March 6th, 2009 · 1 Comment

By Sommer Saadi
Green Right Now

Despite the white snowfall in Washington, D.C. this past weekend, the Capitol was deluged with green demonstrators who didn’t let the snappy weather chill their enthusiasm for fighting global warming.

An estimated 12,000 clean energy youth activists met in D.C. for PowerShift ‘09, a four-day summit to raise environmental awareness and lobby Congress for the passage of climate control legislation. Participants, most between the ages of 18 and 26, traveled from all 50 states, every province in Canada and a dozen other counties to take part in the event.

Quashing any stereotypes that this millennial generation is unmotivated or unconcerned, the long weekend featured roomfuls of rapt young environmentalists at seminars and panel discussions concerning a range of green issues. (Check out their energy in this You Tube video. Global Power Shift.)

Speakers like Robert F. Kennedy Jr., president of the Waterkeeper Alliance; EPA Chief Lisa Jackson; Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, and Van Jones, founder and president of Green for All took to the stage to deliver messages of encouragement to the young people.

On Monday, March 2, the final day of the summit, participants marched proudly wearing green hard hats and carrying “No Coal” and “Clean Energy Now” signs down the West Lawn. From there, activists descended on the halls of Congress and met in small groups with 378 officials throughout the day.

But PowerShift ‘09 did not end March 2, says PowerShift organizer and Energy Action Coalition Executive Director Jessy Tolkan. “That was just the launch of a campaign that will continue until legislation is passed and the strongest possible bill has been sent to President Obama’s desk,” she says. “The most powerful generation yet is ready to step up and fight the fight.”

Green Right Now checked in with some of the green fighters from PowerShift 09 to get their take on the weekend’s events and their hopes for the future.

Name: Brianna Cato Cotter
Title: Communications Director for the Energy Action Coalition
City: San Francisco
Green Background/Job description: Brianna is in charge of producing creative media and communications strategies for the coalition.

Describe your most memorable PowerShift 09 moment:
The most memorable moment for me was watching five amazing young people testifying before Congress about the need for bold climate and energy policy. Kandi Mosset, an indigenous woman from North Dakota shared her story of surviving cancer and watching many people in her community die every year because of all the dirty, polluting energy in the region. And Juan Reynosa, a young activist from New Mexico who is trying to bring green jobs to his community. It was very powerful and what every politician needed to hear.

What impact did PowerShift ‘09 make?
We demonstrated to our new President and to Congress that young people will not go away until they pass bold, federal energy and climate legislation this year.

What action do you expect to now take place or what would you most like to see happen?
We need our representatives to pass federal energy and climate legislation that dramatically reduces emissions, creates millions of green jobs, and repowers America with 100% clean energy this year.

Name: Jessy Tolkan
Title: Executive Director for the Energy Action Coalition
City: Washington D.C.
Green Background/Job description: As the Executive Director for the Energy Action Coalition, Tolkan leads a coalition of 50 leading youth organizations throughout the U.S. and Canada. Under her leadership the Energy Action Coalition is growing a generation-wide movement to stop global warming, by advocating for green jobs, stopping new coal plants, and making young people’s voices heard in the policy debate around global climate change.

Describe your most memorable PowerShift 09 moment:
The most memorable moment was walking out on to the stage on Saturday evening and seeing 12,000 faces in the crowd. And it was 12,000 faces that really looked like a reflection of this diverse generation that I’m a part of. It was great seeing on their faces not only just pure excitement but really knowing that they’re committed to action beyond this conference and beyond this particular movement. I loved just being able to engage with people all weekend long, people with determination to go back into their communities and grow this movement and make sure the public gets loud.

What impact did PowerShift ‘09 make?
I think that after seeing 12,000 people converge on D.C., so many leaders realized that there is a very loud and active constituency watching their every move. This is a movement of people working tirelessly to send the message that addressing our climate crisis is not stepping away from addressing the economic crisis. We are the generation inheriting this economic mess, and we know the best steps to take right now involve ushering in a clean air economy and investing in green jobs. [PowerShift 09] helped members of Congress make the connection between climate issues and economic issues, and the connection between the 24 million youth voters that turned out on Election Day and the thousands that were in their offices and in D.C. this past weekend. We’re not going anywhere, and we’re going to be there to ensure the proper legislation gets passed.

What action do you expect to now take place or what would you most like to see happen?
We know there are a lot of competing priorities in Washington right now, but we’re looking to hold Rep. [Henry] Waxman [from California] to get legislation passed by Memorial Day. We’re only turning up the heat from here. During the PowerShift lobby day, we started scheduling appointments for people to see their congressmen when they’re in district in April. We’ll be there in April and in greater numbers than we were this weekend.

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