Pagan values and value dilemmas

I’m not very familiar with paganism, but I certainly appreciate aspects of the pagan approach to spirituality infinitely more than that of many religions. There is of course the belief in the sacredness of the Earth, there are notions like the principles of unity or co-creation, virtues such as beauty, simple living, service, wisdom and compassion (see Donald L. Engstrom-Reese’s website), and values such as the great erotic, passionate, wild love for life, that embraces dark and light and the whole cycle of birth, growth, death, decay and regeneration (Starhawk’s Dirt Worship blog). Heathens seem to know how to honour and celebrate life in its totality!

But dilemmas can arise, for example when you are concerned about the impacts humans have on the planet and you want to counteract our destructive practices on the one hand and have fun and live life to its fullest on the other. An interesting article written by Starhawk highlights this value predicament:

The greatest ethical problem at the moment, I think, for those of us who believe the earth is sacred is how to respond to climate change, to the immense potential loss of life and biodiversity it represents, to the personal and social challenges it poses. How do we both live with personal integrity and also help to galvanize a more effective public response? How do we make people aware of the urgency without plunging them into cynicism and despair? What sacrifices are we truly called to make, and how do we formulate a truly pagan response, that avoids falling into quasi-Christian moralism, that lets us continue to value pleasure, joy and beauty, that seeks to create abundance, regeneration and healing?

It’s very easy when we talk about environmental matters to fall into a kind of environmental moralism. A lot of our solutions involve exhorting people to be good, to give up things, to make sacrifices. We make people feel guilty and wrong. Well, maybe we should feel guilty and wrong for destroying the planet, and when we’re grubbing for flaccid, dying roots in the melting tundra in small, starving bands escaping the suffocating heat of the lower latitudes, we’ll wish we’d made greater sacrifices–but exhorting people to be good has limited effectiveness. And maybe a bit of it, just a bit–is a holdover of patriarchal religious conditioning, that pleasure is suspect and goodness involves austerity. I wonder what an ecological movement might look like that truly embraced Pagan values–that pleasure is good, the body is sacred, life should be full of beauty and delight, that all of life is alive and speaking and communicating and inviting us to join in the song? If we said, “Come join us in a world that is alive with enchantment, throw off the shackles of the poisonous world and the chains of production and run wild, eat fabulous food, have ecstatic sex, swim naked in clean-running rivers, restore the life and health of the world?”

Well said. Indeed, large parts of the environmental movement sometimes seem to embody a kind of religious revival – in their seriousness, earnestness, joylessness, cheerlessness and gloominess. They remind me of the early heydays of the political left in the 1970s when the spontaneity and fun-activism of the then anarchists was frowned upon by the upright, straitlaced Marxist-Leninist party faithful. And I agree: there is no compelling or imperative reason for not having fun when fighting to halt the planet’s destruction or battle the protagonists of global injustice!

While fun and activism are one area where pagan values can add a valuable dimension, another point to contemplate is the role darkness plays in our collective mind. Again Starhawk provides and interesting perspective:

Tuesday we heard a powerful presentation from the Beehive Collective, http://www.beehivecollective.org, a group that does amazing, complex graphics on giant posters about key political issues. They live collectively here in Maine but travel to tell stories and present their work all over the world. They’ve been working on the issue of mountain-top renewal and coal. James Hansen, one of the world’s leading climate change scientists, says that stopping coal is 85% of addressing climate change. As for ‘clean’ coal—take a look at the 400 mountaintops in Appalachia that have been leveled, at the buried streams, at the dams of toxic tailings, at those flooded towns in Tennessee—and then define ‘clean’!

At any rate, on their research tour in Appalachia, they met at one point with an executive from the coal company. Among other things, he told them “Coal keeps the lights on—and the dark is scary.”

One of the Pagan Values I hold is to embrace the dark. We don’t identify dark with evil and light with good, but see light and dark as parts of the balance. The dark of the womb, the dark of fertile earth, the dark of the night sky all hold mystery, creativity, life.

