For young people, the fight for climate solutions is not distant or abstract. We aren’t fighting for future generations, we’re fighting for the future of our own. If we succeed in creating a new clean energy economy our generation will reap the benefits of millions of new jobs; if we fail, we will be the ones to face the consequences of catastrophic climate change.

That’s why young people have been mobilizing like never before. One great example of the clean energy activism taking place all over the country is a group of Maine students who organized a sleep out for clean energy at Bates College.

Students write letters demanding action at the Bates Climate Sleep Out

The Bates Climate Sleep Out successfully drew 150 students for your typical evening of live music, smores, and urgent letter writing. The event was not just a protest, it was about making their voice heard, and getting the message to Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins that our generation demands a strong climate bill.

Maayan Cohen, one of the event’s organizers, explained why they held the sleep out and what they planned to achieve:

The climate crisis is the challenge of our generation and we are asking our Senators Snowe and Collins to act with urgency in helping to pass strong, just, and comprehensive federal climate and clean energy legislation. In order to resolve the climate crisis, I think we need to be working to make changes from both the ‘bottom up’ at the grassroots level and from the ‘top down’ through federal legislation. As constituents, I think that it is our responsibility to express our concerns and ideas to our representatives and demand that they listen and act accordingly.

The Bates Climate Sleep Out was used to achieve several goals: to acknowledge the great initiatives that have been taken to move Bates College towards carbon neutrality and to think about ways in which we can continue to improve and move forward as a college community, to create awareness of current climate and energy legislation and to express our voices through writing letters to our senators, and symbolically, to sleep out away from the comfort of our homes in solidarity with those who have or will become climate refugees in our lifetime.

Check out some more pictures from the sleep out:

The Green Waves Music and Arts Festival was more than just a few tents, free T-shirts and a bunch of power chords. It was a call for action. Thousands of students flooded UCF’s Memory Mall Friday for the first-year event, which was designed to promote campus sustainability and increasing awareness of several green initiatives going on around campus. It was also an event to show our state Senators that we are serious and we want Bold Climate Legislation passed!

The need for a more sustainable future helped fuel the idea for the event, which brought in more than 40 local bands and organizations to help gain student support. The theme of sustainability was everywhere to be found, from the vegan hot dog vendor, to the recycled art tents, to the environmental organizations represented such as Energy Action Coalition, Sierra Club, IDEAS, Re-power America, and National Wildlife Federation. At the end of the day, attendees were emerged in a possible green energy future and they were impressed! The Green Waves’ waste diversion goal of 75% was shattered through the use of a single stream recycling bin. Stunningly, the festival diverted 100% of the 1 ton of waste created by the 7 hour event.

While many students were drawn out by a live performance from Florida-based rock band Less Than Jake, even more took part in the several different activities going on throughout the afternoon and evening. All day, many different student organizations filled out “Define Our Decade” petitions, to show our senators what kind of clean energy future we envision. We collected over 360 petitions that day, and it has brought Florida into the leading active state on the campaign.

I.D.E.A.S., Intellectual Decisions on Environmental Awareness Solutions, hosted the event along with Campus Activities Board. We look forward to bringing an even bigger and better festival to Orlando next year!

To see more from IDEAS, visit our website at Ideas4us.org.

Sparty celebrating a succesful clean energy event

Tom Izzo and the Michigan State basketball team aren’t the only ones off to a strong start this season. The Spartans have also jumped to an early lead in the Organizing to be Heard Challenge, racking up hundreds of letters and phone calls asking Senators Levin and Stabenow to support clean energy.

As The State News Reports:

On Wednesday night, students from Spartans Repowering America, the MSU chapter of the national organization Repower America, painted the rock on Farm Lane in an effort to promote a larger interest in their cause. Overall, the group collected more than 100 letters and several video testimonies from students.

Some of the goals of Repower America include creating a green economy, bringing jobs to Michigan, ending dependency on foreign oil, increasing national security and creating a clean environment for future generations, Starke said.

“I think it’s important for students to have the opportunity to communicate with senators,” Starke said. “Clean energy is important for our future and anything we can do to be a part of our government is important.”

