It's Getting Hot In Here

As I am sure most IGHIH readers are aware, the skyrocketing oil prices have driven diesel and gas prices up to unprecedented levels. In the U.S, it is the working class, especially in the rural south, who are being hit most severely by the average cost of fuel, which is around $4 a gallon. It’s not just U.S. workers who are being impacted by these skyrocketing prices however, as the cost of fuel is also rising around the world.

Europe has always had higher gas prices than the U.S, but in the past year European consumers have seen a dramatic increase in fuel costs. In Spain, truckers are no longer breaking even with diesel at almost $9 a gallon, and have launched a coordinated direct action campaign to protest this economic hardship and pressure the government to take action. Yesterday, truckers organized a blockade of Spain’s border with France. Check out the  NYTimes article

Mass actions such as this highlight the desperate economic situation which many working class people, both in the U.S. and abroad find themselves in, trapped in a petroleum based economy with the cost of fuel continually escalating. Oil is predicted to reach a record high price of $150 per barrel, which will continue to impact lower income and working class people the hardest. To me, this is another example of energy injustice, and further highlights the need to quickly transition to a clean, just, affordable energy future.

I’ve been thinking about stuff a lot lately. It started back in December, when America was gripped by the frenzy of consumption that Christmas brings and I saw Annie Leonard’s “The Story of Stuff” and religiously avoided all stores.

A few days after Christmas, when the country was recovering from its collective post consumption hangover I flew out of Miami to spend the month in Guyana, a small and impoverished country in South America. While I was there, I continued my musings about stuff.

As a climate justice activist, my work centers around the injustice inherent in climate change as the rich, developed nations of the world’s unsustainable lifestyles imperil the survival of billions. I’ve researched climate injustice, attended and facilitated workshops, discussed the issues passionately and thought about it a great deal.

Continue reading ‘Meditations on Stuff’

This weekend, I joined people of all ages, races, classes, religions and political affiliations as we chanted and marched through the streets of Miami. We were all brought together for the same cause, standing in solidarity with the Coalition of Imokalee workers. The CIW is an grassroots, horizontally based farmworkers organization from Imokalee, Fl, where most of the tomatoes that fast food chains use are grown. These mostly undocumented workers work in sweatshop conditions and are paid very little for their labor, if they are lucky making $50 a day. The CIW has successfully organized to pressure the corporations responsible for creating a demand for cheap tomatoes for fair wages and humane working conditions, winning victories against transnational corporations such as Taco Bell and McDonalds. I joined the CIW in their mobilization against their current target, Burger King.

As an activist working for climate justice, sometimes it is hard for me to see how the struggles of the farmworkers in Immokalee are connected with my work. However, as I realized on the nine mile march through the streets of Miami to Burger King headquarters, our struggles were inherently connected. The same corporate greed oppresses farmworkers and blows up mountains. It the same way of thinking that values economic growth over human life and well being. It is the same way of thinking that allows communities globally to be sacrificed for oil, coal and uranium. It is the same way of thinking that allows climate change to go unchecked and endanger the future of young people everywhere. It is not a just and sustainable way of thinking. Continue reading ‘El Pueblo Unido Jamas Sera Vencido – the people united will never be defeated’

This chant, brought to us by the amazing youth of Sustainable South Bronx, filled an incredibly packed bus leaving UMD College Park on Saturday night, after the keynotes at Power Shift 2007.

Earlier that evening, we were active, eager and energized participants in what was the best three hours of my life, as the 5,500 youth at Power Shift heard from Evon Peter, Judy Bonds, Nancy Pelosi, Rep Markey, Van Jones, the Step it Up team, amazing Youth Speaks slam poetry and the bluegrass wanderings of “Here’s to the Long Haul.” As we filled the bleachers, chanting, cheering and dancing, I felt that we could have powered UMD campus with the energy we generated. More than ever before, you could feel a movement not only a’ brewin, but already here.

The whole experience at Power Shift 2007 was one of such incredible joy and optimism. Unlike most experiences I have had with climate change focused events, it didn’t feel like we were facing incredible, unsurmountable odds. Instead, I felt empowered, inspired and activated. This weekend, I realized more than ever before, that we CAN do it, and we WILL do it. As youth, we have the vision, passion and inspiration to lead our country towards the just, clean energy future we all dream of.

Especially during Van Jones’ inspired speech, it seemed so possible for us to achieve what sometimes seems impossible. The emotion, hope and possiblity that revereberated through Cole Field House was so palpable, so amazing. During the beginning of Van’s 35 minutes of possibility and promise, chanting Green Jobs NOT Jails with thousands of other young people, led by courageous and inspired youth wearing their Green the Ghetto shirts, I turned to my friend Anelisa (who had come all the way from Puerto Rico!), tears of joy streaming down my face, to see her also crying from pure happiness.

Continue reading ‘Green Jobs NOT Jails, Parks NOT Prisons, We Won’t Stop till Somebody Listens!’

Florida, my home, is gripped by a historic drought. We will need at least a year of heavier than average rains to replenish our aquifer to normal levels. I’ve been following the drought in Florida with concern, watching as the level in Lake Okeechobee drops and we steadily drain our aquifers. But I recently discovered that Florida isn’t the only state in the Southeast that is experiencing a drought of epic proportions.

The entire Southeast is gripped by a drought of such intensity that something similar hasn’t been seen for at least 100 years. Georgia and North Carolina are reaching the bottom of their water supplies. In North Carolina, some cities are less than 80 days away from exhausting their water supplies. In 90 days, Atlanta may also be out of water supplies. Large amounts of rain need to come soon to avert these emergencies, but we have entered the dry season and it isn’t likely that we will get heavy rainfall anytime soon.

