On April 15-18, over 200 students traveled to Washington, D.C. to attend the climate conference Powershift 2011. The conference — which attracted over 10,000 students from across the country — presented a diverse line-up of events and culminated in a march on Capitol Hill calling for a permanent legislation to address climate change.
The conference opened on Friday, April 15 with keynote speeches by former Vice President Al Gore and former Special Advisor to the White House for Green Jobs Van Jones. Although some Middlebury students missed Gore’s speech due to traffic, students arrived in time to hear Jones and several other leaders in the field address the crowd in the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.
Students arrived at the convention center Saturday morning to participate in movement-building training and planning sessions. These sessions were designed to address issues that universities face in mobilizing both students and administrators to take climate action.
Saturday evening, students attended another line-up of keynote speakers. 350.org Founder and Scholar-in-Residence Bill McKibben spoke at the convention center along with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson.
According to Ben Johnston ’11, McKibben’s speech was “definitely the climax of the keynote ceremony. Looking at him and talking to him beforehand, he doesn't seem like the kind of guy to move a crowd, but he really took the cake."
On Sunday, students continued their work on movement-building in the morning and then broke off into groups organized by state in the afternoon. The evening’s programming featured a film series and additional training sessions for activists.
Although some students left D.C. on Sunday afternoon, others remained in the capital through Monday to march to Capitol Hill. Over 5,000 students gathered at LaFayette Square in the morning and walked to the Capitol building. According to the Powershift website, students “demand[ed] that the President and Congress stand up to Big Polluters, protect the Clean Air Act and make corporate polluters like BP pay for their pollution.”
Hundreds travel to D.C. for Powershift
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