Hill Heat

Today saw thousands of Power Shift participants coming to Capitol Hill for a day of testimony before the House Global Warming Committee, a large rally on the Capitol steps, and perhaps most importantly, hundreds of meetings with staff and legislators.

The youth activists introduced the 1Sky platform and asked for a commitment to the goals of making green jobs, strong emissions cuts, and no new coal top climate legislation priorities. They also called for 100% auction of pollution permits, and for an energy bill with the Senate 35 MPG standard, the House renewable energy standard, the Green Jobs Act, and no coal or nuclear subsidies.

Influential leaders will gather for a U.S. Leadership Retreat on Climate Change & a Green Energy Future. This is the second leadership retreat convened by the Garrison Institute designed to help a broad cross-section of leaders and organizations strengthen ties, build the capacity to actually reverse global warming, and coalesce around a positive vision of a prosperous, green and more equitable future.

The emerging climate movement does not lack ideas, leaders, or organizing capacity. It lacks coherence and collective power. Inhibited by institutional imperatives and political constraints, we have not yet aligned ourselves (let alone America!) behind solutions as big as the problem. At the same time, leaders seldom have the chance to pull back from campaigns and projects to take stock of the larger picture together. This retreat has three primary objectives:

• To create an opportunity for some of the most innovative leaders working on global warming & a green economy to meet, share, and explore new opportunities for mobilizing America for real climate solutions;
• To shape, develop and advance the 1Sky campaign to its next stage of development;
• To provide leaders with time to slow down and explore practices that can help deepen vision, gain perspective, and sustain commitment, energy and hope in the face of immense loss.

The retreat will be facilitated by Robert Gass, one of the most gifted facilitators and leadership coaches in the country.