Not that I don’t love electric light to read by, my computer and even the occasional movie of TV night. But I wonder—is our fear of the dark—which is connected to our fear of the wild, of the body, of nature, our fear of mortality and our denigration of the women’s bodies which bring us into this mortal life, our oppression of people whose skins are dark and our disdain for those who work with their hands in dark earth—is that connected to the denial and the disconnect that is letting us continue to destroy the very systems that sustain our lives?

It probably is, and the patriarchal Judaeo-Christian religions have contributed immensely to our disrespect for nature and the feminine, and to our fear of darkness. And like supplementing austerity with pleasure, it seems sound advice to begin to celebrate the dark and wild fearlessly for what they are – essential parts of life.

350 – An international day of climate action on October 24

Just a reminder – for more information go to the 350 website AND also:

• Click here to send an e-mail to your friends about the video using your default e-mail program.

• Spread this link around however you can—through instant message, your e-mail signature, etc.: http://www.350.org/video

• Share it on Facebook by clicking here, or on Twitter by clicking here.

• If you’re using GMail, you can import contacts from your address book by going to the 350 site and clicking on the gmail link on the lower part of the page.

• The 350 team will pick a random 3 people who share this video using Twitter or the tool below receive a FREE 350 Camelbak water bottle or a 350 wristband–check ’em out!

Jewish and Christian Organizations: ‘Caterpillar Should Build America, Not Destroy Palestine’

CHICAGO, Illinois – June 9 – As Caterpillar shareholders gather on June 10th at the Northern Trust Bank Building in Chicago, to discuss falling profits, they will be met by representatives of Jewish, Christian, and human rights organizations calling on Caterpillar to build the U.S. economy, not destroy Palestinian lives and livelihoods.

Human rights groups will urge Caterpillar shareholders to vote yes on proposal #5, a shareholder resolution which calls for a review of Caterpillar sales to countries with poor human rights records, including Israel. The resolution is sponsored by an interfaith coalition including Jewish Voice for Peace, the Mercy Investment Program, and 16 Catholic orders. Jewish Voice for Peace will personally deliver thousands of lettersasking the Caterpillar Board of Directors to end military sales to Israel. These shareholders will be supported outside by a public gathering calling on Caterpillar to “Build America, Not Destroy Palestine.”This effort is organized in part by the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation and local groups, Chicagoans Against Apartheid in Palestine and the Arab Jewish Partnership for Peace and Justice in the Middle East. Events are also planned for June 10th at Caterpillar dealerships across the country.

According to Katherine Fuchs, National Organizer for the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, “It is possible for Caterpillar to turn a profit, employ Americans, and rebuild the U.S. economy without destroying Palestinian livelihoods. Investors need to understand that supporting the violation of international law and the destruction of Palestinian homes, land, lives, and livelihood is not good business. The recent divestment decisions of the Church of England and Hampshire College show that there is a price for destroying instead of building.”

The dissent inside and outside of the Caterpillar shareholder meeting comes in the midst of a growing movement to divest from Caterpillar until it ends its material support for Israel’s military occupation and apartheid practices. Caterpillar equipment, including armored and weaponized D-9 bulldozers, are used by the Israeli military to destroy Palestinian homes, lay waste to thousands of acres of Palestinian agricultural land, and build illegal Israeli settlements, which are opposed by the Obama administration. Most recently, unmanned Caterpillar D9 bulldozers were used to destroy houses during “Operation Cast Lead” in December-January. Additionally, the Israeli military has killed dozens of people using Caterpillar equipment, including American peace activist Rachel Corrie of Olympia, Washington.

“Ultimately, Caterpillar is contributing to the destruction of any future for the Palestinian people,” notes Bill Chambers of Chicagoans Against Apartheid in Palestine. “We challenge Caterpillar to contribute to building, not destroying, Palestine.”

The movement to hold Caterpillar accountable has received a recent boost from decisions by the Church of England and Hampshire College to divest. These institutions held a combined total of more than $3 million in Caterpillar stock before their decisions to divest in December 2008 and February 2009, respectively. More recently, a group of 20 Israeli human rights organizations have petitioned the Norwegian government to divest its pension fund from a list of companies providing support for Israel’s military occupation, including Caterpillar.

