December 07/January 2008

Power Shift
Ted Glick

Franklin Roosevelt and My Father
Bill Moyers

Mobilizing to Save Civilization
Lester Brown

Feed Your Brain
Jurriaan Kamp

Are You Getting Enough Sun?
Kim Ridley

Old McDonald Had a Farm … and He Got Arrested?
David E Gumpert

Four-Seasons Harvest
Eliott Coleman

The Health Benefits of Tea
Jody Woodrull

Safe, Green, Non-Toxic Toys

You Can Change The World
Guy Finley

The Power of the Horse/Human Connection
Patricia Broersma

Toxic Toys Banned in Europe Are Still Legal In The U.S.
Mark Schapiro

Films of the Future
Siskiyou Film Fest

Cosmic Calendar
Salina Rain

BACK TO TOP

Power Shift

By Ted Glick

This movement is about more than just supporting clean energy sources. This movement is about recognizing the patterns of consumption, patterns of thought, patterns of behavior that have led to the social ills we see today. It’s about rediscovering the value of our resources, the value of our neighbors, the value of life on this planet.

Words fail me as I try to figure out how to capture in words the profound significance of the student-based Power Shift Conference which took place last November at the University of Maryland and on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.

Historic. Powerful. Deep. Amazing. Awesome. Astounding. Incredible. Hope at the Highest Level. These are the adjectives and phrases that come to mind.

From November 2nd to the 4th upwards of 6,000 people, overwhelmingly young people, multi-racial but predominantly white, from all over the country and with some international representation, met on the campus of the University of Maryland in College Park at the “first-ever national youth climate summit.” Over the course of two and a half days they heard lots of speakers and music at plenary sessions and panels and took part in close to 300 different workshops, on a range of topics.

This was a conference of thousands of serious young people. They were not there just to enjoy one another’s company, although that was definitely going on. They were there primarily to learn, to contribute, to strategize, to return home as smarter and more effective activists for a justice-based, peace-encouraging, world-changing clean energy revolution.

One of the political high points for me was when, during a major plenary session Saturday night, a “we want more” chant went up from some of those in the crowd of thousands during the speeches of Congresspersons Ed Markey and, following him, Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House. Markey is the chair of a special House committee on global warming set up by Pelosi earlier this year.

I had been disappointed by the initially loud and strong welcoming of Pelosi when she was introduced to the crowd. Other speakers Friday night and earlier Saturday night had received a warm response when they spoke against the war in Iraq during their time on the stage. So for Pelosi to be received so positively given her misleadership in Congress on that issue was not what I had thought would happen.

But then the “we want more” chant rose up out of the crowd. Here’s how it was described on the Power Shift website blog by one of those who led it, Juliana Williams:

“Tonight at Power Shift, as Congressman Ed Markey stood before us inciting us to support the proposed Energy Bill, a few of us began chanting ‘We want more, we want more.’ Congressman Markey stopped short to listen. We chanted for a full minute with a fervor, intensity and volume that left me light-headed, hoarse and thoroughly invigorated. As we chanted, for the first time, I felt an almost painful desire for the future we want to see—we don’t just want policy fixes, or simply a change in leadership in the White House, higher fuel economy standards, or 80% emissions reduction by the year 2050. This movement is about more than just politics. This movement is about more than just supporting clean energy sources. This movement is about recognizing the patterns of consumption, patterns of thought, patterns of behavior that have led to the social ills we see today. It’s about rediscovering the value of our resources, the value of our neighbors, the value of life on this planet.”

Our hope for the future absolutely is green: a connection to the green, life-giving force of our Mother Earth. A green, clean energy economy that gets us off the dirty fossil fuels which are destroying the ecosystem and are the reason for the US’s wars of occupation in the Middle East and elsewhere trying to control oil and natural gas. A green, clean energy revolution that creates millions of jobs, lifts people out of poverty, strengthens communities and reduces the power of destructive corporations.

And there is movement in Congress toward this future. It is possible that a piece of global warming legislation could come onto the US Senate floor for a debate and vote early next year, although it will not be strong enough and will likely provide even more subsidies for coal, auto and oil companies. There will be a need for significant grassroots mobilization to demand that it either be strengthened and changed or defeated.

Most immediately, there’s an energy bill that could be passed by Congress in early December that could—repeat, could—be the beginnings of a turn by the federal government in the right direction on the energy issue. If that’s to happen the climate movement needs to work very hard between now and then to pressure legislators for a good bill. A good bill will include an increased fuel efficiency standard for cars to at least 35 mpg by 2020, a renewable electricity standard requiring utilities to get at least 15% of their energy from renewable sources by 2020, a strong green jobs program and absolutely no subsidies for liquid coal, nuclear energy, coal or oil.

Power Shift. As was talked about during this conference, this is a phrase with a double meaning. A shift from carbon to clean energy, and a shift from old, corporate-dominated politics as usual to the new, democratic (small “d”), participatory politics experienced by thousands at the University of Maryland. We are on the way, we are moving, we have hope, we can see the future, and we are determined to do what needs to be done to get there. Young people are rising up and giving leadership and all of us of whatever age need to follow and work with them.

At the time of the writing of this piece Ted Glick was on the 65th day of a Climate Emergency Fast (wwwlclimatemergency.org). Ted is the coordinator of the US Climate Emergency Council and is active with the Climate Crisis Coalition (www.climatecrisiscoalition.org).