It’s Getting Hot In Here

While climate talks were raging in Indonesia, a representative closer to home (that is, if you call the U.S.A. home) was feeling the global warming heat.

After six months, students on 3 college campuses in upstate New York can claim victory– and not just for themselves, but for the rest of us on planet earth, too.

See, this longtime coming victory wasn’t something small like a lacrosse championship or a what team can raise the most money selling girl scout cookies competition, or even a science triathlon. No, these students were engaged in something bigger than themselves, than their friends, than their school.

This was huge.

These students were thinking globally, and long-term. So you ask: what was this awesome victory?

After months of grassroots campaigning pressure, these students convinced their congressional representative, Kristen Gillibrand, to sign onto HR 1590, the Safe Climate Act.

This past July, students at Bard College, Skidmore College and SUNY Geneseo began pressuring Representative Gillibrand to support the Safe Climate Act. A Change It lobby visit to Rep. Gillibrand kicked off the campaign, and was followed by months of strategic pressure on all fronts. Gillibrand was continually aware of the students’ campaign and their demand that she sign on to HR 1590. From the community picnic where she was approached by students, to the student petitions and calls into her office, to the banner hanging and the picture she received of the 20-person photo op, Gillibrand heard the “sign on” message loud and clear.

And she kept feeling the heat. This November, the planets aligned and 2 huge, grassroots-driven, student-focused climate change action events occurred nearly simultaneously. Step it Up events were numerous in Gillibrand’s district, including one that Gillibrand’s staff attended. At Power Shift Skidmore students lobbied Ben Rosenbaum, Gillibrand’s environmental staffer. Rosenbaum said that Gillibrand couldn’t sign onto HR 1590, but was committed to global warming solutions. Sounds good but we’re talking major environmental destruction and major species loss if we don’t act soon on global warming. So, um: Not good enough.

On a late November conference call with students, Gillibrand agreed to sign on to HR 1590, but she did not give a date, and Rosenbaum hustled her off the phone. Rather than let Gillibrand rest on her laurels by sitting on empty promises, students kept the pressure on, asking her and her staff at every opportunity to give them a date when she’d sign onto the bill. Student organizers continued to call the representative. After receiving word from her office that Gillibrand was indeed on the bill, the students delivered a photo petition to the representative’s Saratoga Springs district office, and 60 student supporter calls into Gillibrand’s DC office thanked her for her commitment to combating climate change.

On December 5th, Gillibrand’s co-sponsorship appeared on the congressional register, making 6 months of hard work pay off in an absolutely official, absolutely wonderful way. And thus proving what we already knew was true, but hey, it’’s sure good to have it proved once again: student grassroots work really can change the world.