This weekend 10,000 young people, myself still included, descended upon our nation's capital for the Powershift conference. Powershift is organized by a group called the Energy Action Coalition, a group (and a conference) focused on "shifting the power" from the corporate-held interests currently contributing to global warming by burning fossil fuels, to individuals and a carbon-free energy sector. I was asked, back in January, to interview for a fellowship with the Energy Action Coalition, and I sometimes wonder what I would've been doing had I worked with them. Anyway, back to the conference.
I got out of work early Friday because the Union of Concerned Scientists was hosting an informational booth and I had volunteered to work there, to recruit conference go-ers to join our action network. Many did. And got free posters and calendars. After working the booth and checking out a few other groups around me (possibly setting up some volunteer opportunities!), the keynote addresses started. Oh, before I talk about that, I should mention that my friend from MTU Kaye and her friend Nicki drove all the way from Michigan to attend and they stayed at my house. I hope they had a good time - I'm glad they came. So I met them as the doors to the auditorium were opened and we got pretty good seats. I wasn't sure what to expect out of the keynote speakers, because I hadn't heard of many, but I was curious and excited nonetheless. The first two speakers had a very special significance for anyone who has witnessed the action (or inaction) of some of our agencies and been angry for their flippant regard for true science and protecting the environment. Friday night, I became even more hopeful that the Obama Administration will walk the walk when it comes to the environment. Lisa Jackson, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior, each spoke at length about their agencies' renewed commitment to protecting the environment and safeguarding our environment and natural wonders. Very refreshing.
The highlight, however, had to go to the final speaker that evening (watch the keynote). Van Jones. Van Jones is an activist from Oakland who pushes for green jobs and has set up a group called Green for All. A Yale Law grad, Jones has reached out to underrepresented sectors of our country - the poor, minorities, indigenous Americans - in a way no other person has. These are the people disproportionately affected by the actions of a few; when a coal-fired power plant or a landfill is sited, it's usually in these types of communities. They suffer the short- and long-term health effects of asthma, birth defects, and cancer while others profit in suburbs and downtown high rises. Van Jones, in advocating for a carbon-free world, says that these people can get well paying jobs in all sectors of the new green economy doing jobs like energy audits, retrofitting old power plants to run on new materials, and a myriad of other things that will give them steady income to lift them out of poverty and our country a new reliance on cleaner energy that will lift us out of recession and save our planet. His keynote address says all of this and more - he is the most eloquent, powerful speaker I've ever heard in person.
The rest of the conference was great - I won't go into a lot of detail because I may write a few posts on some specific topics I learned about later on. For being run by people my age it was especially well planned and executed. You could tell that young people were planning it because it was so tied into the internet and today's forms of communication - e-mail and texts, that you could find out everything you needed to know from the comfort of your laptop or your cellphone. They texted room numbers out and various speakers used text messaging to sign future activists up to their action lists. I was impressed and felt like a complete Luddite. It happens a lot.
I went to panels and workshops on: the upcoming Copenhagen climate meetings (where a Kyoto-styled world climate pact will be again deliberated since Kyoto is expiring soon), climate justice, the different types of climate change mitigation policies (cap-and -trade -invest -dividend, carbon tax and divided, etc.), and how to find a career in climate change issues. Some panels were more useful than others, but it was a good opportunity to listen to many diverse viewpoints on this climate crisis. Unlike some other conferences I've attended, the panels and workshops were well timed and thought out and I believe I got as much out of them as I could've hoped.
The people there were mostly affluent, white college undergrads from schools like Cornell, Columbia, University of Vermont, Oberlin - typically very progressive schools. There was a refreshing emphasis on some young leaders representing indigenous communities and poor communities, often one and the same. Ok, so this is the part where the jaded DC "insider" comes out in me and I'm not sure I like it. I'm happy this issue is getting the energy it needs from energetic, passionate youths (I guess like myself). Every big movement needs its leaders and activists who aren't afraid to get dirty and take a stand. That's great. But I think that the true solution needs a larger portion of pragmatism for success. Idealism is great and I'll quit my job whenever I lose it completely, but from being a fly-on-the-wall for my few months here in DC, I know that almost no issue is solved by pure idealism and activism. That's an important part, but it doesn't begin to infiltrate the establishment, the establishment that actually makes the laws. Congress will never pass (as advocated by another group I almost worked for) a mandate for 100% renewable energy in 10 years. My group is working on a 25% by 2025 bill that is on the far-left of what almost anyone will agree has a chance to pass this year. The most ambitious target ever passed in the Senate or the House is 15%.
What I'm trying to say is that every movement needs its Malcolm X, but it also needs its MLK to meet the establishment somewhere around the middle. Let's face it - people my age vote for our representatives, but we don't often donate the FEC limit to win their ear once in office. I am grateful for the work so many do because their ambitious targets set a high water mark so that one day, when climate legislation is passed and our country awakes from its decades long climate slumber, halfway will be much closer to the real change we need than it would've been without those groups' hard work and idealism.
On a more cheery note, I took Kaye and Nicki to Ben's Chili Bowl for lunch. It's on U Street, which used to be known as the Black Broadway for it's vibrant African American culture (Duke Ellington grew into a star here) but was largely decimated by the race riots following MLK's assassination. Well the area is currently far along its rejuvenation and Ben's Chili Bowl, which largely escaped blight, is once again its cultural nexus. Bill Cosby and the Obama family are the only ones who eat free there. Obama famously visited during the week leading up to his inauguration - and didn't accept their offer of free food - the guy paid! Who else but Obama. Their chili half-smokes (a big spicy hot sausage) is their specialty and what I devoured today. Good stuff. I love DC. Coming up on this blog are posts on: riding the Metro, why sectoral cap and trade/invest is best, and other stuff I think up.
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