Read the rest at The State News

Yesterday, the University of South Dakota published an op-ed from LeighAnn Dunn, a USD grad student who served in Iraq as a member of the South Dakota National Guard. In her letter, Dunn aplies the Bush first-strike doctrine to the need for action against the imminent threat climate change poses to our national security:

This year’s Veterans Day finds our nation at a crossroads clouded by political wrangling. Lobbyists for oil and coal companies want to kill climate change legislation in Congress right now, because their clients get rich keeping things the way they are, even though our military and intelligence leaders know climate change will create a series of wars around the world…

Our nation has a stronger obligation than ever before to avoid wars that can be prevented to preserve our national interests. I can think of no better response than to pass the Clean Energy Jobs & American Power Act in Congress, and put our nation in the leadership position to end this threat now.

Full op-ed from the USD Volante:

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Nation at a crossroads this Veteran’s Day
By LeighAnn Dunn

Published: Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Updated: Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Before the Iraq War, our nation had a policy of not striking a potential enemy unless our interests were clearly endangered of imminent attack.
The Iraqi invasion changed that policy.

This “first strike” standard also obligates our nation to another standard, which is to take extraordinary steps to prevent wars our leaders can see developing in the future. One threat we clearly see and can prevent is further damage from climate change. The U.S. Department of Defense, the CIA, the State Department and the National Intelligence Council see this threat and are all incorporating man-made climate change as a security threat into their long-term planning. Here are some climate change scenarios our nation’s top military minds are looking at:

Climate change dries up water and creates famine. Nations panic. Wars erupt. American troops get deployed.

Climate change makes sea levels rise, creating tens of millions of refugees. Refugee camps are ripe recruiting grounds for terrorist organizations.

Climate change fuels radical storms to occur more frequently. This stretches military resources from their primary mission: defending America against our enemies.

Top military and intelligence authorities are working on strategies to respond:

In February the Pentagon and State Department will include a climate section in their next respective Quadrennial Review.
Last year, the National Intelligence Council said “global climate change will have wide-ranging implications for U.S. National security interests over the next 20 years.”

This fall, the CIA launches a center on climate change to examine security risks.

This year’s Veterans Day finds our nation at a crossroads clouded by political wrangling. Lobbyists for oil and coal companies want to kill climate change legislation in Congress right now, because their clients get rich keeping things the way they are, even though our military and intelligence leaders know climate change will create a series of wars around the world.

Our nation spends $1 billion per day on crude oil from other countries, some of which are unstable or hostile to America’s security. American consumers are forced to help fund both sides of the war against terrorism. Add to the monetary costs the lives of American soldiers, like those who served with me in Iraq. Since 1973, we’ve known America remains threatened as long as we depend on foreign oil.

Our nation has a stronger obligation than ever before to avoid wars that can be prevented to preserve our national interests. I can think of no better response than to pass the Clean Energy Jobs & American Power Act in Congress, and put our nation in the leadership position to end this threat now.

LeighAnn Dunn
USD Graduate Student and member of the S.D. National Guard

This December, President Obama will join world leaders in Copenhagen to craft an international treaty to reduce global warming emissions. We know that to get a strong treaty, the U.S. will have to be a strong voice for change and lead the way.

President Obama’s started the ball rolling, but he’ll need a solid team behind him. Already, he’s called for strong action from Congress and world leaders. This past month, his administration also proposed new rules to decrease global warming pollution from cars and the biggest factories and power plants.

Now, we need to help by sending him to Copenhagen with victories that show the U.S. is ready to lead the way and the public support to call for bold international action. That’s why, the week leading up to the October 24 International Day of Action, we will be filming thousands of videos to Make it End in 2010!

Join the Student PIRGs for this week of action by creating your own video for Obama, your Senator, and the EPA.

Check out the sample above: then upload your videos to YouTube and tag them with “MakeItEndin2010”. Then, we’ll send them to Obama, the EPA, and the United States Senate.

Both in the U.S. and abroad, 2010 is the year where we have more opportunities than ever to get significant action on global warming. World leaders will begin to implement the next international treaty to reduce emissions; the Obama administration’s proposals to reduce emissions from vehicles, factories and power plants will all be finalized. In addition, if we don’t get a climate bill this fall, the Senate will vote on a climate bill at the beginning of 2010. We have the solutions to this global problem now, it’s high time we put them to work. So, help us “Make it End in 2010!”

The Student PIRGs (Public Interest Research Groups) are a network of nonpartisan student-directed and student-funded organizations working on over 200 college campuses in 25 states to solve public interest problems and increase civic engagement. We work to increase the youth vote, tackle global warming, make education more affordable, address homelessness and more. Over 10,000 students get involved in our projects every year – visit us at www.studentpirgs.org for more on what we do.