I just came back from an earth-shaking vigil tonight in Copenhagen. This is the twilight of my time here– with only one day left in the conference, nothing seemed to come of it. It has seemed to fail. Many of us organizers have also started to lose hope in anything fair or binding to come out of this process.

Yesterday, I witnessed my good friend, Josh of the Rainforest Action Network, get bludgeoned in the face by police officers. He, along with the rest of us, weren’t trying to get into the Bella Center. We weren’t compromising the safety of World leaders inside. We just wanted to access the street across the bridge, where those who could not get into the center were waiting for us. Where we would have converged, we were going to hold a “People’s Assembly,” to create the kind of treaty that we would have wanted to come from our leaders.

But, the police would not let us cross that bridge. We attempted to negotiate with them. They told us that if we were to pass, we would risk arrest down the line. We accepted this, and attempted to walk past them. But, they blocked the way, and started beating those they could reach. After a while of scuffling, we started to retreat. As we did, they circled around the activists in the front, trapping them. They started to wail down on them gratuitously.

This is when the conference rules stopped becoming about “protecting the safety of those inside the Bella Center,” but more about preserving power. In a larger sense, I think it showed how scared the elites are of us: They simply would not let us assemble, even though at this point we were far from the center.

After half of the public transportation shut down to impede Copenhagen’s visitors without private limos to access the center, we have escalated our tactics. Not with violence, but with peace.

This is why I fasted today. More generally, like most of those fasting today with me, it was to fast in solidarity with those who can not access food. This is not only due to climate change in itself, but the corrupt food system, which is making it more and more difficult for people on both sides of the equation to find something nourishing to their bodies in the midst of “development.”

But I also fasted because as an “observer” here at Copenhagen, I had run out of ideas. Nothing else seemed important enough or effective enough to do at this juncture.

The police have attempted to take away our rights. The city and the UN process has taken away our access, barring us from the process. But this in itself says something. It shows they are threatened, that they are scared, and that we are a voice to be reckoned with.

The failure of Copenhagen, like what was said at the vigil, is not a complete failure. They have not won. We have succeeded in shifting the power so that those vulnerable to the decisions of the rich and powerful have been elevated: this time their voice was heard by the world, loud and clear. People like President Mohammud Nasheed of the Maldives have helped strengthen the youth movement in this way, by lending us his voice and giving us hope in the possibility of leadership.

Copenhagen may be a failure, but if we can keep our strength up until the end, we will have gained some ground in this battle for humanity. My love and gratitude goes out to everyone that is here with me, and all over the world, striving everyday to make it a better place.

Luke Estrella at the UN Plaza Farmers Market

Here in the Bay Area, California, after wwoofing for two months in Willits, I have been given the opportunity to lead the Northwestern project.

Today I went to the U.N. Plaza Farmers Market on my way around the city to see the prevalence of organic farm choices for the mainstream San Franciscan public. This market is not known for its sustainability, but for it’s prices and accessability.

There were a few organic farm choices, but I did have the opportunity to talk to one young organic farmer, Luke Estrella from Bounty of the Valley, Salinas Valley. Bounty of the Valley is a 50 acre human powered farm, full of young farmers who are learning how to grow their own food.

I asked him what he thought about the next generation of farmers, since in this area there seems to be a growing trend of young farmers. Farmers used to be an average of 60 years old, but people in their 20′s have, for the first time in years, started to pick up the old pitchfork.

“[young farmers] have a lot of new ideas to bring to the table, young farmers will bring about the change we need for sustainable action.”

He also warned against green washing on the organic front, and how current policy may encourage this.

“There are 500 acre certified organic plots that have organic soil and seeds, but they have a machine that does everything. These are also the farms that have the money to pay for being certified [organic]. These farms are unsustainable by design.”

He elaborated on a machine that many large scale farmers contract out to plant, till, and harvest. Many of these farmers do not touch soil and are not acquainted with their own land, although their products are touted as sustainable.

