The chanting will start softly.

Thousands of young people wearing green hard hats and carrying green placards and homemade banners will converge on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol. It will be the final day of the five-day Power Shift 2009 national youth summit, and the expected 10,000 young activists participating will voice their opinions on what they feel is the defining challenge of their time: solving the climate crisis.

As the diverse group of activists unites over climate change concerns and goals for energy legislation, the chanting will grow louder.

“There is a lot on our plate that we’re demanding,” explains Jessy Tolkan, executive director of Energy Action Coalition, the coalition of environmental organizations behind Power Shift 2009. “But we feel like we’re entitled to have all those demands met and it’s our responsibility to bring those demands to Capitol Hill.”

Power Shift 2009, from Feb. 27 to March 1, is the Energy Action Coalition’s method of doing just that, bringing young activists from every corner of the country to meet with power brokers in D.C. and agitate for a green agenda. The coalition’s overarching concern is global warming, and to that end, members want national leaders to support green jobs, renewable energy, cleaner cars and reductions in industrial carbon emissions through cap-and-trade laws.

Their numbers, let alone their energy, should attract attention.

In short order, the EAC has developed considerable grassroots reach. It is made up of 50 environmental and social justice organizations, more than 700 local groups and tens of thousands of young people. Ten central staff members and 70 employees in partner organizations spread across the nation keep the movement mobilized and members united around a common set of goals.

The 2009 summit will be the group’s second (the first was in November 2007). The gathering at the Washington Walter Convention Center will feature workshops and lectures on many topics, including “Climate Legislation”, “Advocating for Green Jobs”, and “How To Get the Average Student to Care About Global Warming”.

Event coordinators hope to bring back some speakers from Power Shift 2007, such as green jobs guru Van Jones and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, among other invitees.

On March 2, the summit will end with a national rally and lobby day when participants will flood the halls of Congress and speak with political leaders.

“Power Shift 2007 dramatically changed the conversation in Washington,” says Praween Dayanada, 25, a field organizer for the National Wildlife Federation’s Campus Ecology program and an EAC member group based in Austin. (Dayanada, pictured, fourth from right.)

“And now the urgency and timing of Power Shift 2009 will lead to its success.”

Dayanada has been working on recruiting 150 Texans to attend the summit and currently has more than 70 registered.

The Philadelphia Phillies are still trying to close out the World Series, but the team has already been declared winners off the field. The National League Champions were among the winners cited in the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2008 Green Power Leadership Awards. The announcement was made at the the National Renewable Energy Marketing Conference in Denver, Colo.

EPA’s Green Power Partnership is a voluntary program helping to increase the use of green power among leading U.S. organizations. The program encourages organizations to purchase green power as a way to reduce the environmental impacts associated with conventional electricity use. The EPA says the program has hundreds of partner organizations buying billions of kilowatt-hours of green power annually.

According to the EPA, the Philadelphia Phillies are the first Major League Baseball team to join the Green Power Partnership. The baseball club buys 20 million kilowatt-hours annually from wind and biomass resources, enough to power 100 percent of the annual electricity use for Citizens Bank Park.

Here is the complete list of the 2008 EPA Green Power Purchaser Award winners:

On-Site Generation

• Kohl’s Department Stores
• Lundberg Family Farms

Green Power Purchasing

• City of Houston, Texas
• The Estee Lauder Companies, Inc.
• ING
• Merritt 7 Venture, LLC
• Oregon State University
• PepsiCo, Inc.
• The Philadelphia Phillies
• Powdr Resorts
• U.S. Air Force

Green Power Partner of the Year

• Bellingham, Washington Community
• Cisco Systems, Inc.
• Intel Corporation
• University of Pennsylvania
• WhiteWave Foods Company

DOE Green Power Supplier Awards

New Green Power Program or Company

• AmerenUE

Small Residential/Commercial Green Power Program or Supplier of the Year

• City of Palo Alto Utilities

Large Commercial/Institutional Green Power Program or Supplier of the Year

• 3Degrees
• Sterling Planet

CRS Market Development Awards

Green Power Beacon Award

• Portland General Electric
• Honorable Mention: Detroit Edison

Green Power Pilot Award

• Energy Action Coalition
• Honorable Mention: Green Mountain Energy

Green Power Pioneer

• Dr. Jan Hamrin

Related link:

• The Green Power Network –  U.S. government web site provides green power market information

The 2008 Green Power Leadership Awards were presented in conjunction with the National Renewable Energy Marketing Conference, held October 26-29 in Denver, Colorado.

Green Power Pilot Award

The 46 environmental and social justice organizations, over 700 local groups, and tens of thousands of young people that make up the Energy Action Coalition are leading the way in addressing climate change by creating vast networks of power, winning clean energy victories on campuses and in communities, and building a cleaner, healthier, and just future. In May 2005, Energy Action Coalition launched the Campus Climate Challenge to unite students and young people in achieving 100% clean energy policies on 1,000 campuses over three years. To date, they have reached over 2 million young people through the challenge and over 760 campuses have joined the campaign.

Spearheading an impressive movement, the Energy Action Coalition has also secured over 550 signatures on the American Colleges and Universities Presidents Climate Commitment, which mandates immediate action from colleges and universities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The American Colleges and Universities Presidents Climate Commitment is for 15% of each institution’s energy consumption to come from renewable sources within two years. A vast percentage of these institutions include a green power purchase as part of their commitment.

Students who work with the Energy Action Coalition have also created systems at their colleges and universities to help individual students purchase green power. The Campus Climate Challenge has resulted in several hundred green power purchases from institutions of higher education and has engaged thousands of youth in local advocacy work that has resulted in green power partnerships.