Personally, I was only able to attend Power Shift Friday night – I was working at Step It Up on Saturday and then, well, I needed a day off. But it was incredible to watch all the students arrive from all over the country. The excitement was palpable, and the speakers were great.
Van Jones kissing Bill McKibben on the cheek after they gave two of Saturday’s keynote speeches. Photo courtesy of Liz Veazey.
USCEC coordinator Ted Glick was one of the first speakers. He walked up to the stage and announced that he was on the 60th day of a “Climate Emergency Fast.” I was sitting in the audience and watched everyone around me do a double take, turn to their friends and whisper, “did he just say what I think he said?” and “60 days, is that even possible?”
It is possible, apparently. For the first 27 days, Ted subsisted on water and vitamins (27 days is longer than Mahatma Gandhi ever fasted. Gandhi was generally thin and had very little fat to lose). After 27 days Ted switched over to drinking juices and broths. Ted’s fasting to pressure Congress to pass significant and meaningful global warming legislation. He has been to Capitol Hill to lobby key representatives numerous times and plans to continue the fast until Congress adjourns for the year.
Ted talked about how this fast is also a way for him to be conscious of what he’s working for every moment of every day. He has been arrested two times since he began the fast, once at at the State Department protesting President Bush’s sham climate conference, and once at a protest in front of the Congressional office buildings denouncing the war and global warming. Ted’s descriptions of his acts of nonviolent civil disobedience got a huge round of applause.
Faith Gemmill of REDOIL (Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands) was the evening’s most soft-spoken, but quietly moving speaker. An Alaska Native, Faith’s firsthand tales of climate impacts on her people’s livelihood and culture should give fuel to anyone concerned with the full scope and impacts of global warming.
Next up was Mike Tidwell. The blog “Warming Law” (which live-blogged the event) had this to say about Mike’s speech:
Mike Tidwell from the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) gave easily the most powerful rationale against industry pleas that state standards go too far, too fast. Noting that in 1961 when President Kennedy announced the goal of a moon mission by decade’s end, the necessary technology didn’t even exist, he argued that we’re much further along in being ready to start transitioning AND facing a much more dire need to act.
One of the most rousing speakers of the night was Majora Carter, the founder of the nationally recognized Sustainable South Bronx (she was recently featured in a column by Thomas Friedman). Appealing to the audience that efforts at sustainable energy and planning should always strive to include a jobs focus, her leadership role in the global warming movement is so important. People talk about how global warming is not just an environmental issue but Majora Carter (and Van Jones), with their focus on green-collar jobs, are making sure the movement appeals to more than just environmentalists.
You can read more about Power Shift ’07 on the blog “It’s Getting Hot In Here,” written by student and youth leaders from the movement to stop global warming and to build a more just and sustainable future. Read more>>
