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.

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.

But it took actually leaving the country to deepen my understanding of climate injustice. I could have, of course, stayed in the U.S, where from New Orleans to the mountains of Appalachia examples of poor, marginalized peoples suffering being accepted as a by product of our excessive lifestyles abound.

However, visiting a country in the Global South that will truly face the impacts of climate injustice was an eye opening experience. 800,000 people live in Guyana, the majority of these people crowded in the narrow coastal strip that is buffered by a centuries old sea wall which was built by the Dutch and abandoned by them. Their capital of Georgetown and most of the development that exists is all under sea level, and they lack the money or engineering capacity to repair the sea wall. If we don’t avert the climate crisis, the majority of the countries population will be in a similar situation to the people of New Orleans.

I spent most of my time in the interior, including two weeks where I lived in a small Amerindian community that, like many similar villages in the world, had no electricity. As I spent time with my Macushi friends, the simplicity of their lifestyles struck me. They lived off the land, hunting and farming provided the majority of their diet and their homes were constructed from sustainable, naturally occurring materials. And from my perspective, they just had so little stuff.

No pavement, no lights, no TV’s, no fast food, no mall. No SUV’s and no smell of exhaust. And people were happy. Everyone had enough to eat, a good place to live and stable, well functioning community. Of course, as Amerindian people in an incredibly marginalized country, they lacked access to education and economic opportunity and faced many challenges of their own, but overall the standard of living was quite good.

I thought a lot about the lifestyle of people in my country, my lifestyle. I try to consume as little as possible, and live simply. I still have so much more stuff than any Macushi person. I have more stuff than an entire family. I thought more about stuff on the plane on the way back. Looking through a sky mall magazine, I was absolutely amazed and disgusted by the amount of stuff we feel we need.

Mechanized cat water fountains, hand lotion warmers, ice cream dispensers, containers of every shape and size whose sole purpose is holding useless stuff, 4 foot yeti statues, massaging arm chairs, the sheer amount of stuff was incredible. All of it made with plastic, toxic metals, almost all of it requiring electricity. The majority of it manufactured in ineffiencient coal powered factories in China and the developing world. All of it completely unneeded.

Our lifestyles require 32 times more natural resources than the lifestyle of most people on this planet. Our lifestyles are driving global climate change and destroying the biosphere. Our lifestyles are pumping thousands of toxic chemicals into the water and air that we breathe and the bodies of animals, plants and ourselves.

And yet people seem to think that it will be impossible to change this insane way of living. I’ve heard a lot of arguments against taking action on climate change that revolve around the “Americans wont change their lifestyles.” That is why we need nuclear power and “clean coal” to provide power for hand lotion warmers and mechanical cat water fountains. We need to drill for oil in the Ecuadorian rain forest so that we can drive SUV’s around on land we have smothered in concrete.

All of it is untrue. To believe that is to cop out, to turn away from the possibility of a just, sane sustainable future and accept the status quo, accept that this insane, destructive way of living is the only possible way. Accept that people in the Global South and the poor in developed nations will continue to have to bear the burden of our overconsumption, that children in Ghana and China and so many other countries will have to breathe in toxic fumes and absorb chemicals through their skins as they process our cast off electronics.

I personally will never accept that this kind of insanity is the only world that is possible. As I flew back in to Miami at night, my face pressed to the airplane window, I felt a tear roll down my cheek as I stared at the devasted, paved, destroyed landscape. Stepping out of the airport into the underground parking lot, I felt nausea as the suffocating fumes of exhaust filled the air around me, contaminating every breath. And I felt rage and sadness as I saw a well dressed, overweight couple step into their Hummer and drive off into the night, just one more American couple living the American dream.

So I will continue to fight, joining thousands of people around the globe who are fighting against this kind of all consuming insanity. I will be strengthened by those who have come before me, and all the incredible people, many in the youth climate movement, who also have a vision of the world where there are no communities, ecosystems or species that are disposable. Let us continue the fight knowing that “another world is possible” and that right now, we are the ones creating it.

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.

The next day at the CIW conference, attending workshops on neoliberalism and indigenous resistance, environmental justice and creative activism, I further saw the connections between our struggles. Indeed, the indigenous resistance to Peabody coal’s strip mining of Dine lands in the Southwest was brought up in a session I attended. I thought of the inspiring keynotes from folks such as Evon Peter and Judy Bonds which I saw at Power Shift. I realized that we really are struggling against the same forces.

Sometimes I worry about our movement. I fear that in our rush to find a solution to a crisis that should have been solved years ago, we loose sight of what we are really struggling for. I fear that we are willing to accept and endorse “solutions” which promise to be quick and easy but which maintain the same systems of inequity and exploitation which have brought us to the brink of this crisis. I think of nuclear energy, “clean coal”, carbon offsets and a over reliance on market based solutions.