The pressure on Caterpillar is part of a larger effort to promote accountability for companies that profit from Israel’s military occupation. Human rights groups, students, and faith organizations have joined forces to put pressure on these companies. The US Campaign and its member organizations plan to continue pressuring Caterpillar by organizing divestment efforts in cities, campuses, and churches across the country.

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The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation is a national coalition of more than 280 organizations facilitating responsible U.S. policy toward Israel/Palestine and responsible consumer choices to support human rights, international law, and equality for all Israelis and Palestinians. For more information about the US Campaign, please click here.

Fight Gunn’s Pulp Mill

“IT’S BACK.”

Support the GetUp campaign below!

That’s how The Age announced news we’ve been dreading to hear: Gunns is close to finding offshore investors for its controversial pulp mill in Tasmania and may begin construction soon.

Gunns just won’t give up on this destructive mill, but so far together we have foiled their every attempt. We’ve fought too hard to give up now.

Without international finance, or an overseas joint venture partner, the pulp mill will be history. That’s why we need to pull out all stops and publish a massive newspaper ad this week in the European Financial Times: the paper we know hits every bank in Europe. This ad needs your urgent help:

www.getup.org.au/campaign/NewspaperAdNotNewPaperMill

Last year when we showed Gunns’ long-time banker ANZ the weight of opposition against the mill, they pulled out.

In the spirit of fairness we sent an advance copy of this ad to all banks considering financing the mill to give them a chance to declare otherwise. Within days, three of the four main contenders have told us they will not finance the mill.

We know this ad works.

But to stop the remaining contenders we need to show the weight of public opinion against this project. Click here to chip in:

www.getup.org.au/campaign/NewspaperAdNotNewPaperMill

Thanks to your efforts, no Australian bank will touch this project. This ad, hitting the desks of every financier currently contemplating giving the green light to a project we thought long-dead, will send shockwaves around the European finance community.

Thanks for being a part of the solution,
The GetUp Team

PS – Imagine the boardroom meeting: “Thousands of people chipped in to fund an ad to stop us financing this project… Are we sure we want to be involved? Let’s take another look at our figures…”

Chip in to pulp the mill once and for all.

350 – International Day of Climate Action

24 October 2009

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF CLIMATE ACTION

What’s the best way to introduce the 350 mission to the world?

With over 4000 languages spoken around the world, it’s probably not with a bunch of words–so the ‘350’ team made the animation you see above.

Enjoy it, and for a wordier explanation of what they do, here’s their text-based mission statement:

Mission

350.org is an international campaign dedicated to building a movement to unite the world around solutions to the climate crisis–the solutions that justice demand.

Our mission is to inspire the world to rise to the challenge of the climate crisis–to create a new sense of urgency and of possibility for our planet.

Our focus is on the number 350–as in parts per million, the level scientists have identified as the safe upper limit for CO2 in our atmosphere. But 350 is more than a number–it’s a symbol of where we need to head as a planet.

To tackle climate change we need to move quickly, and we need to act in unison–and 2009 will be an absolutely crucial year.  This December, world leaders will meet in Copenhagen, Denmark to craft a new global treaty on cutting emissions. The problem is, the  treaty currently on the table doesn’t meet the severity of the climate crisis–it doesn’t pass the 350 test.

In order to unite the public, media, and our political leaders behind the 350 goal, we’re harnessing the power of the internet to coordinate a planetary day of action on October 24, 2009.  We hope to have actions at hundreds of iconic places around the world – from the Taj Mahal to the Great Barrier Reef to your community – and clear message to world leaders: the solutions to climate change must be equitable, they must be grounded in science, and they must meet the scale of the crisis.

If an international grassroots movement holds our leaders accountable to the latest climate science, we can start the global transformation we so desperately need.

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German activist group printed 150,000 fake copies of German weekly newspaper, dated May 1, 2010

What will the world be like a year from now? Left-wing activist group Attac publicized their ideas by printing realistic-looking copies of a prominent German newspaper — dated May 1, 2010.

Attac activists distributed 150,000 copies of their faked, eight-page version of the German weekly Die Zeit in over 90 cities across the country.

With the top headline “At the end of the tunnel,” the paper presented reports the group said it thinks can become reality within 13 months.

