Cross-posted from the 1Sky Blog

This post is from 1Sky intern Emma Fernandez, a former intern from last year. Emma returned to 1Sky for the summer, so we gave her and all our interns a grueling assignment: head to Capitol Hill on a hot DC morning, put on a stifling oil barrel costume, and speak out against Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s appalling “Dirty Air Act” resolution as it was being debated on the Senate floor. Emma — along with Florencia Foxley, Amy Plovnick, and Ines Ware — did a great job and we’re proud of their efforts on the Hill yesterday. –Garth

We’re feeling especially proud of the climate movement today as we’re all celebrating a good victory in the defeat of Sen Lisa Murkowski’s resolution to gut the Clean Air Act.

Yesterday morning, while my friends and colleagues were frantically tracking the latest vote counts, I was standing in front of the Senate office buildings dressed as an oil barrel. I joined excited volunteers from many different organizations who turned out to participate in Clean Energy Works’ day of action to increase pressure on the Senate. We covered every corner, handing out flyers to pedestrians and asking them to call their senators and tell them to say no to Murkowski’s Big Oil bailout, while other volunteers distributed informational materials directly to senators’ offices.

Besides encouraging citizens to tell their senators to stand up for a clean energy economy, the goal of yesterday’s action was also to create a visible presence on the Hill in opposition to Murkowski’s bill – and with all our volunteers dressed in oil barrel costumes, we definitely accomplished that goal! No one on the streets could miss us, including several senators who passed by!

The oil barrels were a fun touch, but our action definitely had a serious effect. When we explained Murkowski’s resolution, many people promised to call their senators, and a few were even on their way to meetings with them. It was heartening to hear so many people express their support for the cause, and we clearly sent the message that Americans are fed up with giveaways to Big Oil and Coal and ready for a clean energy future.

Over the last several weeks young people across the country met with their elected officials to declare our vision for a clean energy future.

But it’s not just talk! That’s why Energy Action Coalition is partnering with 10 local projects across the country to build Clean Energy Communities this summer. Being a part of one of these projects will give you a chance to actually build the world you want to see. The program will give you the lifelong experience and skills to fight dirty energy facilities, engage elected officials in key districts, and build a clean energy economy with new jobs.

Apply today! Applications are due on Tuesday, April 20.

DETROIT, MICHIGAN

The 2010 Highland Park Green Leadership Program, a Global Exchange and GreeNation project, will use five recently acquired residential properties in Highland Park, MI as our hands on training center for the summer, dedicated to creating empowering skills within participants that will drive the clean energy economy through the green job workforce. Over the course of the 9 week program, participants will assist community leaders in renovating houses and vacant lands with green principals to create sustainable community models. The restoration of the properties will be accomplished in methods that will empower participants with trainings in energy efficient construction, urban agriculture systems, block-wide renewable energy systems, personal/team development and provide marketable, tangible skills that will be used to drive the green job workforce. It is the goal of this program to create a healthy system that embodies what a modern-day community actually looks like in a holistic, clean energy economy. http://www.globalexchange.org

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

This summer, Southwest Workers Union(SWU) wants to expand the Roots of Change community garden to get it up and running as a full fledged urban farm. We envision the gardening functioning as a multipurpose community space that serves as a hub for simultaneously fighting climate change, building community food sovereignty, promoting healthy eating and exercise, developing youth as leaders and community organizers, and promoting an understanding of how environmental exploitation is linked to systems of racial and economic injustice. Come work for climate justice this summer in the Roots of Change community garden! http://www.swunion.org/

CORVALLIS, OREGON

The Northwest Institute for Community Enrichment (NICE) is a solutions-oriented organization that partners with diverse national and local groups to create collaborative solutions that holistically address climate and energy, the economy, and social justice issues. Our Summer of Solutions programs empower upcoming community organizers and create tangible change through real on-the-ground organizing and peer-to-peer learning and reflection. The NICE Summer of Solutions program will conduct a Neighborhood Energy Listening Project in Corvallis, Oregon, designed to identify the energy related improvements that neighborhood residents are wanting to make, connect neighbors with similar goals, and support them as they work together to improve their neighborhood’s energy system. In addition, it educates program participants on program-planning and leadership techniques, and gives them resources for further involvement. http://thenice.org/

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH

Utah is at the front line of climate injustice in the Western US, where fossil fuel interests have a stranglehold on state government. However, we have the opportunity to turn the momentum through two key issues that this campaign addresses. Utah is home to the first ever permit for commercial scale tar sands development in the United States, and ground could be broken on that project as early as this year. The proposed site would be operated by Canadian-based Earth Energy Resources, near Moab. Secondly, the only coal-fired power plant in the Salt Lake Valley, which is run by the Kennecott Copper Company, burns coal for half of the year and natural gas the other half. Peaceful Uprising is planning a campaign called The Western Front, which will channel the energy generated by the Bidder 70 Trial into efforts to stop the Earth Energy Resources tar sands project and the Kennecott coal-fired power plant, in one of the most conservative states in the country. http://www.peacefuluprising.org

