I went to the White House today, as one of 150 youth climate leaders invited to take part in the Clean Energy Forum.
Let me repeat that: youth activists were invited to discuss climate policy with 4 cabinet secretaries. This is not the same movement it was two years ago, and I think the changes have been overwhelmingly positive.
A little more than two years ago, a nervous and exuberant Energy Action Coalition gathered 5,000+ youth in DC for Powershift07. Van Jones said, ‘remember, remember, the 5th of November…’ and we raised some eyebrows in DC. But mostly, we sparked the feeling of a movement in a whole new circle of leaders: young people who went home with a sense of urgency and a sense of the plan.
Two years later, a huge youth election campaign, another Powershift, 100 coal plant permits denied and a lot of green jobs created, a small selection of an amazing movement of people were welcomed to the White House as partners in crafting the clean energy future WE want to see.
The forum didn’t result in any game-changing policy commitments, but it wasn’t supposed to. It was a chance for the administration to showcase just how much better they are than the Bush administration (an underwhelming comparison, perhaps), and for them to present a convincing argument of why they are doing a great job. I think they accomplished that, acknowledging that they can do more to stop dirty energy and lead on the clean and just economy, while placing a large chunk of blame on the Senate for their deadly inaction.
The forum succeeded wildly in a different way, and an incredibly important way. We were all in the room together – a couple dozen administration staff, 80 or 90 youth leaders affiliated with the Energy Action Coalition, and another 40 or 50 clean energy leaders. We got to see what we look like, where we come from, and what issues really move us. With that focused cross-section of the movement, I realized more than ever, that we are such a diverse generation, and we are a diverse movement united in a very large goal.
Tonight, as I digest what happened today, I feel most moved by the incredible diversity of the people involved in this movement and in the forum itself. Rio, a mountaintop removal activist from North Carolina asked when we can expect a fair, ambitious and binding climate treaty. A student identifying as a Chinook native from Washington state demanded to know what was being done about rampant nuclear, hydro and coal exploitation on native lands. Brett, an organizer in Missouri, asked Lisa Jackson directly: when will the EPA deny the 79 pending permits for mountaintop removal. I could go on and on.
We weren’t there to play up our own organizations, and we weren’t there to bask in the bright lights of the White House (although many of us took pictures behind the podium.) We were there to represent a huge, diverse and passionate movement that stands together in its pursuit of a comprehensive solution to the problems we see so clearly.
Alex Steffen at Worldchanging.com wrote an amazing piece a few weeks ago about why the youth of this country should be pissed.
To be young and aware today is to see your elders burning our civilization down around our ears. To hear scientists tell us we’re in the final countdown, with the risk of runaway climate change (along with the ecosystem collapses and horrific human suffering it will bring) mounting with every day we run business as usual. To hear nearly a chorus of credible voices—from doctors and scientists to retired generals and former bankers— warning that to lose this fight is to lose everything that makes our world livable and gives the future hope.
And in the face of that adversity, we grow stronger and more united, and smarter. By showing the administration who we are, how serious we are, and how smart we are, we’ve given them fuel for their work, and called them out where they fall short. And today’s event, watched by thousands of leaders and rippling outwards through the social media reflecting pool, showed a generation of activists that we are being taken seriously. The forum was smart because it places us as organizers in the drivers seat to continue building larger and larger campaigns to the scale we need.
Its a bad week for news. This forum won’t get much coverage in the main-stream media. Afghanistan is big, and today there’s the jobs forum. Copenhagen is starting, and a stupid incident of hacked emails is still poisoning public discourse on climate. Furthermore, its clear the world won’t sign a treaty in Copenhagen.
Two years ago, after Powershift, I watched nervously the reports coming from Bali, the COP13 conference. I felt powerless, a tiny speck while powerful negotiators changed treaty text for the worse and made snide remarks in the forums. I remember one night getting so frustrated that I had to walk away from a final paper I was writing. I stumbled around in the snow for a while getting more and more worked up about the impossible state of the world. Three hours later, on a windy hill overlooking my college, I shouted at the wind in frustration and decided to increase my commitment to working for this movement for change and against injustice.
The next day, the final day of Bali, passionate and bold words from Papua New Guinea forced the US negotiators to back down on a small point. This helped make the agreement to craft a binding climate treaty in two years. The agreement in Bali set the stage for Copenhagen to be the big kahuna, the conference when the successor to Kyoto would be signed and the world, with the US on board, would get serious about tackling climate.
We won’t get the fair, ambitious and binding treaty we need from Copenhagen. The best we can hope for is a strong interim agreement, and a binding promise to agree on a treaty in 6 months, by which time Obama can have a senate bill in hand and the world can move on. That’s the best case scenario. I’m not sure I need to get into the worse case scenarios, because no matter what happens, its clear that this movement needs to be a thousand times bigger, smarter and ready to push a thousand times harder.
Lets build off of the momentum of the White House forum. Lets be prepared to call Copenhagen a failure if it deserves it, and lets power through December to accelerate this movement into the fights ahead of us.
Yes!
Morgan, excellent reflections on yesterday’s YCEF conference. It was unquestionably a pretty amazing and precedent-setting exercise in participatory democracy and open government, and a great step for the movement.
