It’s the day after MLK Day, and the eve of Obama’s inauguration.
In light of insufficient progress on national climate and energy policy, and a disappointing outcome in Copenhagen, it’s clear as a movement that we need to stop and reflect on our path forward. It’s been great to see this discussion on IGHIH with a number of really thoughtful posts. We got an idea of where we came from, learned about the importance of ambition and going big, and reflected on what we can learn from Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement. I’d like to continue the conversation, and have us reflect on what it means to be entering a new decade.
In this decade, the Millennial generation will come to power, becoming the largest voting constituency and entering the workforce. How do we want to define our decade?
We need a movement wide discussion, and a movement wide vision. A vision built from the ground-up with the numbers to stand behind it to make it powerful.
How do we want this decade to be defined? What should our political objectives be to achieve this, and perhaps more importantly what are WE, collectively ready to work towards and achieve in the next ten years.
From the beginning we’ve believed that we could be the power shift that we wanted to see, that power shift wasn’t just a name of a campaign, it was a representation of who we are and what we stand for; that by simultaneously working on community empowerment and clean energy development we could bring about a power shift both literally and figuratively.
If we do that, we can define this decade. In fact, perhaps we already have without knowing it. Will we continue to define our decade with action like Southwestern University did when under student urging, it committed to 100% clean energy. Will we continue to define the decade by kicking coal off our campuses, like Cornell University announced it would last week.
Coming off of MLK Day, and on the eve of President Obama’s inauguration, this an important time for this reflection and declaration of self (movement)-ambition. In progressive circles around the country, it’s becoming clear that we have to dig deeper into how change is actually made. It doesn’t start with our political representatives, it starts with us, with the people who elect them. Developing a national vision and hosting a national youth vote (like the Aussies did) could be our first opportunity to go BIG, and put us on the road to going even bigger.
A number of us, members of the Energy Action Coalition, leaders of youth networks across the country, and grassroots activists across the country have been kicking around the discussion about how we would like to define this decade, and how we think we could go about doing it. The conversation has only only begun and we want to open it up to a broader group of people. This Wednesday, January 20th, at 9 ET we’ll be hosting a conference call for people to share their thoughts on how they think we should define our decade, and how we can engage the broader movement in this discussion. Join this Facebook event to RSVP and receive call-in info.
In the next couple of weeks, our elected representatives will be making their own efforts to define this decade. This week Senator Murkowski will push forward an initiative to rollback the Clean Air Act, which will threaten our ability to reign in global warming pollution and protect our communities. On the 27th, we’ll be listening for President Obama to speak to his commitment to addressing our economic and environmental woes with investment in a new green economy during his State of the Union Address. These are critical moments to have our voices heard, to leverage our power, so let’s definitely do that. And let’s do it defiantly and forcefully, so that we aren’t distracted from our important work: defining the decade on our own terms, based on our own generations and communities needs and aspirations. Let’s not get downtrodden when President Obama doesn’t offer us everything we need in his address – let’s move forward confidently understanding that change never comes from the top; understanding the political limitations he is under in a system that favors polluters and corporations; and understanding that as a generation we are setting out to do nothing short of re-defining that system to deliver us the change we need.
So hop on the call and become apart of defining our decade – the future needs your inspiration, your passion, and your commitment.
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Thanks for this thoughtful post Whit. A better, more timely question could not be asked.
We have everything we need to create the future we have been working for. We have been carrying it in our back pockets, sometimes unaware that it is there. This last year has been an explosion of empowerment, of refining our visions. We created the largest youth climate conference in history, we drew a deep breath, and we screamed into the halls of Congress, and we created a nationwide network of intelligent leaders that continues to grow.
None of these things needed to happen — WE made them happen. This is ours.
I remember shivering in my cheap wool suit, locked arm-in-arm in front of the coal-fired power plant in Washington DC. It was the capitol climate action, I was marching in the streets with thousands of people that were manifesting their commitment for a livable future. And I was scared.
I stood in that frigid, arm-locked line, blocking the main gate to the capitol power plant, worried that my toes were going to get frostbite. I remember jumping up and down to stay warm. I remember the tone of the chants gradually changing from confidence to carrying a tinge of desperation. I remember when the police buses arrived and officers lined up in front of us with plastic handcuffs. I remember volunteers coming to us and looking at us kindly and saying, “OK, this is it, if you want to step out of line, now is the time to do it. No one will judge you. If you stay, remember to position your wrists side to side so the handcuffs hurt less.” I remember asking myself if I really had it in me to go to jail. I asked for a sign.
At that moment, a spontaneous eruption occurred, those of us in the line tripled our volume, we matched notes, we harmonized, and we all stared at the police. We tapped into future generations, we tapped into the deepest traditions of our sacred democracy, we tapped into each other, and we rang; faces pulsing, tears in our eyes, “THIS IS WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE!”
Nothing in my life has been as rewarding as being carried by my deepest values and loyalties past the threshold of fear. I will never be the same. I am permanently inspired.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had something to say about fear. I think he would say the same to us today. And remember, he was in his 20′s, and he would probably post to this blog himself. Here in an excerpt from an interview:
INTERVIEWER: “You’ve had some rather personal and trying experience yourself. Are you afraid?” MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR: “No, I am not. My attitude is that this is a great cause. It is a great issue that we are confronted with. And that the consequences for my personal life are not particularly important. It is a triumph of a cause that I am concerned about. And I have always felt that, ultimately, along the way of life, an individual must stand up and be counted, and be willing to face the consequences, whatever they are. And if they are filled with fear, they cannot do it.”
We face the greatest cause life has ever known, for indeed its very existence, and its future existence, is ours to determine.
To answer your question, Whit, we will define this decade as the one where we call on the greatest teachers in history, on Gandhi, on MLK, on all those who committed to a just cause and were willing to do anything for it. Where we acknowledged the stakes, stood up straight, and conquered fear. The generation that stepped out of the shadows of failed systems, deadly systems, and into the light.
This can be Generation Fulfilled. This can be Generation Save. This can be Generation Brave.
We will find ourselves in resistance, in proud, traditional, peaceful resistance.
Wonderful post. Ashley – what an inspiring comment!
I think the first thing we need to realize is that while Millenials will become the largest voting constituency, if we don’t step up and vote, it won’t make any difference. To a certain extent I think that is going to take a counter-alienation movement, reaching out to new groups of young people and communicating a vision for change clearly and effectively. I think our generation may be uniquely poised to do that, as local movements will be able to unite nationally (and internationally) using social media technology. But I think we all have to work very hard to find and communicate with people who are not already on the same page.