A new migratory pattern: Colorado youth go to Washington

Anne B. Butterfield, March 12, 2009

Like swallows arriving at San Juan Capistrano from Argentina, thousands of young activists flew in from around the world to the Powershift Conference in Washington DC early this month. Since 2007 they have flocked there to nourish their minds, tell their stories and lobby their representatives to change the world toward sustainability and clean energy. After all, it’s their world, which is under the threat of acidic oceans and climate change, that they intend to secure.

Reaching over twelve thousand in number, they rivaled the attendance of the largest ever renewable energy conference -- WindPower ‘08 in Houston which drew 13,000, as well as the Solar Power ‘08 conference in San Diego which drew 12,000. They provided the political muscle to match what investors are offering on the business end. This is a blow-out for clean energy compared with the last Clean Coal Conference, in Clearwater Florida which drew 300 registrants.

Visualize college kids in standing room only for a panel talk on cap-and-trade vs. cap-and-dividend, or a session on natural gas supplies that went over time by 30 minutes due to prolonged questions, and full attendance all around was in action for the 9 am morning sessions on Saturday. This is motivation.

Beware of young people who become early birds in pursuit of their goals – they will not only get the worm, they are likely to skewer it. And from our laid-back nest of Colorado, we delivered 50 souls to Powershift to build up advocacy skills to match their proven energy.

Jesi Vandeputte, a Master’s candidate in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at CU, was galvanized by lobbying. “Representative Jared Polis was so in tune with our opinions. We were under-prepared, we realized, because we went to convince him to lead in a way that he's leading now. Our big take-home is he needs our help, so we are going to go back in the fall prepared to lobby some of his opponents.”

Victoria Watson-Nava, 23, a senior at CSU-Pueblo and an activist for a very Latino network, Democracia, added a deeply global perspective. “At Powershift we explored how racism, segregation, and lack of social justice have exacerbated the industrialization, capitalism, and individualism in our nation. There is great despair that exists between social classes; not only have we lost our connectivity to the Earth but also with each other. We have fallen into the addiction of filling our lives with consumer pleasure at the expense of exploiting other peoples, their countries and resources. When we throw something "away", we are throwing "away" people, a forest, a river, an ecosystem.”

Another such soul was Dan Omasta, age 21, who is involved in several environmental groups through the University of Colorado and beyond. He reflected measured excitement on the decision by House Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to switch the Capitol’s steam plant from coal to cleaner-burning natural gas:

“Although the plant will be switching to a less-polluting resource, natural gas is still a finite commodity and has significant consequences where it is extracted, including the Roan Plateau here in Colorado!”

The decision was reached before a planned protest was held at the plant, which proceeded with 2,500 protesters and no arrests. Dan Omasta said it symbolized more than a protest on one coal plant “it is a parable for the necessity to place a moratorium on all new coal plants -- and to stop the Comanche 3 plant about to open in Pueblo!”

When Colorado’s beloved Ken Salazar, now Secretary of the Interior, addressed the crowd and called for thousands of young people to “resurrect the treasured landscapes of America in a new student conservation corps like the world has never seen,” the room erupted with applause for almost two whole minutes, according to Omasta.

When Ken Salazar can bring down the house, you know the world has changed. The passion and vision shared by all at Powershift were palpable and contagious, with connections being forged among the generations.

As we have seen with the success of the Obama campaign, young people can and will spread the seed of new thought and energy into their parents’ homes and now the halls of Congress. And as we recall from the ‘60’s, those who oppose the young cohort carelessly can be met with something out of a Hitchcock film. The motivated young are not to be messed with.

The key speeches can be found at Jenkins-Sights and Sounds