Hello once again from Power Shift 2007!

Saturday turned out to be even more exciting than we originally expected. In fact, we did so much that we are quite exhausted, so we’ll keep tonight’s blog quite short. After a quick breakfast at the hotel, we were off to attend panel discussions. There were dozens of different panels today in many different areas dealing with climate change, including science, politics, economics, social justice, faith, the media and careers. I particularly enjoyed Ralph Nader’s presentation on global warming and progressive politics. At noon, all of us from Randolph College were fortunate to be invited to a luncheon with the National Wildlife Federation, where we were pleased and honored to sit next to Mr. Thomas G. Gonzales, Chair of the NWF Board of Trustees. The third panel presented an eye-opening discussion on “Rainforest Agribusiness, Community Struggle and Biofuels: Testimonies from the Global South.” State and regional break-out groups followed. In the Virginia session, we learned about regional environmental challenges where we can make a difference; e.g., movements to stop mountain top removal in seven locations in the Commonwealth and  to stop Dominion Power’s plans to build a coal power plant in Wise. At the start of the evening, we sat in on a book session that focused on changing the language of being green to encourage participation by business persons as well as environmental activists. All the power shifters returned to the main stadium to listen to Saturday’s keynote speakers and enjoy musical  entertainment. On a serious note, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s speech was hugely popular. On the lighter side, more than a thousand students flooded onto the ground floor of the arena to spontaneously start dancing to various musical groups, such as a wonderful banjo performance.

Hello from Power Shift 2007!

After a long, scenic road trip through the beautiful Appalachian Mountains, we arrived at College Park, Maryland. We wasted no time in the hotel and headed off to the University of Maryland to check into Power Shift 2007. Even though Friday night’s scheduled activities lasted only three hours, they were full of exciting keynote speeches. We heard from speakers with varied backgrounds in environmental activism, from urban areas like Brooklyn, New York to rural areas of the Chesapeake Bay and everywhere in between. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet with other college students from across the nation who are just as enthusiastic about climate change as we are. Tonight’s program was capped off with an environmentally focused musician who was able to get all of us 5,500 college students on our feet and join in on the fun. After the end of tonight’s program, we had a late dinner at an IHOP. The dinner conversation was dominated by talk about tomorrow’s schedule, which if it turns out to be like tonight, will be an action packed day to remember.

A group of seven Randolph College students will be attending the Power Shift 2007 youth global warming summit at the University of Maryland, November 2-5, 2007. Nearly 5,000 students from across the country will also be attending, and some high-profile speakers.   

First-year student Karl Sakas who organized the trip will be blogging about the group’s preparation for and experiences at the conference.

Learn more about the conference at http://powershift07.org/.