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"Everybody in America should have a stake in legislation that can transform our energy system into one that’s far more efficient, far cleaner, and provide energy independence for America." -President Barack Obama speaking at MIT on Friday, Oct. 23rd image courtesy of Bio jobs blog. Read More... |
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Clean Energy Momentum Continues in Durango! Posted by: Alicia Eimer, National Organizer- Focus the Nation Riley Neugebauer, Focus the Nation Field Organizer, continues to work for political accountability even after her Clean Energy Forum in Durango, CO. The event was the first of 25 Clean Energy Forums to be held across the country throughout this fall. Riley worked diligently and quickly to put together an event that would coincide with 350.org’s day of action on Oct. 24th (proving to be the largest international action for climate change in history). 350 activities were occurring on the lawn of Fort Lewis College and culminated with the Focus the Nation Clean Energy Forum, where students and community members had the opportunity to speak about solutions to climate change. Although Senators or their staffers who had previously confirmed were not in attendance, that did not stop the audience and panelists from asking tough questions and committing to further discussions to improve the community of Durango. Read More... |
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Transitioning: Report from Rethinking Dine Power Cross posted by Erin and Amanda from here This week, it feels like we’re really getting into the swing of the campaign. Finally done with visioning and planning, we have everything set up and ready to go for our first program and first event. Now is the time for gathering our team and doing massive outreach. Our first volunteer meeting was a disaster, only two people came, but it ended up being a great conversation about what we really want to accomplish here, what we’re inspired by and basically letting loose all the information we’ve learned over the past two months. After that, Erin and I pulled it together for a second volunteer meeting, getting 7 people there! Plus we met with another who couldn’t make that one. Now we’ve got 8 volunteers for this event, plus a commitment from them to get 8 more. Team building accomplished. Now for outreach, Sierra came with Erin and I to meet with the principals and counselors of all the middle schools and high schools in Shiprock. There’s five and all were very excited and enthusiastic about our projects. They’re offering for us to come to classes and speak, hang flyers around, and even speak in front of the whole school assembly! Not surprising, we looked like dorks, but that’s ok because the response was great. Here’s a video of Erin, Sierra and I at Shiprock High: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kLrZEackVM Read More... |
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Rethink Diné Power with Erin and Amanda Cross posted from Youthnoise by Trina Chi Erin Coffey (left) and Amanda Hass (right) recently won the 2009 Focus Roots Fellowship to help communities transition towards sustainable energy sources. The Focus Roots award includes $10,000 and operational support, a bicycle trip from New York City to Washington D.C. to promote a clean energy future, and a ticket to Copenhagen to attend the COP15 Climate Treaty Negotiations. Amanda and Erin's project, Rethink Diné Power, seeks to use art and community organizing to stop pollution from a coal-power plant in the Navajo Nation, New Mexico. Why did they choose to embark on this project? As Erin explained in her Focus Roots essay... "Amanda Hass and I this summer have had the opportunity to travel to Abiqui, New Mexico to facilitate a youth leadership training. At this training we met a remarkable Navajo community organizer by the name of Eloise Brown. Eloise, along with a coalition of Indigenous Partners and other environmental allies have been fighting the Desert Rock Coal Plant proposal for the past three years. She has given up her day to day life, her health and well-being in order to protect not only the Navajo community but our national community as well. As we listened to Eloise's story of struggle and sacrifice, we found ourselves being pushed out of our state of inertia..." Read More... |
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This Week from the Global Observatory Introducing a new FTN media partner: Global Observatory. GO will be providing us with the unique international perspective in the leadup to COP 15. Find out more at http://www.globalobservatory.net/. Sit back and enjoy some good reads! Cutting carbon makes sense for your profit (and the planet) |
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Spearfish Bike Cooperative: Focus Roots Fellow Makes Change By YouthNoise Blogger Trina Chi Meet Jeremy Smith. He's a cyclist, a community builder, a German-cookie aficionado, and the winner of the 2009 Focus Roots Fellowship. To be fair, Jeremy didn't win the fellowship per se; he earned it through his incredible dedication to both the bicycle and his community. Along with co-founder John Williams and a crew of volunteers, Jeremy is building a community bicycle cooperative in Spearfish, South Dakota. Jeremy was born in Montana but grew up in Spearfish. A number of years ago, Jeremy randomly met a bicycle-based traveling circus and spent the next year touring China and Hong Kong on his bike while honing his unicycle, tight rope, juggling and stilt-walking skills. [Note to self: I want to run away with that circus, too. That journey sounds nothing short of AWESOME.] From there, Jeremy's interest in bikes has continued to grow. |
