It\’s Getting Hot In Here

By Jesse Jenkins, reporting for the Energy Collective and WattHead – Energy News and Commentary

After a long weekend at Power Shift 2009, I’m pretty exhausted. I’ll publish a full recap soon of today’s historic events at Capitol Hill, which saw thousands of young activists brave snow to storm the Capitol to rally for a clean, just energy future and a robust new energy economy and hold more than 350 lobby visits with representatives from all 50 states. Several young leaders also delivered powerful testimony to the House Select Committee for Energy Independence and Global Warming while many more joined the 2,500 citizens who simultaneously risked arrest to protest dirty energy sources like coal at the Capitol Power Plant that heats the U.S. capitol with coal and natural gas.

For now, here’s a collection of sights and sounds from the weekend at Power Shift 2009 (many courtesy of the amazing Power Shift media team), including videos of keynote speakers including EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, Congressman Ed Markey and celebrated green jobs advocate, Van Jones, all below the fold…
Continue reading ‘Sights and Sounds of Power Shift 2009′

By Jesse Jenkins, reporting for the Energy Collective and WattHead – Energy News and Commentary

Billy Parish is an original co-founder of the Energy Action Coalition, the organizers of the historic Power Shift 2009 conference that has brought 12,000 young people together from the across the country this weekend in Washington D.C. this weekend. Billy is currently an Ashoka fellow working with Green for All, 1Sky, Energy Action Coalition and Black Mesa Water Coalition to help align efforts to advocate for a clean, just and sustainable energy future. I spoke with him Sunday evening as the thousands of young Power Shifters attended trainings where they prepared to ascend Capitol Hill tomorrow for the largest climate and clean energy lobby day in U.S. history.

Jesse Jenkins: Thanks Billy for all your work, and for speaking with me at the end of a long weekend. Billy, in this youth climate and clean energy movement, you qualify as an aged veteran. You were an original co-founder and the first executive director of the Energy Action Coalition, and have been around to witness this movement grow and take shape. What are the key trends and changes you’ve witnessed, and how do you see them taking shape at Power Shift 2009?

Billy Parish: Size, diversity, power. Those are the key trends. I see.

On size, we’ve seen a doubling of the attendance in just over a year between Power Shift 2007 in November 2007 and this weekend’s Power Shift 2009. And we’ve actually seen that kind of pattern in the early Days of Action Energy Action Coalition organized, so maybe there’s something there. The first Campus Clean Energy Day had 70 campuses involved. The next had about 135 and then it went to 270 when we did it again. Now, we’re doubling in attendance from 6,000 to 12,000 for Power Shift.

Looking around this weekend, I can also see how far we’ve come in terms of diversity, both when you look at attendees and speakers. That’s something that has been a real intentional focus and I think makes a huge difference and strengthens our power. Continue reading ‘Size, Diversity and Power: Billy Parish on the Growing Youth Climate Movement at Power Shift 2009′

Yesterday was a long day.  From 8:00 am – 11:00 pm Power Shifters roamed the DC Convention Center to attend panels, workshops, network (sleep on the floor occasionally), and hear from speakers like Jerome Ringo, Jessy Tolkan, and Rep. Ed Markey.

It was late by the time The Roots finished shaking up the crowd with their funk (especially Tuba Gooding Jr!!).  I was ready for bed, and so were many around me.  But as we wandered slightly dazed out of the main hall, a new energy ignited around us, and it was contagious.

A fresh and fiery spark swept through the crowd and lifted us up in the name of that very clean energy revolution that brought us all here this weekend.

Alliance for Climate Education brought Flip Video cams to try and capture moments throughout Power Shift and after last night, we definitely have some to share.

Here’s a video from the rally on the steps of the Convention Center (after we were politely asked to leave), getting ready to head to the White House to see if Obama was still awake:

Check out below the fold for more! Continue reading ‘Beyond Caffeine: the energy of 12,000 people’

Refining oil from tar sands has been a relevant topic being profiled throughout workshops and panels here at Power Shift ’09.  More of the United States’ oil imports come from Canada (2 million barrels a day) than Saudi Arabia (1.3 million), according to the Energy Information Administration. Canada’s oil industry is fueled by the Alberta Tar Sands, accounting for 47% of produced oil in Canada. The oil sands cover an area the size of Florida and are an environmental disaster that is impacting people across the country.

This video is but a snapshot of the tar sands and the issues they entail:

For more information from all areas, or to join up with organizations working on solutions to the tar sands, check out the following links: Continue reading ‘For a Taste of the Tar Sands’