It\’s Getting Hot In Here

Breakthrough Generation, a new national youth organization sponsored by the Breakthrough Institute, has officially launched. Breakthrough Generation has two directors and thirteen Fellows for the summer and beyond – some of the top young thinkers and organizers in the country (see profiles below) – and for the next two months we are working together in our Oakland office to help advance a more powerful, intellectual, expansive youth progressive movement. Our blog and website are located here:

>> www.breakthroughgen.org

We also have a page on the Breakthrough Institute, our host think tank:

>> www.thebreakthrough.org/generation

Breakthrough Generation was founded on the premise that young people are today faced with an unprecedented opportunity to define a new politics for a new era. In the wake of the collapse of the Bush presidency, amidst the drift of American political identities and the emergence of new political fault lines, a new politics is being born. Its shape has yet to be determined, but youth are already taking the lead. Young adults are shaping the course of the 2008 elections, and the youth energy movement has become the largest student movement in decades. How young Americans seize this opportunity may define the course of this country for years to come.

Between 2008 and 2010, Breakthrough Generation aims to capture this opportunity by fostering the development of a youth movement capable of fully grappling with the scale and complexity of today’s greatest challenges and advancing large-scale solutions in the near and long term. We believe that any effective and long-lasting movement must speak to core values and philosophies, not issues and interests. We also believe that effective activism today is dramatically different from that of the past, and the most powerful movements of the 21st century will be those based on “thought activism.” As a result, we situate ourselves at the intersection of policy, politics, psychology, and philosophy – seeking to bridge the gap between youth activism and intellectualism.

Breakthrough Generation – like our parent think tank, the Breakthrough Institute – is committed to creating a politics that recognizes the central importance of prosperity and security to our ability to become creative, unique, and caring individuals. Our overarching mission is to overcome ecological crises through a new kind of global economic development that increases security, expands opportunity, and unleashes human innovation. We see the creation of a new global clean energy economy as the defining challenge and opportunity of our time and the center of the neo-progressive movement.

During the summer of 2008, Breakthrough Generation Fellows will help the Breakthrough Institute to create and advance a new national and global agenda for clean energy technology policy. One group of approximately five to six Fellows will research the specific public programs and incentives needed for technological breakthroughs in the performance and price of clean energy technology, either for a series of articles and blogs or a large white paper. The second group of six to seven Fellows will focus on Breakthrough’s political strategy to advance this technology agenda, including a strategy for the web, blogging, campus and student organizing, and the election and inauguration of a new Congress and administration.

We look forward to working with everyone on It’sGettingHotInHere and beyond, and we hope our efforts with strengthen the movement to achieve a more secure, just, and prosperous future for us all.

And for those in the Bay Area this summer, we look forward to meeting you!

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Teryn Norris
Associate Director
Teryn Norris is Associate Director of the Breakthrough Fellows Program and Founding Director of Breakthrough Generation, the youth initiative of the Breakthrough Institute. Teryn was previously a Research Fellow at the Breakthrough Institute and American Environics, where he co-authored “Fast, Clean, Cheap: Cutting Global Warming’s Gordian Knot,” a white paper on U.S. federal energy policy for the Nathan Cummings Foundation that advocates major public investments in clean energy. Its findings were published in the Spring 2008 edition of the Harvard Law and Policy Review. Teryn studied political science and economics as an undergraduate at Johns Hopkins University. He served as president of his class and in 2006 founded and led the Hopkins Energy Action Team, a student initiative supported by Energy Action and the Chesapeake Climate Action Network that won its campaign to achieve a university-wide climate policy. Teryn now serves as the student representative to the new JHU President’s Task Force on Climate Change. During his sophomore year Teryn was Research Assistant to Dr. Steve H. Hanke, one of the world’s most renowned monetary economists. Teryn has also worked for the Sierra Club and Environment California, where he was involved in advocacy and fundraising for the California Global Warming Solutions Act. He helped organize Power Shift 2007, has written for Alternet.org, and blogs on ItsGettingHotInHere.org, WattHead, and the Breakthrough Blog.