Today’s news about the global financial crisis, world hunger and climate change leave a lot of people feeling helpless, said Attac member Jutta Sundermann.

“We fast forwarded time and wrote about the news we want to read about tomorrow — not about some distant paradise, but about concrete changes that are conceivable and attainable,” she added.

Articles describe the beginning of a “new era,” where banks have been nationalized, factories taken over by workers, the influence of lobbyists replaced with more democracy, the Group of 20 industrialized and emerging countries made seeing eye to eye, and the big polluters taken to task.

Detailed print and online imitations

Attac mimicked the weekly newspaper’s format down to the last detail, though the final version was a bit smaller. They also recreated an equally detailed online version.

Die Zeit said it would not take legal action against the group.

“Naturally, we can never endorse an imitation of Die Zeit in print or online, particularly not in quality as good as this,” said the paper’s editor-in-chief, Giovanni di Lorenzo. “But it’s not surprising that Attac chose Die Zeit for this campaign, as it’s the largest national newspaper of quality.”

The paper has a circulation of over half a million.

In a similar campaign, the American activist group Yes-Men published a false version of The New York Times.

Slightly edited version of post published on Sunday, March 22, 2009 by Deutsche Welle (Germany)

Hampshire College pulls out of investments in companies that support Israeli occupation of Palestine

Hampshire College Students Win Divestment
of Companies Profiting From the Israeli Occupation

Interview with Brian Van Slyke,
coordinator of Students for Justice in Palestine,
conducted by Melinda Tuhus

In Feb. 7, Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass., became the first college in the U.S. to have its board of trustees vote to divest from holdings in companies that support the Israeli occupation of Palestine. The vote was the result of a two-year campaign by Students for Justice in Palestine. It should be noted that when the board acted, the board president and the college president issued a “clarification” that the divestment decision was made “without reference to any country or political movement.”

Among the companies students recommended for divestment, due to their financial interest in the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land were: Caterpillar, General Electric, ITT, Motorola, Terex and United Technologies. In response, Alan Dershowitz, a prominent supporter of Israeli policy has threatened to initiate an international campaign to divest from Hampshire College.

Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke with Brian Van Slyke, a junior at Hampshire and a coordinator of Students for Justice in Palestine. He is also the elected student member of the board of trustees, with voting power. Van Slyke describes the successful campaign, which resulted in the college divesting of approximately 20 percent of its $30 million portfolio. And he provides a possible explanation for the college officials’ denials of targeting the Israeli occupation.

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What the Press Didn’t Tell You About the Largest Youth Movement in Decades (Introduction)

I just came across Jessie Jenkins’ Watthead blog, which made me aware of a youth movement in the States and Canada that not only has a vision for a “sustainable, just, and prosperous energy future” but also practically and strategically works on achieving it. I’ve copied and pasted a three part documentation of this activist movement from Watthead onto Melange; it’s fascinating, uplifting and empowering reading!

An Introduction: Beyond the Numbers (and the Irony)

On February 27th-March 1st, 12,000 young leaders from all fifty states, every Canadian province, and about a dozen other nations convened at the Washington D.C. Convention Center for Power Shift 2009, the largest ever gathering of climate and clean energy activists in U.S. history. On Monday, March 2nd, fueled by a fiery passion no snowstorm could chill, thousands stormed Capitol Hill, braving subfreezing temperatures to rally, lobby and even risk arrest in their efforts to ignite a clean and just energy future.

Image credit: Shadia Fayne Wood

If you read the mainstream media’s accounts of this historic weekend, that’s about the extent of the story you likely read. The focus of most coverage was the numbers – 12,000 students, 2,500 protesters, 350 lobby visits – or the supposed irony of a climate rally held amidst a few inches of snow. But beyond the numbers and ironic headlines, there’s a far deeper story on display at Power Shift 2009 – if only the press knew where to look.

I’ve been close to this movement for three years, as both a participant and as a writer and editor chronicling its progress at ItsGettingHotInHere.org, where voices from across the movement share their stories. Rather than wait for the mainstream media to write an in-depth expose on this dynamic and growing movement, I’ll take you behind the scenes to uncover the stories behind the numbers in this three part series.

