It’s Getting Hot In Here

The youth climate movement is being bombarded with advice and criticism from all directions!

Whether it’s Thomas Friedman bemoaning our generation to get off the “facebook” and into some “faces,” or Joe Romm slamming our movement for being too in-your-face with politicians about ACES, we just can’t catch a break.  We need to show our critics that we are serious about engaging politicians on all levels to create a clean energy future; that we are looking beyond the ACES battle and COP15. We need more Bryce Carters.

Bryce is a veteran of the Virginia climate movement.  Starting with the Focus the Nation 2008 teach- in campaign, and continuing with recruitment around 07 and 09 Powershift, VA. Powershift, and numerous campus based events, he has been a continuous leader in the Virginia Tech student movement for several years.    His activism and leadership has steadily grown parallel with the growth of the national climate movement, and this April, as many of us did, he decided to leap ahead.

During the Focus the Nation April, 2009 town hall event that Bryce helped organize, the Blacksburg Mayor and a town councilman both stated the need for a student/youth voice in local politics.  The light bulb went off in Bryce’s head. “I thought why not now.  A strong drive to step it up and represent the student community and climate movement at Virginia Tech was ignited in me,” he recalls.   “I knew it was a perfect time to get involved at the next level of political participation.  It’s an opportunity to serve my community but also serve as a model for other communities.”  That’s the moment when Bryce, still a full time student and activist, decided to run for Blacksburg Town Council.

Bryce’s transition to local politics was shaped by his experiences as an activist.   At the 2008 Focus the Nation teach- in Bryce learned that bringing diverse, and even competing voices to talk about solutions can be productive.  “Getting power companies, environmentalists, educators, and policy makers in the room together taught me the ways in which different institutions work, and if you start a dialogue and build relationships you can make things move.  That opened up my eyes to the potential of politics,” he remembers.

Organizing around the Powershift conferences in Blacksburg and attending them introduced Bryce to the potency of youth political power.  “If we bring together the energies of youth activists across the country in educating our neighbors about the issues we face and bring that momentum to local office, we can create a fundamental change in politics,” Bryce reminds us.

Bryce’s trips to the west coast’s most sustainable cities also fueled his political fire.  On a trip to Portland, Oregon he remembers thinking: “policy makers should combine different successful ideas and models and bring them to the East Coast; growth boundaries, sustainable development, why not for Blacksburg.  My community deserves that too.”

There is no doubt it will be an uphill battle for Bryce.  He is running on a progressive platform with the two pillars of clean energy policy, and a web 2.0 system that will increase democratic dialogue for the citizens of Blacksburg.  He faces nine candidates all vying for four seats on the town council, but he knows the campaign is more about the journey than the end result.  Bryce is blazing a path that many of us can follow in our communities, and even if many of us fail we will come out on the other side as more experienced organizers and leaders.

At a time when we are being criticized for not obeying the doctrine of “political reality” in our constant pressure and engagement, it seems we need to start following Bryce’s example.  We must continue to constructively engage our policy makers no matter what anyone says.  We must push them to be stronger, to be more vocal, and to be champions.  We must continue to commit the actions that directly disrupt or shut down the dirty industries and back door tactics that are killing our climate.  But we need a far sited vision for our movement as well.

If our politicians continue to gamble our future away under the banner of compromise, we must replace them.  Yes Blacksburg Town Council is a long way from DC, but in the words of Bryce Carter: “Local politics is just like activism you have to start from the bottom up.  Political campaigns are movements.  Here we are creating movement that can start at the local level, move to Richmond and from Richmond to DC.”  If enough of us take the Bryce Carter leap we could change the paradigm of industry dominated politics, to real progressive climate policies.

For those of us willing to take that leap Bryce has some advice:

“We’re in a new era of civic interactivity and engagement.  If you have the commitment, passion, cooperation, and capacity to actively engage everyone around you about issues that matter to your community, you have absolutely no reason not to run.

Don’t be afraid to get involved and seek ways to be active in your community. The presidential election showed how powerful the youth vote is, use that empowerment.

Be engaging and seek out opportunities to talk with citizens.  Take note of what resources are available to you through discussions.  List issues that reappear and research them!  As you progress, you will begin to see creative ways to work to solve these issues and empower citizens to be involved.

It is about the journey, not the result.  You may not get in office your first election, but you gain invaluable experience and insights that make you a better community organizer and get others more politically involved to actively care in your community.”

Well Bryce, if I was registered in Blacksburg instead of Oregon you would have my vote, and anyone else that takes that leap has it too!

To learn more about his campaign, visit Bryce’s website at:  www.brycecarter.com.