TWIN CITIES, MINNESOTA

The 2010 Summer of Solutions in the Twin Cities will unite and integrate a number of innovative projects that have been developed by local over the past three years, providing participants with the opportunity to dig in to the big picture of the green economy. Furthermore, the Twin Cities Summer of Solutions program will be rooted in close collaboration with local organizations, both in the neighborhood where participants will stay (Phillips, in South Minneapolis), and other communities where strong relationships have been built (North Minneapolis, the University Avenue Corridor, East Side St. Paul, and around the Ford manufacturing plant). To define the specific roles and goals in these projects, program planners will hold a collaborative visioning forum to gather input, build buy-in, and identify assets of those with whom we’ll work. From this visioning, program participants will take part in growing an integrated green economic ecosystem in Twin Cities communities. http://grandaspirations.org/apply/twincities.html

FREDRICKSBURG, VIRGINIA

CCAN needs your help to elect a clean-energy candidate to the board of an electric cooperative that wants to build a massive coal plant only miles from the Chesapeake Bay. The Rappahannock Electric Cooperative, one of the member coops proposing this plant, is holding an election in August and one vote could make a difference! This plant is the most expensive coal plant proposal in the country and the cooperative members have a unique voice as utility owners to put a stop to this proposal before it goes to the state for permitting. Organizers will run a political-style campaign while also galvanizing local residents to speak out in opposition to the coal plant and offering leadership training to coop members. Voter turnout is historically low in these board elections and we hope to change that. Ths fight begins before our arrival and will continue long after we leave so leadership development will be a core part of the summer project. The project will run from the start of June to the end of July, leading up to the election in early August. http://www.chesapeakeclimate.org/template/index.cfm

NEW ENGLAND(multiple sites)

New England Climate Summer is a powerful nine-week internship experience for students to learn and practice effective community organizing skills while building a powerful movement to solve the climate crisis. Climate Summer participants put their values into action, bringing the moral authority of youth to bear across New England, knitting together the strands of a movement able to put our nation on the path to sustainability. Participants work in groups of six with a trained team leader, biking from town to town in one of the six New England states. Climate Summer teams form an intense community, living and working together sustainably, and they are housed by community partners, primarily in houses of worship. Each team develops and tests creative ways to bring together diverse community groups, to raise the profile of the work already underway in each community, and to facilitate new local partnerships in order to build a bigger, better grassroots climate movement. http://www.newenglandclimatesummer.org/

WEST VIRGINIA(multiple sites)

The Program will embed youths in Charleston for one week, then Beards Fork for one week, then Coal River for one week so the youths can advance sustainability in each location and this set of three weeks will be run twice during the summer. As the youth spend meaningful time with local residents, everyone involved in the project will develop not only a deeper sense of pride in and commitment to their home state, but will become more committed to building a strong & grassroots movement for change. Over the course of 7 weeks, 15 youth participants will receive a fair-wage stipend to work with, share with, and learn from communities in the Southern WV coalfields as well as participate in the 2010 United States Social Forum. Throughout the experience, the youth will participate in special field trips and workshops to learn about the specific struggles (social, environmental, and economic) that the communities face, as well as how local residents are working together to confront these struggles. http://seac.org/node/147

WASHINGTON, DC

The "How to make Green Jobs" summer program will be an engaging learning experience. Summer volunteers, paired with D.C. Project staff, will accelerate the achievement of the job creation goals of the Weatherize DC campaign. The volunteers will have the opportunity learn a variety of skills in cutting edge online and community organizing tactics and new media content creation-through-distribution. Through interaction with the DCP’s workforce development, policy, communications, operations, and innovations staff, volunteers will have the ability to experience the depth and scope of work involved in transforming our economy and creating jobs. http://thedcproject.org/

CLEVELAND, OHIO

The program takes a multi-pronged approach to community greening on the west side of Cleveland, fitting immediate greening initiatives into these neighborhoods’ long-term, strategic visions. Specifically, our program is working with two key planning nonprofits and the City of Cleveland to create a citywide model for greening an individual block. Three tracks; 1) schedule meetings with as close to 100% of the households as possible on three target blocks, discussing weatherization and energy efficiency while collecting data essential for broader city weatherization plans, 2) assist interested families with basic energy-saving measures and then navigate the bureaucracy to connect them with the City’s existing weatherization programs, and 3) empower neighborhood residents to start and maintain new urban gardens on their own properties. http://www.oh-sec.org/

Want to learn more about one of the listed programs, or others happening throughout the country this summer, contact summer@energyaction.net To apply to become part of building the holistic, clean energy economy, sign up at http://energyactioncoalition.org/summervolunteer

Cross-posted from the ACESpace Blog (our partners at the Alliance for Climate Education)

Colorado has a lot at stake when it comes to a warming world: shorter (if any) ski seasons, disease and sharp economic downturn are just a few of the projected impacts. As the X Games get going in Aspen this week, students in Colorado are working hard to make sure there is always snow to shred!