Jesse Jenkins
Associate Director
Jesse Jenkins is a policy advocate, activist, researcher and blogger. Before joining the Breakthrough Institute, Jesse spent two years as a Research and Policy Associate at the Renewable Northwest Project where he worked to advance the development of the Pacific Northwest’s abundant renewable energy potential. While at RNP, Jesse helped secure the passage and successful implementation of the Oregon Renewable Energy Act. He is also proud of his successful intervention in a number of Oregon regulatory dockets that helped block new pulverized coal plant development and ensure utilities’ prioritize energy efficiency, conservation and renewable energy. In addition to his work at RNP, Jesse worked part-time as a researcher and software developer for the Department of Physics at the University of Oregon, where he developed an interactive model to explore the effects of the changing composition of vehicle fleets, including increased use of alternative vehicles and fuels. Jesse has a long history of climate activism and is a co-founder of the Cascade Climate Network, the Northwest’s largest network of youth working to tackle the climate crisis and build a sustainable, just, and prosperous future. The founder and blogmaster of the site, WattHead – Energy News and Commentary, Jesse has also been an active blogger since 2005 and writes at several sites throughout the blogosphere. Jesse graduated in 2006 with a B.S. from the Robert D. Clark Honors College at the University of Oregon (magna cum laude), where he completed an interdisciplinary course of study in computer science, philosophy, liberal arts, political science & energy studies. When not trying to “save the world,” Jesse enjoys rock climbing, cycling, ultimate frisbee, disc golf and handcrafted beers.

Zach Arnold, a native of Swarthmore, PA, is a sophomore at Harvard College studying social theory and environmental policy. He serves as co-chair and communications director of the Harvard College Environmental Action Committee and is currently leading a major campaign for climate neutrality and expanded climate research at Harvard. He also works as an urban gardener in the Cambridge school system, and will be a delegate to this year’s session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development. Zach is particularly interested in deforestation, agriculture policy, and the effect of institutional design on conservation outcomes. Before coming to Harvard, he spent time working for the National Park Service and as a farmhand in Pennsylvania and Italy. In his spare time, he cooks, bikes around, and reads far too many blogs.

Helen Aki, is a sophomore from Bard College at Simon’s Rock. Her interest in environmental, political and social studies have developed ever since her middle school years, and she is currently pursuing a concentration in Environmental Studies, Society and the Environment, or Sustainable Development, depending on what school she transfers to for her junior year. Helen recently wrote two chapters comparing environmental and ecological economics for a compilation of research perspectives on global peak oil production. Two years at a small liberal arts college has left her inundated and frustrated with theory, and she is anxious to channel theory into praxis. Recently, she has become interested in the potential of decentralized indigenous or grassroots power and the notion of “everyday resistance,” and has begun to appreciate the pragmatism of those involved in such politics, compared to disengaged academics. She is currently working on a black and white photography project, “exposing modernity through the bodies of mobilization,” in an effort to find a nexus of political acts, the aesthetic of modernity and community, interference with the pace of time, and what people look like when they think no one is looking. She is also a singer-songwriter.

Rachel Barge, is a graduating senior at UC Berkeley and a 2007 recipient of the David Brower Youth Award. Last year she co-created The Green Initiative Fund (TGIF), a student fee referendum at Berkeley that successfully secured more than $2 million over ten years for sustainability projects on campus. TGIF funds clean energy, sustainable transportation, improved energy efficiency, water conservation, green internships, and improved recycling and composting programs. Rachel also founded The Sustainability Team (Steam), the central environmental student group at Berkeley. Steam implements green projects such as expanded bio-diesel for the campus fleet and created The Local — the first organic, local, student-run cooperative produce stand on campus. Rachel is now working to expand The Green Initiative Fund into a national program that will help university campuses nationwide secure hundreds of millions of dollars for renewable energy. In her free time Rachel loves cooking vegan desserts in her co-op, playing frisbee, teaching her Organic Gardening class, and biking in the Berkeley hills.

