climate Challenge. But we are getting closer to some good ones. Thanks for all the great feedback.
How about just
Generation
?
Also, names for the next conference: Confluence or Multitude. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
A majority agreed on Climate CHANGE America, as the vote on th last conference call confirmed.
However, it appears that during the EAC retreat the few that could attend rejected the consensus vote for Climate CHANGE America and took a second vote to pass “Power Shift 2007″.
I can’t tell you how much I dislike “Power Shift 2007″. Unorginal, boring, vague … but most importantly it did not reach a true consensus. Apparently ground rules are thown out when a elite few do not get their way.
Like the rest of you, I am willing to devote long hours to making this thing work, but I am unwilling to allow such sloppiness.
We need to have an offical vote, poll, or conference call to finalize the name ASAP. Let’s get our shit together people.
Love,
David Martin
Lobby Committee