I have to admit, my expectations were far exceeded for how open the forum was. To be honest, I had expected a forum for the White House to essentially strut their stuff, do a dog and pony show for you all, while making the youth movement feel special for being invited to the “White House” (or at least the OMB Building), all part of an effort to woo some more foot soldiers to back the Administration’s beleaguered climate policy push.
Instead, we saw an uncensored opportunity for youth to ask direct questions – often pointed, edgy ones that identified exactly where the Administration, for all it’s progress, has fallen short. And on the other side of those questions were four cabinet-level Administration reps. That does NOT happen every day, or at every event.
The online component of the forum was very effective as well for those of us who couldn’t make the trip on short notice (or the dozens of other youth leaders who weren’t invited directly). It was an impressive use of the internet to extend the reach of this forum into the dorm rooms, homes and workplaces of thousands more Americans, and allow a two-way conversation in real-time. Not bad!
Furthermore, while we didn’t get any earthshaking new policy commitments – which as you noted, wasn’t the point – the White House staff seemed generally interested in figuring out how better to directly engage on an ongoing basis with our community. They heard plenty of suggestions, that’s for sure! Two suggestions in particular — creating a White House Youth Climate Advisory Council, and partnering with Focus the Nation to hold several more forums like this one across the country — received plenty of endorsement, and I hope those suggestions don’t go unheeded.
All in all, pretty impressive. Thanks for the thoughts Morgan, and for all your passion and commitment. All the best,
Jesse
Thank you for everything, Morgan. I really enjoyed your post.
Great piece! Also, kudos to all of the leaders who asked smart, tough questions yesterday. I was watching online and was glad you all pulled no punches.
Thank you Morgan for writing this and for being a part of the historic moment.
I also feel privileged to have been given the amazing opportunity to have been around so many amazing leaders yesterday. If these folks represent the future leadership caliber of this country, I sleep much more soundly.
Thanks for sharing these thoughts Morgan. Like Jesse, I too was skeptical at first about the event and what it would accomplish, but in the end I was impressed. The administration definitely deserves props for this effort, and I hope it continues in the future.
As we celebrate, we have to get serious about strengthening the Senate bill. This is the most important piece of legislation in the world that will determine the course of the clean energy economy, and it has major problems that must be addressed (I mentioned some here).
Gabriel Elsner hit the mark at the event when he told Secretary Chu we aren’t doing enough and asked, how are we going to achieve the new Apollo project for clean energy? I’ll expand on that: how are we going to achieve a new global climate framework based on large-scale investment in immediate technology development and deployment, as opposed to binding emissions caps based on distant future targets? And how are we going to train the tens of thousands of young energy scientists and engineers we need to drive this revolution and keep America competitive? These questions have led several students and me to launch a new group called Americans for Energy Leadership, and we’re excited to work with Energy Action to advance Obama’s clean energy education proposal in the months ahead.
Again, thanks for your leadership and keep up the good work.
Godspeed,
Teryn
Morgan,
Reading your account of the forum and your moment of frustration and deepened commitment in the snow, I’m feeling ever-more stirred, fired up, and ready to go.
A dear friend, Omar Zubaedi, recently wrote a mind-blowing poem I’d like to share called “Each and Every One”:
Like pine cones masterfully
shaped
for protecting and releasing
Or Jay’s beak and tongue masterfully
shaped
to extract
the feather winged seed
We are Masterfully Shaped to ride the currents
of These Times
The great waves of cataclysm and reformation
The mires and tangles of confusion and cruelty
The blessed pulses of new life, new ways, new mind
Trusting and becoming your own particular
deep nature
again and again, Attune to
the Unimaginable. Like those ancient ones
who became infatuated
with sparkling warmth
shafting through
their watery home and,
Unforeseeable, began to harvest photons.
Like Sojourner Truth, Albert Einstein, Desmond Tutu,
like the first ancient potmakers, first ancient seed planters:
Strive for and Expect the Unforecastable.
Like Gazelle shaping Cheetah shaping Baboon
shaping Grass Seed shaping Soil shaping Gazelle
in the richness of relations co-arising,
each and every one of us Masterfully Shaped
for These Times.
Wow, I’ve been totally thrilled at all the attention this post has gotten, and such powerful insights in ya’lls responses.
Zo: great poem, for sure going to remember that one
Bravo!
I ain’t young anymore, darn it. But to Morgan and the other interested cohorts, I pose one basic question – what sacrifices will your generation be willing to make to create the differences necessary? Would you be willing to start a one-child campaign? Would you be willing to peacefully stop construction of fossil fuel power plants? Would you be willing to demand universal two-year civilian service to your country? Would you be willing to go on mass hunger strikes on the Capitol grounds? The folks holding onto the reins of power (energy companies, military weapons manufactorers, prison builders, tobacco companies, et cetera) don’t really include you in their plans. So I ask again – What sacrifices will your generation be willing to make?
For Earth’s Sake, I wish you all the hope adn luck in the world.
Tim: Excellent question. In my mind, young people are making huge sacrifices all over the country. From the people working for no pay to organize direct action campaigns against coal, to people using their valuable school time to organize state and national level policy work.
Beyond that, we are ready to work hard to build the future we want to see. Honestly, if you want to see change in this country, put youth climate leaders in positions where they can start implementing ideas.
Hey! This was a great post. Morgan, your writing really helped me visualize the progress this movement has made in the past couple of years. Let’s also thank the current administration for its responsiveness and acknowledgment.