Shifting the Power
A group of 20 Auburn University students will be attending PowerShift 2007 in Washington, D.C. on November 2-5. Powershift is the first national youth conference to address the issues of global warming and lobby for energy bills.
The organizers of PowerShift 2007 hope to “inspire, engage and empower a generation of young people to create a fresh, positive and inspiring vision of the future, a future focused on our potential to overcome the challenges of the 21st century.”
Funding for the trip will be provided by the College of Liberal Arts (COL), Dean of Students and Natural Resources Management & Development Institute (NRMDI). The students were selected by the COL Civic Engagement Planning Committee after an essay submission.
Steven Gaffin, a senior in Industrial Design, is a PowerShift recruiter for Auburn. He arranged for transportation, lodging and funding.
The students will take a charter bus to Atlanta on Friday November 2. Then the students will board an 8:21 p.m. Amtrak train and arrive in Union Station, Washington D.C. at 10:10 a.m. Hosteling International, where the group will sleep, is only five blocks away from the White House. The PowerShift conference will take place at the University of Maryland, just a short train ride away from the Capitol.
“Anatomy of a Victory: Get Your Campus to Go Solar”, “Building Solidarity with Grassroots Community Groups” and “Sustainable Farming & Dining on Campus” are among the hundreds of workshops available during the weekend.
The workshops encompass a wide range of topics. In addition to lectures on the environment, there are many others that focus on the techniques students can use to spread the movement. “How to Develop a Campaign Strategy”, “YOU Media: Photo & Video” and “YOU Media: Blogging” are just a few of the workshops that will arm students with the tools to spread awareness on their campuses.
Scheduled activities also include three panel sessions, a “green” career fair and some musical events.
On November 5, the PowerShift attendees will join activists from 1 Sky and Energy Action Coalition to rally on the Capitol steps. This rally was organized as part of the Step It Up national movement for clean energy bills. The goals of the rally are to cut carbon emissions at least 30 percent by 2020 (and 80 percent by 2050); ban new coal-fired power plants; and create 5 million green jobs by 2015.
The Auburn PowerShift students were also invited to join a new student Civic Engagement group in the COL. The newly formed group will be helping the faculty to generate ideas and plan civic engagement activities and addressing issues of public concern.
For more information about PowerShift 2007, visit their website at www.powershift07.org.
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