• Part One focuses on the history of the maturing movement on display at Power Shift 2009
• Part Two takes a look at the diversity of tactics and cutting edge activism employed by the movement
• Part Three looks at how the movement has grown into an expansive effort to build a more sustainable, just and prosperous future and on the challenging road ahead for these young leaders

Posted by Jesse Jenkins

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• Jesse Jenkins: What the Press Didn’t Tell You About the Largest Youth Movement in Decades (Introduction) (huffingtonpost.com)

What the Press Didn’t Tell You About the Largest Youth Movement in Decades (Part One)

I just came across Jesse Jenkins’ Watthead blog, which made me aware of a youth movement in the States and Canada that not only has a vision for a “sustainable, just, and prosperous energy future” but that also practically and strategically works on achieving it. I’ve copied and pasted a four part documentation of this activist movement from Watthead onto Melange; it’s fascinating, uplifting and empowering reading!

Part One: A Growing Movement Comes of Age

This is the part one of a three-part series taking an in-depth look at the youth climate movement and the stories the mainstream media missed at Power Shift 2009. For the introduction and links to the rest of the series, head here or see links at end of this post.

There were a lot of records claimed by Power Shift 2009. The largest gathering of youth climate activists in U.S. history; the largest citizen lobby day on climate change (for any age group); and at the separately organized but allied Capitol Climate Action, the largest-ever non-violent civil disobedience against the injustices of today’s energy system.

But Power Shift didn’t emerge out of the blue. The weekend’s successful events are a sign that the youth climate movement, the largest and most sophisticated grassroots movement to emerge in decades, has finally come of age. It is now maturing quickly and gathering size, diversity and power, according to Billy Parish, founder of the Energy Action Coalition, the organization behind Power Shift 2009.

The movement on display at Power Shift 2009 consists of literally thousands of student groups on hundreds of high school, community college and university campuses, a growing number of coordinated statewide networks, and dozens of official NGOs. The Energy Action Coalition (EAC) has become the movement’s torchbearer, playing a central role in coordinating and uniting these diverse organizations.

Launched in 2004, EAC began by organizing several nationwide days of action against fossil energy dependence, each larger than the last. In 2005, EAC launched the Campus Climate Challenge to help students press for commitments to clean energy and climate neutrality at college campuses, an effort that has so far secured victories at over 550 campuses.

These days, Energy Action Coalition has taken the jump off of campuses to assert the movement’s political voice in national climate and energy debates.

EAC brought 6,000 young leaders together for the first Power Shift summit in November 2007. In the year that followed, EAC launched the nationwide Power Vote campaign and rallied nearly half a million young voters to turn out and cast ballots for climate champions in the 2008 election.

“The youth of America turned out in record numbers to elect a new president and Congress in the last election,” said EAC executive directory, Jessy Tolkan. “We’re here now to take our rightful seat at the political table.”

The movement has indeed taken a literal seat at the political table. Tolkan joined four other young leaders to testifying at a congressional briefing held Monday by Congressman Ed Markey’s Select Committee on Global Warming and Energy Independence.

“There will not be a more important hearing in Congress this year,” Chairman Markey declared after listening to powerful testimony on the young leader’s visions of a clean, just energy future and accounts of the work these activists are doing to make that vision a reality. “You are all the leaders of this clean energy revolution,” Markey said.

The young members of the youth climate movement are part of the most civically engaged generation in three decades.

That fact did not go unnoticed by the elected officials and Obama Administration officials speaking at Power Shift 2009. From Congresswoman Donna Edwards to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, every one of the government officials speaking at the conference credited the record turnout of young people in November 2008 with their electoral success [you can watch these keynote addresses here].

Those young voters are now organizing across the country to ensure they see the kind of change so frequently promised during the 2008 elections.

“We celebrated on November Fourth,” Tolkan said, “but we know the real work began on November Fifth.”

[Go on to read part two!]

Posted by Jesse Jenkins

What the Press Didn’t Tell You About the Largest Youth Movement in Decades (Part Two)

I just came across Jessie Jenkins’ Watthead blog, which made me aware of a youth movement in the States and Canada that not only has a vision for a “sustainable, just, and prosperous energy future” but also practically and strategically works on achieving it. I’ve copied and pasted a three part documentation of this activist movement from Watthead onto Melange; it’s fascinating, uplifting and empowering reading!