Here at ACE, we’re psyched to be a part of the action. We’ve teamed up with Disney, ESPN, and the Aspen Ski Co to bring climate education to the 2010 Winter X-Games. Two ACE Educators – Bridget and Michael (me) – have been on a ‘March to the X-Games’ whirlwind tour of the Roaring Fork Valley between Monday 1/25 – Thursday 1/28, where we’ll be presenting LIVE FROM THE X-GAMES!

We’ve been interacting with hundreds of students in the past two days and it’s clear: Colorado students are ready to take on climate change. Their schools are using natural light, solar energy, and engaging students in conversations about the environment, wilderness, and sustainability.

For folks in the Roaring Fork Valley, the mountains and natural habitats define their world – talking to students it’s clear that there is love for being outdoors: hiking, biking, and water sports in the summer and snow sports in the winter.

Young people recognize the changes in our natural world, and we understand the ways that climate change is tied to pollution, environmental justice, and community health. We always can learn more, but we’re ready to take action.

Check out our videos from the first two days on the March to the X-Games:

ACE’s March to the Winter X-Games volume 1 from ACE Space on Vimeo.

and

We co-presented with Meg Olenick and Spencer O’Brien – two X-Games superstars- on Monday and are presenting LIVE FROM THE X-Games on Thursday. Keep with us on acespace.org/blog for all the updates.

What are you doing to lower your emissions and raise your voice on climate change? What’s your DOT?

Several partners of Clean Energy Works launched a series television ads across seven congressional districts, including the ad below targeting Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and the stain of Big Oil and their contributions.

Other targets include Reps. John Boehner (R-OH), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Lee Terry (R-NE), Jason Altmire (D-PA), Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO), and Dennis Rehberg (R-Montana).

Power Shift is a campaign organized by Energy Action Coalition and fueled by young people across the country to DEMAND BOLD ACTION on CLIMATE AND ENERGY. We are urging President Obama and the Congress to pass a strong and comprehensive climate and energy plan that creates millions of new jobs, ends our dependence on dirty energy, brings America lasting security and reduces harmful global warming pollution.

We are inheriting an economy and climate in crisis, and if Obama and Congress don’t act NOW, WE will be the ones who pay.

After 9/11, we volunteered to help those affected and we served in uniform. After Katrina, we spent our vacations rebuilding homes and served back in our own communities. And in ’08, we volunteered for campaigns, filled polling booth lines, and rocked the political establishment. Now, WE are the ones struggling to pay our bills, find decent jobs, and pay off our loans. And if we don’t act soon on climate change, WE will be the ones who will pay the price for more storms like Katrina, more wildfires like California, and more resource wars like Darfur.

If we act NOW, we can re-power our economy with clean energy jobs…But Obama and Congress can’t do it alone.

As the nations of the world prepare to meet in Copenhagen this December to negotiate a binding global climate treaty, Obama and Congress have the chance NOW to pass a comprehensive climate and energy plan for America, and they need our help. We can turn our schools into thriving centers for energy innovation, education, and workforce training. We can put America back to work weatherizing every home, installing solar panels on every roof, and slashing our nation’s electric bill. And we can send President Obama to Copenhagen this December with the commitment of America to lead the world toward a fair, ambitious, & binding global climate treaty.

So here’s our game plan: Tell Obama & Congress we want a clean energy jobs bill NOW, and remind them THEIR jobs depend on it.

The dirty energy industry has spent millions of dollars and countless hours lobbying, wheeling and dealing. Luckily, more young voters turned out in 2008 than ever before, and nothing can silence the voices of an entire generation. It’s our jobs, our future, and OUR time to speak up. We’ll set up phone booths in our campus & town squares and flood every Congressional office with calls until every phone is ringing off the hook. We’ll put the heat on our Senators in their hometown newspapers with an explosion of Letters to the Editor. And across the country, we’ll rally at Power Shift Regional Summits and show our leaders the strength of our movement.

Join the campaign NOW at www.WeArePowerShift.org

Power Shift is a project of the Energy Action Coalition. Founded in June 2004 by youth climate leaders, the Energy Action Coalition unites a diversity of organizations in an alliance that supports and strengthens the student and youth clean and just energy movement in North America. The 36 active and 14 supporting partners of Energy Action Coalition work together to leverage our collective power and create change for a clean, efficient, just and renewable energy future.