While drought affects some areas of the Southeast, tornados are ripping through Pensacola and Missouri. Its impossible not to link this in with the freak tornado that touched down in Brooklyn earlier this fall, the floods in the Southwest this summer or severe weather that is impacting Asia and Central America right now.

Droughts, tornadoes and an increased frequency of severe weather incidents are all effects of climate change. Its pretty clear to me at least that these aren’t just normal fluctuations, and that climate change is already affecting us globally. So why are the nations of the world and our so called leaders still scratching their heads and avoiding taking real action on this issue?As Juan pointed out, what will it take for us to take action on these issues? The U.S. is feeling the impacts of climate change while contributing to it more than any other nation. How many more tornadoes, droughts and floods will we need to catapult us into action?

I know one thing, that the youth climate movement won’t give up. We won’t stop fighting until we force our leaders to take action on these issues. In a time when true leadership on these issues is so lacking from the older generation, I need look no farther than my friends and peers to be inspired and encouraged. I can’t wait until we are all together at Power Shift, and we can gather together the collective voice of our generation and demand firm, strong action on climate change.

I’ve been struck by the differences between the demands of Step it Up 2, and James Hansen’s repeated call for action. Step it Up 2 demands a moratorium on all new coal fired power plants. James Hansen is asking for a moratorium on all new coal plants without carbon capture and sequestration. In essence, these are the same demand, as the technology to implement CCS does not exist on a feasible scale yet. So why are these not the same demand? Why even include CCS?

To me, this is a small piece of a much larger debate, that is certainly raging among youth climate activists, and which I believe will become much bigger. The science is in, and its clear that climate change is anthropogenically driven. We now need to start working towards solutions. And which solutions will we, as youth climate activists, throw our support behind?

Is there such a thing as clean coal, given the impacts coal power has from the cradle to the grave? And what about other “solutions” to the problem of climate change, such as ethanol and biodiesel. Can we continue to support these biofuels, knowing the impact on global food prices and the environment that corn based ethanol has, or the massive destruction of Indonesian rainforest for palm oil plantations (the oil of choice for biodiesel), and the implications of an expansion of palm oil cultivation? Nuclear power has a whole set of issues, from cost, to waste, to fears of proliferation. Large scale hydro-power destroys entire ecosystems, endangers species and displaces communities. Biomass incineration has troublesome aspects as well, especially as many of the existing waste-to-energy facilities are located in low income, communities of color.

Faced with all of these “solutions”, none of which are truly clean, what are we, as youth activists to do? To me, it seems that we need to take a stance, draw a line in the sand, and refuse to put our considerable energy and enthusiasm behind any solution that will cause ecological destruction, harm already affected communities, and in any way make the world we leave our children a more unstable and dangerous place.

Instead, let us refuse to compromise and advocate for the real solutions to climate change: energy efficiency and conservation, solar, wind and geothermal, and above all else, a change in the way we think and live.

As an activist in Florida, I’m usually skeptical about the possibility of a sustainable future for my beloved state. But recently, the tide seems to have turned. Florida is historically a VERY pro-development state, which has disregarded the consequences of development on the environment and our quality of life. However, Florida is now moving towards a decidedly anti-coal stance! The first sign of this turn against coal was seen in the fate of the massive Glades coal plant proposal. At almost 2,000 MW, this monstrosity was slated to be built in a pristine area near the Everglades, a Seminole Indian reservation and a low income community of color. We were all gearing up for a fierce battle and had just finished our Energy Justice Summer training around it, when….the Public Service Commission rejected it claiming that it is, “not the most cost-effective alternative available.” To add to that, recently elected Gov. Crist came out and said that he endorsed their decision.

Continue reading ‘Will the Decline of Coal Usher in a New Age of Nuclear?’

So here in the Energy Action Coalition Office in D.C. (and across America) we are kicking planning for the national conference into high gear and we have realized that we need a name that will capture the power and passion of the student movement. We got together yesterday to start thinking and trying to come up with something that works, and we have a few ideas to work with. Given that this is your conference, we figured that all of you would be the best people to get some feedback and insights from. Here are some of the thoughts we had on it.

1) We agreed the name of the conference should follow its function. People felt that the main purpose of the conference was A) to raise awareness about climate change as an issue in the primaries for the ’08 election and lobby congress and B) to really strengthen, deepen, and broaden our movement. So the title should ideally encapsulate both of these ideas.

2) Some people felt that we should not try to tie ourselves to closely to any one group so as to risk alienating as few people as possible. (Ex: Putting too heavy an emphasis on environmentalism might turn off people who are more concerned with the justice/humanitarian aspects of climate change).

And here are some of the names that we have been talking about:

Youth Climate Crisis Convergence: Act Today. Imagine Tomorrow.
Youth Climate Challenge Convergence: Act Today. Imagine Tomorrow.
Convergence for Climate Justice : Youth confronting the challenge of our generation/ Youth changing the climate on global warming.
Youth Convergence for Climate Justice : Act Today, Imagine Tomorrow
Climate Change America

Please think about this, change the titles, create a new title, comment if there is one you like and let us know how you all feel about this. Please post your thoughts as comments so that everyone can see them. Once we have gathered all of your thoughts and finalized the name, we will be sure to let you all know! Keep looking for more posts about this national conference and start getting excited for it!