Sights and Sounds of Power Shift 2009
By Jesse Jenkins, reporting for the Energy Collective and WattHead - Energy News and Commentary
After a long weekend at Power Shift 2009, I'm pretty exhausted. I'll publish a full recap soon of today's historic events at Capitol Hill, which saw thousands of young activists brave snow to storm the Capitol to rally for a clean, just energy future and a robust new energy economy and hold more than 350 lobby visits with representatives from all 50 states. Several young leaders also delivered powerful testimony to the House Select Committee for Energy Independence and Global Warming while many more joined the 2,500 citizens who simultaneously risked arrest to protest dirty energy sources like coal at the Capitol Power Plant that heats the U.S. capitol with coal and natural gas.
For now, here's a collection of sights and sounds from the weekend at Power Shift 2009 (many courtesy of the amazing Power Shift media team), including videos of keynote speakers including EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, Congressman Ed Markey and celebrated green jobs advocate, Van Jones.
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson:
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar:
Director of Green for All, Van Jones:
Congressman Ed Markey, Chair of the House Select Committee for Energy Independence and Global Warming:
Photos of the weekend from Flickr and the many attendees and citizen journalists snapping pictures throughout Power Shift 2009:
Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
More videos here and photos here and here. I've also been reporting daily from Power Shift 2009 at the Energy Collective and WattHead - Energy News and Commentary, so head to either for more coverage.
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Now, truth be told, we probably did not make that much of a difference. The aide that my congressman so generously sacrificed and sent out in the hall to meet with us, was so condescending, his back was most likely sore the next day. Subsequently, in my frustration, I later found myself lost and an actual Representative offered to show me the way. As we walked, he asked me how I found the whole process. The only thing I could think to reply was, “Do you remember the Children’s Crusade? I feel as though they think minds are going to be changed by young faces asking nicely. It’s going to take a lot more than that.”
Nevertheless, let me remind you that the youth represented 28% of the actual voting electorate in the last election. So, we have our voice and we are going to use it and if our leaders are not ready to listen, it will be to all our detriment, but you can no longer blame my generation for apathy. Just as we chanted on the West Lawn of the Capitol, “Tell me what Democracy looks like…”
This is what Democracy looks like!
Furthermore, the youth of today is demonstrating that we are not your parents’ activists. We do not sit in fields all day with flowers in our hair and just sing songs of peace. We held fundraisers for this conference, we organized and promoted it, we wrote grants, we slept on the floor of churches, and we did it all ourselves. We willing gave up our weekend that could have been spent in drunken frat parties to sit and listen to the head of the EPA. Even in freezing temperatures, we stood outside and shouted against the dangers of Global Warming. And finally, thousands of us converged upon The Hill, sporting not tie-dye, but suits and green hard hats, as we met with our congressmen and told them what we wanted in terms of bold climate legislation.
I do not see how this can be considered a failure or lame. You cannot compare this to a music festival that hundreds of thousands of people flock to for ENTERTAINMENT purposes. For that matter, how many people attend college and professional football events? Penn State’s stadium can fit 107,000. That speaks more to America’s value system then it does to the success of PowerShift, but I was there and even from the time we signed in, each of the name tags hanging from our necks read, “Leader,” because that’s exactly what we were.
Every young person in the environmental movement did not show up, nor would it be logical to expect them to, rather many of the LEADERS of the movement came. We attended Panel Lectures, Workshops, and Caucuses to better equip us with the knowledge to take back to our campuses and communities, while making so many networking connections, consequently to be able to always form a united front. Please remember the capabilities of facebook!
Furthermore, the youth of today is demonstrating that we are not your parents" activists. We do not sit in fields all day with flowers in our hair and just sing songs of peace. We held fundraisers for this conference, we organized and promoted it, we wrote grants, we slept on the floor of churches, and we did it all ourselves. We willing gave up our weekend that could have been spent in drunken frat parties to sit and listen to the head of the EPA. Even in freezing temperatures, we stood outside and shouted against the dangers of Global Warming. And finally, thousands of us converged upon The Hill, sporting not tie-dye, but suits and green hard hats, as we met with our congressmen and told them what we wanted in terms of bold climate legislation.
