Last night Governor McDonnell addressed a crowd of almost-entirely-not college students at the University of Mary Washington. It wasn’t the students fault for not being there- it was only their second day on campus, so the Governor’s town hall was under the radar. Despite that, there was a group from the Mary Washington environmental club that was excited to ask the Governor about his stance on offshore drilling and wind development.

Here is Abbie Rogers, a Winchester native and sophomore in anthropology and environmental studies, asking Governor McDonnell why he continues to support offshore drilling.

Governor McDonnell spoke at length about his support for offshore drilling- and for offshore wind- but failed to answer Abbie’s concerns. While the Governor is correct that currently Virginia and the US depend on oil and other fossil fuels for our energy use, he did not address Abbie’s questions about why he continues to support offshore drilling. He claims we need domestic offshore oil to avoid relying on ‘unfriendly’ foreign nations, but the Navy and NASA have voiced concerns about drilling off Virginia’s coasts. Beyond that, solving the foreign oil problem with a domestic oil problem is only shifting the problem, not providing a solution. In a followup question to Abbie’s, the Governor was asked about his plan to keep Virginia competitive in offshore wind development. He again spoke favorably about wind, but focused more on his concerns about regulatory burdens, such as permitting timelines, than his plans to bring wind development to Virginia’s coasts. Offshore wind is part of a true solution, one that may time to implement but that other countries- and states- have started and Virginia is being left behind. Below the jump, the transcript of Abbie and Governor McDonnell, since the video quality was poor.

Abbie: After everything that happened in the Gulf, including the $11.6 billion loss by the Virginia oyster company, Imagine the disastrous effects that could have on Virginia. Why do you still support offshore drilling? Governor: Let me ask you this, do you think we should totally rely on foreign countries for oil and gas, energy? Abbie: Absolutely not, but I know that Virginia has really strong offshore wind and if you use Virginia wind power that would be a lot more sustainable, better for environment and safer. G: Okay, let me ask you one other question. And we’re strongly perusing offshore wind, I’ll talk about that more in a minute, but should we not peruse all of our natural resources: coal, natural gas, nuclear, offshore oil and gas if we have supplies like we do in Virginia, wind, solar, biomass, wouldn’t you think we should try to use all of that, as long as it can be done in an environmentally friendly way? Abbie: I think you have to take in the dangers in those situations, the mishap in the gulf was all deepwater drilling and if we drilled off the coast of Virginia, 80% of that would be in deepwater so you’re taking kind of a big risk when you also have other things that would be a lot easier and you’d be taking a lot less of a chance in possibly ruining industry and/or the environment.

As Callie Guy, a senior, pointed out to the crowd, “For my generation, the controversy over global climate change simply doesn’t exist. We know what the price of inaction is, and it will fall on me and my friends unless we act now. It is time for my generation to declare their independence from the fossil fuels of the past and lead our country on a clean energy revolution. “

Callie’s right. My generation has moved past deciding if global warming exists to deciding how to solve it. We refuse to listen to false solutions such as clean coal and nuclear. My generation will Define Our Decade with 100% truly clean, safe, green energy.

Maggie Chambers, a junior, closed the press conference with these words which I want to share with all of you.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident that not all energy sources are created equal, that all people are endowed with the undeniable rights to clean air, liberation from foreign oil, and the pursuit of permanent clean energy jobs- That to secure these rights, Government should follow the path of pursuing strong clean energy and climate legislation…

We must jump start the economy and create a plethora of permanent clean energy jobs, so by the time I’m graduating from college and looking for a career of my own, I can come back to my home state of Virginia and take a reliable, safe clean energy job.

We must end dependence on foreign oil, so by the time I’m buying my first home, I can heat it with clean, homegrown energy sources, not with dirty sources from overseas.

We must help solve the climate crisis, so by the time I’m raising kids of my own, no one will have to wonder if there’ll be an Earth for them to live on in 30 years.

We need more Clean Energy Patriots this year. We need an Earth Day Revolution, not just another celebration. I’m counting on my fellow classmates, my community and you, Senator Warner & Senator Webb, to be a clean energy patriot this Earth Day. Lets pass clean energy and climate legislation this year.”

A similar event also happened last Thursday on Capitol Hill.

Thanks to the constant updates that is my Twitter feed, this week I discovered NASA’s Earth Observatory website. This website shows satellite images of the Earth- many tragic (arctic sea ice), some providing glimpse of hope (burn recovery in Yellowstone) and some simply bizarre (the growth of Dubai.) Perusing the images and attempting to interpret the changes from image to image was intriguing until the timelapse of mountaintop removal stopped me completely. I no longer marveled at the ability to capture such images, I was sickened at what we are doing to our mountains in Appalachia. I’ve seen mountaintop removal sites in person, but these images clearly show the scale and the permanence of the destruction.

