the Youth Climate Justice movement, Power Shift '09 and Capitol Climate Action

The fight for a green economy and address the urgent danger of global warming has become one of the defining fights of our generation. This weekend around 12,000 youth have come to DC for Power Shift '09, a conference organized by the Energy Action Coalition, with an overall goal to push the White House and Congress to adopt comprehensive energy and climate legislation. This Monday, March 2nd around 5,000 participants will be involved in the largest citizen lobby day to storm Capitol Hill with their message.

On that same day Washington DC 2500 youth will be involved in a more direct action approach to put pressure on Congress through the largest act of mass civil disobedience for climate change in US history to shut down the Capitol Coal Plant. According to their website:

"The Capitol Power Plant — a plant that powers Congress with dirty energy and symbolizes a past that cannot be our future. Let’s use this as a rallying cry for a clean energy economy that will protect the health of our families, our climate, and our future. "

Already powerful members of Congress have responded to this looming large scale action. Senate Majority leader Harry Reid and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi recently released a letter asking the Capitol Architect to switch the Capitol Power Plant from 100% coal to 100% natural gas by the end of 2009. The Capitol Climate Action coalition responded in a press release to reassure that the action was still on and that:

“Speaker Pelosi and Leader Reid’s dramatic action shows that Congress can act quickly on global warming when the public demands it,” said Greenpeace Deputy Campaigns Director Carroll Muffett. “This move demonstrates that they recognize the urgency of the climate crisis and the need for a switch to cleaner energy sources.”

Power Shift and Capital Climate Action are coordinated by different groups and seemingly different views about how to get our government to address global warming in a systematic fashion. I feel that both lobbying and direct action are good to do in tandem as a general strategy to put pressure on lawmakers and decisionmakers. Its exciting to see this kind of energy and sheer numbers in DC from people my age taking on this hugely important issue. With a new administration there is alot of potential for expanding this movement and getting more involved to get results. If Congress still moves slowly in the next few months on this issue, I have a feeling there will be more large scale direct action across the country among youth.

I will be at the Capitol Climate Action on Monday and I will post the pictures from the even on this blog.