Part Two: Strength in a Diversity of Tactics

On display at Power Shift 2009 was the diversity of tactics employed by the youth climate movement. From rallies and protests in the streets, to well-informed citizen lobbyists penetrating the halls of Congress, this movement finds strength in a diversity of tactics. In their efforts, these young leaders draw on time-tested community organizing techniques as well as a suite of cutting-edge, 21st century technologies to unite the movement, grow at a rapid pace, and secure climate and clean energy victories.

From the Streets to the Halls of Congress

At 1:30 pm on Monday, March 2nd, I stood in the back of a congressional hearing room in the Rayburn House Office Building, listening to powerful testimony from five young leaders briefing the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming [watch highlights from the hearing here]

As the briefing commenced in the halls of the Rayburn House Office Building, thousands of students were in the process of holding over 350 lobby visits with elected officials from all fifty states.

At 2:00 pm, I got a text message informing me that just blocks away, hundreds more Power Shifters had joined an estimated 2,500, both young and old, and taken to the streets of D.C. to march for an end to the injustices of our current dirty energy system.

The march was the start of the Capitol Climate Action, and the assembled protesters soon surrounded the Capitol Plant, which heats the U.S. Capitol Building and the complex of congressional offices by burning a mix of coal and natural gas. The event’s organizers said they targeted the plant in a symbolic stand, calling for an end to dirty energy and a transition to a cleaner, more just energy system.

Image Credit: Franziska Seel

“This power shift, it has begun, we’ll get our energy from wind and sun!” chanted protesters, calling for an end to coal.

Groups of protesters illegally blocked every gate to the plant and rallied in the streets surrounding the plant for hours, as speakers including Robert F. Kennedy Jr, author Wendell Berry, and outspoken climate scientist James Hansen addressed the crowd. These more well-known figures were joined by activists and citizens from regions affected by coal’s mining and use, including residents of Appalachian states and Navajo living near Black Water Mesa in New Mexico.

The speakers all cited the many impacts and injustices of today’s dirty energy system – from asthma and mercury poisoning to the destructive impacts of surface mining and mountaintop removal, and of course, coal’s massive contribution to climate change.

While there were no arrests made, the organizers of the event declared the action a success. “The police said so many demonstrators showed up that they had no hope of jailing them all,” writes author and activist Bill McKibben in his account of the day’s events. “So we merrily violated the law all afternoon.”

The coincidence of Monday’s lobby day, hearing and civil disobedience evidences the diversity of tactics employed by this growing movement.

“Youth are willing to lobby in the halls of Congress, but we’re also not afraid to get arrested in the streets,” said Jaime Henn with 350.org, one of the more than forty groups sponsoring the Capitol Climate Action. “It’s this diversity of tactics that will continue to make us effective.”

Not Just Protesters of Injustice, But Practitioners of Solutions

Energy Action Coalition executive director Jessy Tolkan has spent years registering and turning out voters, organizing events like Power Shift and campaigns like Power Vote, and fighting for a seat at the political table for today’s youngest generation. But as proud as she is of these efforts to amplify the movement’s political voice, she makes sure to point out that the efforts of this movement do not stop at lobbying the political process for change.

“Over the course of the last three days, 12,000 of us gathered here in our nation’s capitol … and 24 million of went to the polls in November” Tolkan said at the Select Committee hearing. “But we are also in our communities as practitioners of the innovative solutions we are calling for.”

In fact, the tactics employed by many in this movement may not even look like activism to the outside eye. What occupies much of Timothy Den-Herder Thomas’s activism, for example, looks a lot more like a new brand of socially and environmentally conscious entrepreneurialism.

Thomas is a senior at Macalaster College and a leader with the Sierra Student Coalition. He wields financial spreadsheets and non-profit business models in addition to traditional tools of community organizing.

On March 2nd, Thomas told Chairman Markey’s committee about his successful efforts to establish a revolving clean energy loan fund at Macalaster. The fund enables investments in energy efficiency and clean energy projects at the Minnesota college, pooling the resulting energy savings to reinvest in more projects.