According to the website:
“Below the densely forested slopes of southern West Virginia’s Appalachian Mountains is a layer cake of thin coal seams. To uncover this coal profitably, mining companies engineer large—sometimes very large—surface mines. This time-series of images of a surface mine in Boone County, West Virginia, illustrates why this controversial mining method is also called “mountaintop removal.”

I wanted to share some of the images, though watching the timelapse video on the website is even more compelling.

1984

1988

1995

1998

2004

2009

As you can see, despite claims that the mountains are reclaimed, the scars that mountain top removal leaves on landscape is visible decades later. The first of those mines are older than I am. My whole life the mountains have tried to recover. We cannot let this practice continue. This year, the Virginia General Assembly took the first important step to ending this destructive practice with Senator Ticer’s introduction of the Stream Saver Bill. Congress is considering similar legislation, as is the General Assembly in Kentucky.

Next week I’ll be at Week in Washington, an annual lobby week calling for the end of mountaintop removal. The following week I’ll join hundreds of youth from across Virginia and the nation in Wise County, Virginia for Mountain Justice Spring Break. These mountains have been trying to recover my whole life. It’s time I spend some of my time to help them.

Can you hold a solidarity event? Below are just a few resources that may help you out.

Finding the 11 Million Names
You can download the names here. This isn’t all of them, but enough to keep you busy for a long time. If you haven’t signed the petition, you can do that too!

Selecting a location
Right now, the Obama administration is stalling the UN negotiations because the US Congress hasn’t passed a climate bill. A great place for your event is your Senator’s local office. Our Senators needs to realize that their failure to take action is affecting people far outside their state- and that their constituents want to see action.

Invite the media
Collect your local media contacts and send them a media advisory about your upcoming action. Shorter than a press release, media advisories function as an invitation, detailing the date, time, location and other logistical information for attendees. Media advisories can be sent by e-mail or fax, depending on the journalist’s preference. Be sure to call and followup with the reporter to make sure they received your advisory, answer any questions and so you can convince them to come.

At the event, give press the press release from the Copenhagen sit-in as well as a press release for your own action. You can use the Copenhagen release as a good template. List local contact info on your release. After the event send the press release out to your local contacts that were interested but couldn’t make the event.

At the event
As press come, have one person greet them and get their contact information. This will help you track what media covers your event and helps build new contacts for the future.

Begin your event with a short introduction about why you are there and what you’re reading. Identify one or two people to deliver a brief statement at the beginning. This should last no more than 10 minutes. Then begin reading the names. Read them for as long as you planned- either for a given time period, until you are asked to leave, or until you are removed. Be sure your group has agreed on a plan in advance. You are standing in solidarity with over 11 million people worldwide and our goal is to let these names be heard by those who have the power to make sure the US supports a fair, ambitious and legally binding climate deal.

Some helpful resources
This was just a basic couple of hints. Below are a few more resources that may help you out. Thank you for joining us.

Sierra Student Coalition Media Guide and Event Planning: http://ssc.sierraclub.org/resources/organizing-basics/getting-started.html

Ruckus Media Guide- http://ruckus.org/section.php?id=18

If you are having a solidarity event, please email us at rapidresponse@powershift09.org.

I’m sitting in my friend Anna’s house after the first night of ReEnergize Texas. They say everything is bigger in Texas, and this summit is no different. Sadly, I got there late and missed the first speakers but arrived during a definitely energizing talk by Reverend Lennox Yearwood of the Hip-Hop Caucus. As he ended the crowd was on their feet clapping and cheering. I got some footage of that so look for it in the coming week, but I’m on a borrowed computer right now.

In the coming day and a half, we’ll be having lots of awesome workshops and trainings, including some I’ve never seen at a state summit before. Personally, I’m pumped about a workshop from Architecture for Humanity, but we’ve also got Physicians for Social Responsibility if that’s more your thing. The number of organizations here is staggering-1Sky, Sierra Student Coalition, National Wildlife Federation, Restoring Eden, Co-Op America, Oxfam, Austin Green Art and more!

This summit is more than a gathering for students to get some great new skills, however. It’s also the launch of a statewide coalition which unites a diversity of students and youth leaders in an alliance that supports and strengths the youth climate movement in Texas, working together to leverage collective power and create change for safe, clean, efficient, just and renewable energy solutions.

But I guess we shouldn’t have been surprised. After all, global warming seems to always be the hot topic of conversation, and young people all over America are calling for action. Luckily, no matter where the ReEnergize New Hampshire team is headed (and we’re headed all over this state!) we’re ready to talk about real global warming solutions for a clean energy economy.

Read our blog to learn more about where we’ll be this summer AND sign up for the March to ReEnergize New Hampshire at climatesummer.org.

*Technically a story about last week. Check out climatesummer.org for posts from what’s going on now.