By Kendra Desrosiers
It’s 10:30 p.m. at the first-ever green inaugural ball on Saturday at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C. and the gleam of the open bar and heavy hors d’ oeuvres is starting to lose its edge. Some brave partygoers try to refuel on eco-energy drinks but cringe after their first sip. To their dismay, the Steaz Organic Energy drinks taste very—organic. Dozens of 20 and 30-somethings make their way to the front of the stage and the sustainable soiree prepares for a change in pace. The entertainment has arrived and after some intoxicated guests mistake all the black members of the stage crew for headliner Wyclef Jean, they are finally introduced to the hip-pop opening act, Just.Live.
“Back in the day, if you wasn’t cool, if you wasn’t with it, we’d say ‘man that dude is green’,” said ‘Rock-n-roll,’ one half of the Minneapolis college duo, after performing a couple of their MySpace hits. “Now, the only way to be cool, the only way to be with it, is to be green.”
For college youth, being labeled a “tree hugger” is no longer a euphemism for a crazed environmental hippie. Instead, greening their campus has become the new preferred extracurricular activity and Generation Y, those born in the ‘80s and ‘90s, has taken a lead role in fighting the climate crisis.
It’s been nearly half a century since the last student movement but unlike their “Summer of Love” predecessors, Gen Y students have taken a more direct approach to environmental activism. They’ve traded street theater for lobbying and flower power for voter registration and now that they have gained momentum from their unprecedented voter turn-out in the 2008 elections, they are refocusing their energy on going green.
According to the Energy Action Coalition, in 2007, more than 6,000 students attended Power Shift, the largest youth conference on the environment. By the 2008 presidential election, at least 300,000 students at more than 300 campuses had pledged to vote for clean energy and green jobs via the Power Vote initiative and turned the heads of Congress.
“Students are certainly poised to use the momentum gathered during election season to catalyze massive environmental progress in 2009 and beyond,” says Sharon Smith, programs director of the Earth Island Institute, a non-profit organization that supports start-up environmental projects. Smith says banning new coal-fired power plants and investment in clean energy will be issues at the forefront. “The momentum is just beginning. Students will be at the helm of this ecological u-turn.”
According to Aaron French, a sophomore at St. Mary’s College in Maryland and member of a Sierra Student Coalition national committee, a network of green grassroots leaders, the climate crisis encompasses issues such as healthcare, the economy and the war on terror; so protecting the environment will be the next youth movement.
“I think they’re all connected,” French says. “I think it’s what gives the movement a really strong national message. Global warming is connected to the economy. We can revitalize our economy by providing five million new green jobs that can’t be outsourced and build our infrastructure in the U.S. It’s related to foreign wars. Some people might say the war in Iraq is all about oil, and oil is pretty related to climate change.”
French, a member of the school’s Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC), helped SEAC rank St. Mary’s College at No. 2 for getting out the green vote, according to the Energy Action Coalition’s “Power Vote Top Ten List.” He attributes an enthusiastic administration as the key to their success. Like the SEAC, other campus organizations have convinced their administrations to take significant steps toward greening their campus like Environmental Conservation Organization (ECO) of Louisiana State University.
“We’ve successfully helped the university close campus roads during work hours so that it’s now a ‘walking campus,’” says Rachel Guillory, a senior at LSU and national campaign liaison for ECO. “We also petitioned to establish a Campus Committee for Sustainability and a sustainability coordinator at our school and [they were successfully established] last spring.”
While some universities have demonstrated openness to sustainability, others such as Howard University received an F on their green report card issued by Sustainable Endowments Institute, a non-profit organization focused on sustainability in higher education, in 2008; And supply friction to student groups pushing for an eco-friendly campus.
“There is too much bureaucracy at Howard University in the administration. It will be its downfall,” says Nykeeba Brown, a sophomore at Howard and the programs director of the Engineers Without Borders’ environment initiative E=MC2. Brown also says the administration agreed to place recycling bins across campus but reneged on their promise.
Kari Fulton, a Howard grad and national campus campaign coordinator for the Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative, has been actively working with Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Fulton says she is excited about the progress of students at Howard University in regards to student mobilization initiatives such as E=MC2, but disappointed in the administration’s response. “But I know that with more attention, more push, it will happen because I think it’s the destiny of our school, to be the strongest black and green school,” Fulton says.
Fulton, Guillory and French all serve on steering and sub-committees for Power Shift 2009. Fulton says their goal is to use the momentum of Power Shift 2007 and the Power Vote Campaign to fuel the green movement by strategically scheduling the conference during the first 100 days of President Barack Obama’s term.
“Power Shift 2009 is a wakeup call to the nation,” says Tommaso Boggia, Climate Advocacy Associate for Campus Progress. “Power Shift is going to shape the direction and tell the nation and say ‘Hey we’re still here we didn’t just go vote and now go on to our facebook and MySpace. We’re here and we’re using facebook and MySpace, our generation’s tools to organize and make change happen the way we demand it to happen.’”
Power Shift 2009 is expected to draw more than 10,000 students, nearly twice as many attendees as 2007, Feb. 27- March 2nd. The conference’s agenda includes everything from the need for clean and renewable energy to finding solutions to the economic downturn through the creation of five million green jobs. On March 2, the largest environmental lobbying day, attendees will push for green legislation by lobbying their respective members of Congress.
To Fulton, the green movement ultimately is about the accountability of the new administration and Congress. “Those problems are not going to get fixed by themselves and only a squeaky wheel will get oiled,” she says.
For more information on Power Shift 2009 visit: www.powershift09.org
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