It seems to me that we will never solve the climate crisis without confronting its root causes. A world where nuclear power, “clean coal” and biofuels derived from the Global South provide power does not seem like a world which has solved the climate crisis. To me, a world where we have solved the climate crisis is also a world where power is no longer concentrated in the hands of a few wealthy individuals, where people and the land are no longer exploited in the name of profit, and where we have a sane and sustainable relationship with the earth.

This sort of thinking may seem radical, to far out there, alienating. Unobtainable, like something which we don’t have time to pursue because we need to win this fight now, and that means compromise. The CIW however, operating on truly visionary principles, have a level of popular support that the climate movement currently lacks. They are backed by the kind of truly diverse movement that can catalyze real change. They can reach out to many many different communities and mobilize them around one goal.

This is the sort of movement that we need to solve the climate crisis. A bilingual, multiracial movement that spans class divides and religious differences. A movement that offers a powerful vision of the future. A movement that is not afraid to stand up and demand that fundamental change must occur. I didn’t know if such a movement was possible, though Power Shift 2007 was a step in the right direction. But now I know that we can do it.

I love the youth climate movement. I believe that we have a compelling, inspiring voice and have and will continue to create the change that is so badly needed. But will we take the time to evaluate our movement and see how far we need to go before we will have the kind of movement that can create real change? To step of our campuses and stand in solidarity with communities everywhere in saying NO to an system of exploitation, oppression and greed? I believe that we will but it will not happen overnight, without a struggle, without a real and concerted effort on our part.

Let use our vision and passion to create a grassroots movement capable of creating real and lasting change.

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.

Afterwards, the excitement was still there. In that bus, we were all on the same wavelength, brought together by the same vision and passion, exhausted and so energized at the same time. The chanting didn’t end there, as at the Metro stop we all broke it down with impromtu drumming on found objects and chants that rocked out the entire Metro station. It continued on the entire 45 minute Metro ride, and then an impromptu parade of 60 people (all headed to RAN and SEAC’s AWESOME party) wound through the streets of D.C., a few blocks from the Capitol, letting everyone who passed us by know that a Power Shift was underway.

I have to say that Power Shift was the most incredible three days of my entire life, and I didn’t even get to stay for the lobby day and RAN/SEAC action.

It was worth all of the planning, preparation and stress that filled our lives in the months leading up to the event. I am back in Florida, but I have never felt more hopeful about the future than I do now.

This generation will lead the shift away from the destructive, insane path we are on currently, to a beautiful, sustainable, just future. I’ll carry this feeling with me for the rest of my life, and when I feel overwhelmed by the seemingly impossible task we are faced with, I’ll look back to Power Shift 2007, and know that SI SE PUEDE!

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.

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.

But, there are still a bunch of other coal plants proposed in Florida, so we set our sights on the Taylor Energy Center, an 800 MW coal plant slated for Taylor county, which would provide power to the city of Tallahassee and (ironically) Disney. We’ve been organizing a second Energy Justice Summer training around this plant, when we recently got the news that “The Taylor Energy Center announced plans today to suspend permitting activities while participating in a recently announced state dialogue on Florida’s energy future.” WOW!

To add to that, Gov. Crist is holding a Florida Climate Change Summit, with keynotes from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Robert E. Kennedy Jr. and Theodore Roosevelt IV. For a state that until very recently had Jeb Bush as Gov, this development has caused an unprecedented wave of hope to sweep the state. Suddently, our new Republican Gov. is the darling of climate activists throughout the state. Drafts of one of the Governor’s executive orders show that Crist wants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 2000 levels over the next 10 years through energy efficiency and push the state’s utilities to get 20 percent of their energy from alternative sources. This would make Florida the first Southern state to commit to carbon emissions reductions!

But is it really that hopeful? At Southern Energy Network, we’ve decided to switch the focus of our EJS training to some nearby nuclear plants, one of which is pending permits, and one which is undergoing expansion. As we ramp up our fight against coal, we need to also be cautious of what will be replacing those coal plants we defeat. On the front page of the Palm Beach Post this Sunday, a quote from Gov. Christ confirmed my suspicion. Discussing the possibility for a clean energy Florida, he said “I am confident that it can be done: Wind, solar and nuclear. If we look at all three for clean, energy-efficient power, I know it can be done.”

Nuclear does not and will not fit the description for a clean, just and renewable source of energy. In addition to being a super expensive energy source (although heavily subsidized with our tax dollars), there’s the extraction of uranium, of which there are huge deposits on native land, and the eventual storing of the wastes, which tends to be either in low income communities of color or on native land. Therefore, nuclear is NOT a “clean or green” source of energy that we want to power our future. I think that the momentum that we have built up in our fight against coal is inspirational, and I fully believe that we can effectively block the construction of new plants and move to a moratorium on all coal plant construction and the end of the destructive practice of mountaintop removal mining. But we need to also be aware of the threat of nuclear and other questionable energy sources, and refuse to compromise as we move towards a truly clean, just and sustainable energy future!

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!