Genevieve Bennett, a 21 year-old New Jersey native, is primarily interested in the political economy of “sustainability” and environmental policy. She is intrigued by the implications for economic development and trade of a renewable energy-based economy, and by the possibilities for participation by different actors — public, private, and civil society. Most of her professional experience has been within the field of human rights, particularly in research and capacity-building for organizations working for social change. She interned at the Center for the Study of Human Rights, and worked as a project assistant at the Research Center for Leadership in Action, assisting in social science research on leadership in social justice work. Most recently she has been working for the New York City Commission to the United Nations planning an international summit, “Climate Change and Public Health: the Urban Policy Connection.” She expects to pursue a Master’s degree next year at the London School of Economics in environmental policy. She recently received her B.A. from the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University, concentrating in international political economy and political theory. At NYU, she was a co-founder of the interdisciplinary undergraduate Journal of Global Affairs. Genevieve currently lives in Washington Heights, New York. She plays for a soccer team in Brooklyn, and likes to search the city for cheap meals and occasionally escape to go rock climbing.

Joanna Calabrese, is currently a sophomore environmental science and policy major at the University of College Park, MD. In her freshman year, she co-founded a student group, Clean Energy for UMD in response to the lack of climate activism on her campus. Clean Energy for UMD successfully gauged student interest in funding green initiatives on campus and was integral in achieving a state wide victory to make all Maryland System schools carbon neutral. Joanna was elected president of Clean Energy for UMD in the spring of 2007 and is currently working to unite students behind clean energy investment. In response to student demands for a more sustainable campus, the President of the University of Maryland signed onto the President’s Climate Commitment, and Joanna was selected to serve as a student representative on the school’s Climate Action Workgroup, working on administrative and educational policy for CO2 emission reductions. Throughout this, she served as a legislator in her school’s Student Government Association, writing and passing policies in support of environmentally responsible campus affairs while working to register over 250 new voters. She also assisted in planning and organizing Recyclemania 2008 for the University of Maryland and helped to unite students to create a “Green Groups Roundtable” on her campus. Joanna has been interning this past semester in Washington DC for the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, researching legislative initiatives, attending Congressional hearings, and undertaking press and media projects for the committee.

Alisha Fowler, graduated from Hamilton College in 2006 with a B.A. in Geoscience and Environmental Studies. While at Hamilton, Alisha co-led the Hamilton Environmental Action Group and worked with the college community to bring more sustainable energy practices to their campus situated on the edge of the Adirondack Mountains. She still volunteers with Graduates for a Greener Hamilton. Alisha has spent the past year working in Communications with the National Wildlife Federation in their office of Congressional and Federal Affairs in Washington, D.C. Her media work with NWF has focused primarily on global warming and legislation currently being considered by Congress. To that end, she has written and distributed a weekly newsletter about global warming to reporters nationwide. She is also actively engaged in the blogosphere and online social media strategies. Before joining NWF, Alisha worked with PIRG as a campus organizer on the Campus Climate Challenge, and as a museum educator at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. Alisha senses the enormous urgency and economic opportunities associated with global warming and strongly desires to aid the transition to a clean energy society. She is most passionate about utilizing her academic background in science and professional experience in communications to engage the public in creating positive environmental and economic change.

Lindsey Franklin, graduated from Middlebury College in 2007 with a B.A. in Environmental Studies/Philosophy and a passion for climate change solutions. The summer and fall of 2007 found her in New Hampshire for the Presidential primary, working on three consecutive campaigns to highlight climate change as a key voting issue in the 2008 elections. She helped organize a five day walk for clean energy across New Hampshire in the beginning of August, then joined with the Step it Up campaign to coordinate hundreds of climate rallies nationwide in November. She spent the last months before the primary co-directing a campaign with the League of Conservation Voters to increase climate change visibility and coverage at candidate events, sparking and developing her interest in a socially just national climate policy that also spurs economic opportunity. Living now in San Francisco, she misses the snow of New England but loves the thriving culture of city life and the extraordinary amount of environmental and social justice action in the Bay Area. She also can’t wait to explore everything mountainous within just a few hours of the city.