The fund has been a huge success, cutting energy use and emissions at the campus while netting a forty percent annual return on investment in its first year. “That’s four times what the stock market performs,” said Thomas, pausing for a moment, ”when it’s NOT collapsing!”

Thomas is now working with students as part of a program called Summer of Solutions to take the revolving fund model off campus and launch a new effort to “futurefit” entire neighborhoods – that’s Thomas’s word for the energy efficiency and clean energy retrofits that prepare homes and businesses for a clean, efficient energy future.

“There are billions of dollars just sitting on the table,” Thomas said, referring to profitable energy efficiency opportunities in millions of American homes and businesses. “But we’re not picking that money up. We’re letting it sit there.”

Summer of Solutions will be organizing efforts in at least a dozen communities this coming summer and similar initiatives are underway in other locations.

All across the country, innovative young social entrepreneurs like Thomas are working to transform their campuses and communities, set up green jobs training programs and otherwise get busy creating the clean energy future they are calling for as activists.

Their message: while we call on our elected officials to change laws, give us more resources, and invest in a clean energy economy, we’re not going to wait to get started building the future ourselves.

A 21st Century Networked Movement

This savvy youth movement draws from the long history of community organizing in the United States and the wisdom of past social movements, combining these time-tested tactics with cutting-edge 21st century digital organizing and communication tools with remarkable effectiveness.

“Each one of you is a walking technological superpower,” said green jobs advocate Van Jones, speaking to the Power Shift crowd packing the cavernous main hall at the DC Convention Center on the event’s opening night. “You have more technology on your person right now than the U.S. government had when we put a man on the moon.”

“Just think: ten years ago when a person could just sit on a bench and pull all of the knowledge of the world onto their laps, they’d be considered a god. Now, that’s just you, with a laptop, and Google!” Jones said, urging the crowd to “cease using those technologies as toys and start using them as tools.”

The most networked generation in history, the members of this youth movement are already utilizing 21st century technologies to unite online and strengthen their offline organizing.

Last April, as part of an annual nationwide day of action called Fossil Fools Day, hundreds of young activists traveled to stand with communities in Appalachia to protest the devastating impacts of mountaintop removal coal mining. Through online networks, these activists were able to unite with students located about as far away from the coal fields of Appalachia as you can get: Washington state.

Student organizers with the youth-led Cascade Climate Network quickly launched a “photo petition” to stand in solidarity with their allies in Appalachia, snapping digital photos of hundreds of students at more than a dozen campuses holding signs reading “We can do better than coal!” and “Solar energy leaves the tops on mountains.” Through email, they collected the digital photos streaming in from across the state and quickly designed and produced a photo petition “yearbook” which students then delivered to members of Washington’s congressional delegation [click here to download the photo petition (PDF)].

The Cascade Climate Network students urged Congressman Dave Reichert, a Republican, to co-sponsor legislation that would curb mountaintop removal by reinstating environmental regulations gutted by the Bush Administration.

“Congressman Reichert had actually seen mountaintop removal flying from Washington DC to Seattle, but that was most likely the first time he had heard about mountaintop removal from his own constituents,” said JW Randolph, Legislative Associate with Appalachian Voices. “Students in Washington took up an issue that’s devastating communities in Appalachia thousands of miles away, and made it clear they weren’t going to tolerate injustice like that anywhere in this great nation. That’s what makes our elected officials take action.”

Thanks in large part to the efforts of the Cascade Climate Network students, Congressman Reichert agreed to be one of three chief sponsors of the Clean Water Protection Act, which was re-introduced in the 111th Congress last Wednesday with a record 117 co-sponsors.

The unprecedented, networked nature of this movement allows young activists across the country to connect with their peers, share information and best practices, discover and harness synergies, and grow in size and power faster than past movements.

And they’ll have to do so quickly. As we’ll explore in Part Three of this series, the movement has a challenging road ahead. It’ll take the best combination of time-tested tactics and cutting-edge techniques, as well as a big dose of old-fashioned people power to win the battles ahead. Stay tuned for Part Three…

Posted by Jesse Jenkins