Power Shift Recruitment 2011

Pow­er Shift is hap­pen­ing April 1–4 in DC this year! Sign up to be a coor­di­na­tor for your school or com­mu­ni­ty and learn more below!

Please vis­it: http://energyactioncoalition.org/powershift2011/organize

Or don’t be shy and just shoot me an email at: ljubica@energyjustice.net

Pow­er Shift 2011

Lets talk about Pow­er Shift 2011. Pow­er Shift is the name of an annu­al youth sum­mit focused on cli­mate change pol­i­cy, which has been held in Aus­tralia, Cana­da, the Unit­ed King­dom and the Unit­ed States. Oth­er Pow­er Shift Con­fer­ences are also being orga­nized in Africa, Japan and India. Ener­gy Action Coali­tion (which EJN is a part of) orga­nized the first Pow­er Shift Con­fer­ence in Novem­ber of 2007 with around 6,000 stu­dents and young peo­ple in atten­dance. Due to this high atten­dance rate it seems that Pow­er Shift became the largest activist youth event on cli­mate change in history.

Accord­ing to those who attend­ed past Pow­er Shifts, it can be a life chang­ing expe­ri­ence — an incred­i­ble and rare oppor­tu­ni­ty to meet and con­nect with oth­er young peo­ple who are pas­sion­ate about the same issues. Pow­er Shift isn’t just talk either. It is a space where peo­ple find them­selves embold­ened by num­bers. It has led to break out move­ments and groups. Addi­tion­al­ly, on the last day, there is a lob­by­ing com­po­nent when atten­dees take to D.C. and take action! In 2007 for exam­ple, a ral­ly of between 2,000 and 3,000 peo­ple marched on the steps of the Capi­tol building.

The event has tra­di­tion­al­ly been attend­ed by var­i­ous famous and pow­er­ful keynote speak­ers, which includ­ed for­mer Vice-Pres­i­dent Al Gore in 2007, and Van Jones, Bill McK­ibben of 350.org, Ralph Nad­er, and Speak­er of the House Nan­cy Pelosi in 2009.

Clear­ly this con­fer­ence is an excit­ing and unique oppor­tu­ni­ty. How­ev­er, before we get to ahead of our­selves, we need to plan how to get there. There are impor­tant issues to con­sid­er. For exam­ple: How many peo­ple are com­ing from your school or com­mu­ni­ty? How much will it cost to get you and your group there, back, and fed? What is your school’s bud­get pol­i­cy? What kinds of dead­lines are we work­ing with? What about trans­porta­tion? Can you rent vans? Will you need busses? Etc. With all these ques­tions Pow­er Shift can seem less like an incred­i­ble oppor­tu­ni­ty and more like an impossibility.

Fear not friends, for you’re in luck. Thanks to the awe­some plan­ning struc­ture EAC has set in place for the event, you’re not alone! I will be avail­able sup­port you; help you fig­ure stuff out; and gen­er­al­ly make this trip a success!

So if you’re inter­est­ed in attend­ing and you haven’t already done so,

please vis­it: http://energyactioncoalition.org/powershift2011/organize

and sign up to be a coor­di­na­tor for your school or community.

Or don’t be shy and just shoot me an email at: ljubica@energyjustice.net

Pow­er Shift 2011 is talk­ing place April 1–4 at RFK Sta­di­um in Wash­ing­ton, DC and is being built from the ground up, lit­er­al­ly. We’ll cre­ate our own con­fer­ence space out­side RFK Sta­di­um using mas­sive tents and our cre­ativ­i­ty. This year’s Pow­er Shift is going to be the best yet, but we can’t make it hap­pen with­out you! Please help us by plan­ning and get­ting involved, and come show the nation how impor­tant the envi­ron­ment is to you!

For EJN this is Lju­bi­ca Sarafov

Peace.