Students aid D.C. green lobby

Author: Theo May

Nearly 80 Middlebury students, of 6,000 in total attendance, travelled to Washington, D.C. last weekend for the Power Shift 2007 conference, marking a significant milestone in the growth of the climate movement. Most of the Middlebury students drove down to Washington in a bio-bus sponsored by the Environmental Council and Environmental Quality.

"I wanted to carry the excitement with us," said trip organizer Sierra Murdoch '09 about her decision to hire a bus. Getting Middlebury students to attend "turned out to be so much easier than I expected," continued Murdoch. Students from the College represented the largest out-of-state delegation in attendance.

The conference gained notoriety for its high level of attendance, its practical focus on building a climate movement and its high-profile speakers. In another significant moment, the much-anticipated 1 Sky Campaign launched its three major initiatives at the conference.

"It was an unprecedented opportunity," Jeff Garofano '10.5 said on his decision to attend, "with 5,000 college kids and such a pressing issue."

Students spent Nov. 3 in panel sessions covering topics ranging from methods of movement building to ways of approaching the 2008 elections.

The day culminated in a series of keynote addresses from leaders of the climate movement. Speakers included Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Middlebury Scholar-in-Residence Bill McKibben, 1 Sky Chair Betsy Taylor and environmental activist Van Jones.

Several Middlebury students stood behind McKibben and, after McKibben's call to action, stepped forward and added brief statements.

In her speech, Taylor unveiled 1 Sky's three-pronged initiative which includes reducing U.S. carbon emission by 80 percent in 2050, creating 5 million new green jobs and building no new coal-powered plants.

The most inspirational moment of the evening for students came as Jones, founder of the new movement Green for All, rallied the crowd around its common cause.

It was the "most electrifying speech of the weekend, by far," said Garofano. "We're going to hear more from this man in our lifetime."

Jones argued that the U.S. should be creating "jobs not jails," by promoting a program wherein lower-income citizens are trained to work in climate movement-friendly jobs. By teaching people to install double-paned windows, for example, they will be able to earn a higher income in order to deal with the increased costs associated with a clean energy campaign. This issue arose as one of the focal points of the conference.

The conference took a unique turn on Nov. 4 as nearly 3,000 students descended on Capital Hill to attend a Congressional hearing and lobby legislators. The students met with a handful of senators and senatorial staff members to discuss environmental issues.

Trained ahead of time on how to deliver a message, students presented the legislators with the principles of the 1 Sky initiative and asked them to sign on.

Pier LaFarge '10.5, who met with a legislative assistant to Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), found that the Power Shift proposals got a "fairly open reception." However, LaFarge was wary of expecting immediate results in the Senate. "[Graham's] acceptance of the goals is different from his acceptance of the means," LaFarge said.

To the majority of attendees, the conference far exceeded expectation.

"I came in unsure of the extent to which the movement could be organized," said LaFarge. "But over the course of the weekend, they changed my opinion on the ability of the climate movement to harness the economic and political issues."

In an attempt to grasp the significance of the Power Shift conference, Murdoch considered the conference's implications.

"I thought that students would focus on the nitty-gritty, but I started to see students articulating a bold vision for what we want our country to be," she said.