Chris Knight currently works for UC Davis sociologist Fred Block on a project that seeks to uncover some of the government’s hidden roles in the economy, and is also employed as a math T.A. at De Anza high school in Richmond. He wrote his senior thesis on the influence of political variables upon the development of economic thought, and maintains strong interests in economics, humanistic psychology, and clean energy. Growing up in a rural and somewhat conservative household, Chris is especially interested in seeing how Breakthrough can build diverse coalitions that create solutions to seemingly intractable problems. When he’s not scheming for social optimization, he enjoys trail running and listening to all kinds of music. He graduated from UC Davis in June 2007 with a B.A. in economics.

Ashley Lin is a second year rhetoric major at the University of California, Berkeley. Originally from Minnesota, she loves that California is sunny most of the year and appreciates not having to run through snow in the winter. She has spent a summer as an intern for the Institute for Food and Development Policy and has written about bio-fuels for the student science journal The Triple Helix. Ashley plans to minor in Chinese and is fluent in the mandarin dialect. Concurrently with Chinese, she is learning French and will spend a semester abroad in Lyon. Ashley enjoys watermelon and is known for her ability to eat an entire half by herself. She is very excited to be working with such an intelligent group of people this summer!

Adam Rodriques is a rising junior at Yale University, where he is majoring in Political Science. More specifically, he is focusing his studying on the ongoing crises in the Middle East on a regional as well as a geopolitical scale. By combining scholarship in history, religion, psychology, cognitive science, and political science, Adam hopes to be able to approach the situation from a sufficiently comprehensive perspective, both in academia and in the rest of his career, which he wants to spend working in a think tank. Adam is also a member of the Center on Security and Foreign Policy of the Roosevelt Institution’s Yale chapter, where he has collaborated on a policy paper examining the feasibility of an international fund to promote peace efforts in the Middle East, as well as an ongoing project that is looking into bringing together Kenyan youths across tribal lines.

Molly Tsongas is focused on using social marketing and community organizing tools to mobilize Americans to create a clean energy economy. She served as the Pennsylvania State Director for SmartPower, a non-profit marketing organization for clean energy and energy efficiency from 2006-2008. In that role, Molly managed the Pennsylvania Clean Energy Communities Campaign, a program that recruits municipalities to purchase and market clean energy in their communities. In 2007, she was trained by The Climate Project to give “Inconvenient Truth” presentations to educate the public about climate change. Molly founded the Estabrook Woods Alliance, an organization that conducts community organizing and direct action to preserve a forest in Massachusetts. Molly graduated from Brown University in 2005 with a B.A. in Environmental Studies.

Natasha Yurk is a junior Social Policy and Legal Studies major from Northwestern University. Originally from Indianapolis, Natasha has been competing in speech and debate for the past seven years. College debate has exposed her to some of her greatest research interests, including African development and innovation in renewable energy (part of the reason that she is drawn to the Breakthrough Institute). Next year’s research topic is Latin American politics and foreign relations, one of her favorite areas of study. At Northwestern, Natasha is currently working on a project called the Northwestern Political Forum, a bipartisan, open forum, political discussion group. She has also worked on several campus judicial boards and plans on becoming a lawyer/judge/law professor in the near future.

Adam Zemel is finishing up his first year at Brandeis University in Waltham, MA. He grew up in the D.C. area, where political and governmental awareness and discussion are a fact of life. A philosophy major, he is deeply interested in philosophy of language and theories of knowledge. Adam borrowed Break Through from a friend last November, and has been exploring the ecological and social ideas proposed in the book for the past few months. He is drawn to the Breakthrough Institute for the broad and big ideas about progressive politics, the recognition of a need to create a new social contract in America, and the acknowledgment of material security as a precondition for ecological concern and awareness. The understanding that humans organize their world and understand their individual places within it through narratives and stories, and the recognition that this is more profound a fact than liberals have appreciated up until now, is the reason he identifies with the Breakthrough Institute’s mission.