It’s Getting Hot In Here

On Friday, March 16th, walkers taking part in the Interfaith Walk for Climate Rescue began an 8 day journey through the state of Massachusettes issuing a moral call for swift, bold, and comprehensive political action to address global warming and demanding an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Over 800 will join the march as it winds its way from Western Massachusettes to Boston, where it will end on March 24th with Climate Rescue Day. On March 24th, people will walk, bike, worship and rally to demand action on climate change. The weather in Massachusettes has been miserable- sleet, freezing rain and snow. Yet, the marchers continue to trek on, motivated by their desire to make 2007 the year for climate action. Students from across the Northeast will join Climate Rescue Day as part of the 5th Annual Northeast Student Energy Summit. Register today for the summit!

TAKE ACTION!
Call Governor Manchin’s office: 1-888-438-2731 (toll free) or 1-304-558-2000.
Send a FAX 1-304-342-7025 - instructions on how to send a free fax from the web below!
Email the Governor’s office: Governor@WVGov.org. 

Charleston,
W. Va.—Eleven parents, community leaders and student activists were arrested today while sitting in at the office of West Virginia Governor Joe Mancin. Their sit-in was spurred by a recent decision by the State Mine Board to approve a second coal silo nearMarsh Fork Elementary School. Protesters were treating roughly and dragged through puddles of mud. About 40 protesters remain in the governor’s office. Marsh Fork Elementary located near Sundial, WV currently sits 225 feet from a coal silo.  Residents say Governor Joe Manchin is shirking his responsibility for the health and safety of the students.   Continue reading ‘UPDATE: 11 PROTESTERS ARRESTED AT THE WV GOVERNOR’S OFFICE’

On April 27th, Penn State students marched into their school’s administration building and sat down to wait for a meeting with Graham Spanier, the President of Penn State. They sat for twenty-five hours, waiting for a meeting. Penn State has a serious problem that it needs to deal with- rapidly increasing greenhouse gas emissions. For two years, President Spanier had refused to meet with students to talk about setting greenhouse gas reduction goals for Penn State, even though 4,500 students have signed letters in support of reducing greehouse gas emissions on campus! After waiting over a day for a meeting, Spanier met with the students and they were able to submit a proposal to him that asked Penn State to set public greenhouse gas reduction goals. Since the sit-in, the students have been negotiating with the administration and learning a LOT about building power in the youth climate movement.

Continue reading ‘Penn State Sit-In Over: The Fight Continues’

Whew, what a week. First the 4,500 letters to President Spanier on Tuesday. Then the sit-in on Thursday and Friday. We’re really trying to put the pressure on. So, here is an update about what happened on Friday. Sorry it has taken me so long… I needed some sleep, food and a shower!

So, on Friday we went in and were being completely ignored. After sitting for about an hour, Katie Stoner- the other main coordinator for Kyoto Now!- and I went into the VP’s office and asked if anyone intended to respond to us. We said that we had been at Old Main, our administration building, for the last twenty hours and asked if anyone planned on meeting with us. We also asked the administration to respond to a pretty ruthless editorial. We were told by the VP’s receptionist that President Spanier was back in town so we went to his office ,where we were told by his secretary (who has been really, really nice to us) that he intended to meet with us as soon as he was finished with the meeting. Katie and I rushed out to the group, woke up the people that had nodded off and waited a few minutes until Spanier came out. We felt that is was pretty symbolic that Spanier came to us, at the sit-in, to address our concerns.

Continue reading ‘Kyoto Update: Old Main on Lockdown, Campaign Continues’

The sit-in is still going strong at Penn State University. Thanks to all who have supported our effort. It has been tremendously motivating to know that while we sit, thousands of people across the nation are calling President Spanier and sending kind words of encouragement to the group. Please keep the calls coming- each and every call furthers our impact and gets Penn State that much closer to committing to the goals of Kyoto Now!.

PLEASE CALL PRESIDENT SPANIER AT 814-865-2507. Let him know that you support the people sitting in and that you support the Kyoto Now! goals.

At 5pm today, we were faced with a choice. The police had arrived on the scene and were there to “remove” us from the administration building. It was pretty crazy- there were ten of us sitting in and they sent four vans and twenty policemen and policewomen. Before going into the sit-in, we decided that our main priority was being able to negotiate a greenhouse gas reduction goal with the University. When the police came we had to decide if we were going to refuse to leave and get arrested or leave the building and continue sitting Friday. We felt that if we refused to leave and got arrested, our chance for negotiations would be gone. So, when the university asked us to leave, we quietly and politely got up, got our bags, walked out the front door and sat down right outside the building.

Continue reading ‘Kyoto Sit-in Update’

By the time you read this, several members of the Penn State Kyoto Now! campaign will have sat down inside the office of Penn State President Graham Spanier, refusing to leave until our requests are negotiated. We aren’t taking this step alone. At our backs are 4,500 Penn State students and faculty who, for two years have asked for the same thing: a commitment from our President to 7% reductions in greenhouse gas emissions below 1990 levels by 2012. Penn State can do this!

Please call President Spanier to ask him to support the Kyoto Now! goals for Penn State!
814-865-7611

Our campaign started on Fossil Fools Day 2004, when we rolled out a sixty foot scroll of signatures on a petition asking President Spanier to commit to the Kyoto Protocol goals for Penn State. In two years, President Spanier has not granted us a single meeting. Continue reading ‘Students Begin Climate Sit-in At Penn State’