But, what may be organic isn’t necessarily sustainable. It is important that we not only push for policies that help organic farmers, but that we pay close attention to new policies, and make sure that they are also helping local and sustainable farmers, which organic is only one factor in.

We also need to make this clear to the UN delegation. We are young, ready for change, and unwilling to adapt to old standards.

What is remarkable to me at least about this referendum is that it was completely created by students for the university. Two years ago, myself, Joanna Calabrese, and Davey Rogner started Clean Energy for UMD in order to put this referendum on the ballot. It was in favor by 91% of the voting students, more then any other bill in previous history at the University of Maryland. However, this is a nonbinding agreement and there was no gaurantee that it would materialize into anything real until it had reached SGA, which finally happened yesterday.

Often, as an organizer, I get bogged down with the amount of red tape needed to penetrate “The Government”. Even on a campus level, sometimes it seems that no matter how hard someone tries they go unheard, or shut down for bureaucratic concerns. It’s hard to know if everything we are doing will end up in actual change or not. But so much has changed in two years. Two years ago, we were all still talking about the IPCC report and their finding that global warming is in fact very real. Now we have hurricanes hitting Texas, the U.S. government marking territory in northern seas in light of glacier melt, and (most) republicans admitting that global warming does exist. Gas prices have soared beyond anything in the history of America, and the average citizen has somehow taken heed of the future of our planet and our resources. Two years ago it seemed fringe to talk about the power of clean energy, and now we have a twelve year old who created a 3-d solar cell. Technology, it seems, will continue to develop beyond our wildest imaginations. And people too, are subsequently taking part in one of the biggest and fastest paradigm shifts to ever take place.

It means a lot to me that the students of UMD and even the ones that hold power are willing to pay out of their pockets for clean energy. Being one of the largest schools near the District of Columbia, our willingness to wean ourselves off of fossil fuels restores a little bit of my faith in humanity. Nationally, the stage is set for a clean energy revolution: an economy in the depths of a second Great Depression, a war over resources we shouldn’t even need anymore, and the technological advancements that are changing how see everything. People are starting to take notice. The change is just above the horizon, I’m happy to say that I know we really are going to save the world.

Something else that got me thinking are the unlikely gas stations that have sprouted up in my neighborhood. Sam’s Club has a gas station. Safeway has a gas station. SAFEWAY. Last time I checked they sold food, not oil. Everyone seems to want to get a piece of the action on the oil industry. Even grocery stores are recognizing our demand for oil.

America has an addiction, and the Earth is very sick. We’re all making great strides in this battle, but we have a long way to go. Things should not be like this, and I’m glad we are all here to fight it.

The Voters cup is a campaign launched along with Hot Seat to mobilize college students all over the nation to take a stand against the government’s current “blindness” to the obvious climate changes that are occuring right now all our country and our planet. Our generation will be the most important generation to this issue in history. It’s almost a scientific fact.. Seriously, my astronomy teacher was even saying so in class today.

Together, we must take a stand. We, as citizens of the United States and planet earth, have demands for our political leaders. They must, also as responsible citizens of the world, utilize their power. Just like we created policy to ban CFCs, a lot can be done on the governmental level to combat this huge problem known as global warming. Oil is also on it’s way out. It is time to evolve as an intelligent species of animal. People in power must stop taking bribes from the Oil industry. They know that is their only leverage at this point, money. And really, money won’t buy the Earth back. So lets elect leaders that will protect something that cannot be replaced.
I don’t think thats so much to ask for.

This campaign is great in conjunction with the Campus Climate Challenge. It’s also great for schools with PIRGs ’cause they love voting too.

To register your school for the Climate Voters Cup, send an email to climatevoters@gmail.com and apply to be Point Person for your school in the competition.

While you’re waiting to be confirmed, go to www.vote-smart.org and find out who’s running for Congress in the district that your school is in. Download the campaign materials for the Climate Voters Cup and start putting pressure on your local House and Senate candidates to do something about the most important thing of our generation.