In the spring of 2009, students members of ReEnergize Texas wanted to convince the Texas Legislature to pass a bill letting them create campus green funds amidst talk of “the worst recession since WWII.” It was no small feat, but through smart lobbying, a statewide summit and lobby day, and a strategic Earth Day phone bank among other tactics, together they prevailed.
So what did this victory earn them? The opportunity to convince students at public universities across Texas to increase their own fees despite tough economic times and rapidly rising tuition. Out of the frying pan and into the fire, some might say. But that’s not how these tenacious organizers saw things.
ThinkGreenFund.org from Public Citizen on Vimeo.
Then in early March, student bodies at the state’s two most prominent public universities voted in favor of creating green funds – UT Austin with 71% support, and Texas A&M with 57% support. Just a week earlier the state’s most prominent private school, Rice University, had created its own green fund in a campaign not related to ReEnergize Texas.
With these victories, Texas is poised to have more colleges and universities with green funds than any other state. Four more public universities will vote on green funds in April, and before the campaigns the state already had one public university and one community college with green funds. Additional Texas campuses are expected to vote on green funds during the 2010-2011 academic year.
There are probably two clear lessons that these victories can teach us. First, despite all the reasons for pessimism about winning on climate and sustainability issues, the youth of this country are demanding something be done. The campaign at Texas A&M was tough, and climate change deniers organized in opposition to the green fund, deploying truly despicable tactics to mislead students. Despite this and despite Texas A&M being one of the most conservative universities in one of the most conservative states in the country, the green fund referendum passed overwhelmingly. Clearly climate and sustainability are far less partisan issues among young people and students.
Second, economic arguments are effective, but they must be based in reality to be effective. One of the first blog posts at thinkgreenfund.org was on how to use a green fund to make college more affordable. Affordability remained a keystone argument, and campaigners were careful to listen to concerns and incorporate real solutions to those concerns into the proposed structures of the green funds themselves.
But maybe the most important lesson is this – if it can be done in Texas, it can be done anywhere. Best of luck to all of you out there doing your part in this movement of ours!
Thanks for the great post. I think that these victories will continue to inspire young people across the country – and that inspiration is absolutely necessary for the bigger fight ahead of us.
On that note, I think its important to highlight that our opponents off campus are powerful, well-funded, savvy, and ruthless. In order to really win on this issue, we need to become larger than ever – because our foes will continue to pour millions of dollars into misinformation and political campaigns.
I think its time that we start calling them out – instead of talking about the climate science, lets talk about the people behind “climategate.” The people funding these misinformation campaigns need to be confronted and I can think of no better demographic than our generation that will be facing the consequences or benefits of our actions in the next 4 years.
Thanks for all you’re doing.
Gabriel