Hill Heat

Power Shift, the biennial youth climate movement summit, runs from Friday, April 15, to Monday, April 18.

10:00am – 11:30am Action: Make Big Polluters Pay

April 18th is Tax Day and we’re hitting the streets to send a clear message: “It’s time to end handouts to Big Oil. Make Polluters Pay and fund OUR future: a 100% clean energy future that looks out for everyone.”

12:00pm – 4:00pm Lobby Visits

We’ll march from our demonstration to Capitol Hill to bring our demands to Congress. With thousands of us converging on Capitol Hill, it will be one of the largest citizen visits ever!

Power Shift, the biennial youth climate movement summit, runs from Friday, April 15, to Monday, April 18.

9:00am – 1:00pm Movement Building Sessions: Training & Planning

People will come together regionally to meet one another, share stories and ideas, and plan collective efforts. We’ll practice and learn the fundamentals of grassroots organizing that will give us a strong foundation for campaign work.

1:00pm – 2:00pm Lunch

2:00pm – 6:00pm Clean Economy Canvass

Attendees will have the opportunity to help build the clean energy economy in Washington, DC. Participants will be trained in the best ways to engage friends and neighbors in energy efficiency work.

2:15pm – 3:15pm Workshop & Panels: Session 1

3:30pm – 4:30pm Workshop & Panels: Session 2

4:45pm – 5:45pm Workshop & Panels: Session 3

6:00pm – 7:30pm Dinner & Caucuses

During dinner, attendees will have the opportunity to meet with other folks to talk about how their identity has impacted their experiences throughout the weekend.

7:30pm – 11:00pm Keynote & Concert

We’ll reconvene in a keynote session to hear from more movement leaders. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and 350.org founder Bill McKibben are confirmed as keynote speakers, and more will be announced soon!

Power Shift, the biennial youth climate movement summit, runs from Friday, April 15, to Monday, April 18.

2:00pm – 5:30pm Generation Waking Up

An optional activity, Generation Waking Up will help us launch Power Shift fired up and inspired to take action. Through music, exercises, dialogue, and video, we’ll explore the critical questions facing young people and society

6:30pm – 9:00pm Opening Keynote

Our opening keynote will set the stage for the Power Shift 2011—we’ll give an overview for the weekend and start to hear from movement leaders and climate and energy experts. Al Gore and Van Jones are confirmed as keynote speakers for the evening.

9:00pm – 12:00am Films Fueling the Energy Revolution

We’ll be showing a handful of films discussing and investigating environmental issues. These films will kick off the Reel Power film series scheduled to air throughout Power Shift 2011.

From the Wonk Room.

On March 2, thousands of youth activists participating in Power Shift ‘09 descended on the U.S. Capitol to demand Congress take action to fight climate change. While students from South Dakota to North Carolina lobby their elected officials, others will be engaging in mass civil disobedience to protest the United States’ continued use of coal.

They were in the halls of Congress and surrounded the coal-fired Capitol Power Plant despite a wicked snowstorm that was ensnarling the East Coast – or, in many ways, because of it.

As predicted by models of climate change, the South and West is increasingly gripped by extreme storms and extreme drought: California is in its third consecutive year of drought conditions and now in a state of emergency. Drought conditions in Oklahoma are “terrible.” Despite the triple storms of Dolly, Gustav and Ike in 2008, nearly 97 percent of Texas is in drought – already this year, “about 3,400 wildfires have been reported across the state, scorching nearly 105,000 acres.”

The youth activists are trying to keep it snowing in the Northeast, raining in Texas, cold in the Rockies, and sunny in Florida. They’re trying to prevent California from burning up, Iowa from being flooded out, and Alaska from melting away. They’re trying to get our elected leaders to take action to put an end to the destabilization of our climate.

From the Wonk Room.

Responding pre-emptively to plans of a massive act of civil disobedience at the coal-fired U.S. Capitol Power Plant, the leaders of Congress today called for an end to its use of coal. In a letter to the Architect of the Capitol, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) describe the plant as “a shadow that hangs over the success” of the architect’s efforts to green the Capitol:

The Capitol Power Plant (CPP) continues to be the number one source of air pollution and carbon emissions in the District of Columbia and the focal point for criticism from local community and national environmental and public health groups.

Reid and Pelosi note that “there are not projected to be any economical or feasible technologies to reduce coal-burning emissions soon.” (In other words, coal is dirty.) They ask the architect to switch the plant fully to natural gas “by the end of the year”:

Therefore it is our desire that your approach focus on retrofitting at least one of the coal boilers as early as this summer, and the remaining boiler by the end of the year.

The switch will allow the plant “to dramatically reduce carbon and criteria pollutant emissions, eliminating more than 95 percent of sulfur oxides and at least 50 percent of carbon monoxide,” as well as the costs of “cleaning up the fly ash and waste.”

Gristmill’s Kate Sheppard reports “that doesn’t mean the big protest on Monday is off, according to organizers,” because “there are still hundreds of other power plants burning coal around the country.”

On Wednesday, February 4 the youth-led Energy Action Coalition is hosting a national teleconference for student reporters about the crucial role of young people in the fight for bold federal energy and climate legislation.

From February 27 to March 2, 2009, 10,000 young leaders from across the country will convene for Power Shift ‘09 in Washington, D.C. to demand that the President and Congress pass bold climate and energy policy that prioritizes renewable energy, green job creation, and an aggressive reduction of carbon emissions.

Call-in number: (866) 501-6174, participant code, 231000#

Participants

• Jessy Tolkan, Executive Director, Energy Action Coalition
• Dominique Hazzard, Power Shift ‘09 organizer and freshman at Wellesley College, Executive Committee Sierra Student Coalition
• Jason Walsh, Policy Director, Green for All
• Dave Hamilton, Director, Global Warming and Energy Program, Sierra Club

The speakers on the call will be able to answer questions about Power Shift ‘09 and the role of young people in shaping federal energy and climate policy.

From February 27 to March 2, 10,000 young leaders from around the world will kick off a historic year for climate action by convening in Washington, D.C. for Power Shift ‘09. Young people will demand that the President and Congress rebuild the economy and reclaim the future by passing bold climate and energy policy. Participants will share ideas and success stories, learn new skills, build connections, hear from leading experts and change-makers and come together to deliver a unified message to the nation’s leaders. On March 2, Power Shift ‘09 will culminate with a massive lobby and rally day on Capitol Hill.

At the National Wildlife Federation table at Power Shift Youth Summit:

Q: Does the National Wildlife Federation support the idea of a cap and auction system?

A: Yeah, we’ve been working for a number of years on supporting the best cap-and-trade system possible. We support 100% auction of credits, or if there is distribution, there should only be distribution for public benefit, and want to see good legislation come out of Congress. Our time for strong action is rapidly dwindling and want to see the best legislation we can possibly pass as soon as we can possibly pass it.