Moreover, if you want to make a difference in the future, YOU will have to take on issues that are going to dominate 20-30 years from now. Because, see, that's how long it will take you (some of you, that is) to actually come into real power. For now you are running behind the times. People have fought for environmentalism in front of police units in the 1970s and 1980s. That fight has been won on the streets of Europe probably before you were even born. And the things that are happening now are happening behind the closed doors of the G8 and the G20 in ways you will never get to see and on which you have absolutely no influence (even if they want you to believe that you do). But you know what? Some of the people behind those doors stood out in the cold in the 1970s and 1980s... and then they found their way into the system and now they are nudging it, ever so slightly.
I hope this sober assessment of a middle aged guy who grew up on this stuff doesn't discourage you from being an idealist for a little longer. But be an idealist for a cause and decide for yourself what you can REALLY do for the future.
Bianca, I was pointing out that to Americans entertainment was, is and will, at least for the foreseeable future, be way more important than change to the better. Obama, as much as I supported him (and we are talking real money here), won because he has the better entertainment value than McCain. Gore lost for the same reason. Let's be honest about that. I am not trying to crush your youthful spirit, but that's part of the game. If you want to make a difference, you will have to play by the rules of the game. (And if you want to see the flip side of the same coin playing out for the Republicans, just watch how Rush Limbaugh is quickly framing the Republican party and how none of the more intelligent moderate Republicans can do anything about it!).
Monterey Pop Festival approx. 200,000 visitors
Woodstock is estimated at 400,000 and
The Altamont Free Concert had approx. 300,000 visitors.
I rest my case. This is beyond lame.
This was NOT a concert, it was the largest gathering of youth around climate change issues. We 12,000 Students and others who attended represent hundreds of thousands more and are committed to shifting the national focus and creating a groundswell of support for a clean and just new sustainable economy, we are just some of the leaders of our local communities gathering to share ideas, coordinate, and collaborate. We are ready to devote our lives to creating the future we want to see.
No, this is WAAAAAY more important than a concert. One would expect a million people to show up.
I hope you understand that any European has seen much more powerful and effective protests. Heck, the Germans went from protest to a new and highly functional political party in ten years time.
The reason why I am criticizing is because you are 30 years late, a million people short and even proud about that king of failure.
Moreover, your protests happen after I gave Obama a month's worth of salary because this thing needs to be in the political mainstream RIGHT NOW, not in the stage where idealists gather on the street. You are too late. And that's all there is to it.
See Jesse Jenkins's Profile
anasha01 is dead-on: comparing Power Shift 2009, which say 12,000 students travel from all over the country to spend their weekends gathering skills, building plans, and meeting their comrades and peers to a rock concert festival is pretty lame. This isn't Bonnaroo!
And this isn't the entire movement. Nearly half a million joined in the Power Vote campaign this fall, and hundreds of thousands are actively organizing across the country.
See Jesse Jenkins's Profile
And seriously: when the conference is too large to be held anywhere but the biggest convention center in our nation's capitol, I don't know how you can come down on it for lame. The conference was held at the DC Convention Center and the crowd was large enough to fill the cavernous main hall - the place where the main events at the DC Auto Show are held, for example. This was no tiny picnic.
My hypothesis is you are simply threatened and hoping to dismiss this kind of savvy, dedicated organizing. Nice try...
See my comments below.
You are a generation too late. If you don't get that, it's either because you didn't watch the news from Europe in the 1970s and 1980s or because you are too full of yourselves to admit that the real effort to turn this country around is already happening in the White House.
And I would like to point out that I am one of the few around here who actually gives a damn. Did you notice that you are not getting a lot of traction? Why do you think that is?
Great speech by Ed. Go PS 09! I really wanted to go....
I was there. First of all, Ed Markey did show up and gave a great speech http://www.youtube.com/watch?v==KprOsMoCM1w) Secondly, it was an absolutely incredible event, we made our voices heard on these issues, and more importantly got training and now 12000 empowered youth are returning to there homes and campuses ready to lead local movements on a grassroots, but unified front.
I believe that there is a terrible failure of the media here, it was not a protest, it was not a march, it was our generation stepping up to the plate where previous generations have failed. We are taking the power and we are ready to do everything it takes to assure a clean and equitable future.
What a bunch of sorry losers.
Said the bitter anonymous dude typing on his keyboard late at night.
Powershift 2009: Epic Fail
It didn't even make the front page here.
I'd say it looks more like a DOWN shift
See Jesse Jenkins's Profile
Power Shift got press coverage across the mainstream and new media. This post is front page on HuffPo green right now, as have several others throughout the week. The conference was in the Times, WashPo, Guardian, on CNN, MSNBC, etc.
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