There are many things to be thankful for this time of year, but above all we are thankful for you, and the leadership you have shown.

From Power Shift to Occupy Wall Street, we are seeing the resurgence of a youth-driven movement that has the power, ambition, and creativity to take back our country from the forces of corporate greed. And if anything is clear, it’s that you are at the forefront of this movement, and this is only the beginning.

For us, there is no better example of what this movement is capable of than your victory in the fight against Keystone XL. Thanks to your work, President Obama delayed (and likely killed) the pipeline that, back in August, was considered a done deal.

UPDATE: We blew through the 50,000 hour goal within 10 minutes! New goal is 100,000 hours!

Yesterday 12,000 people completely surrounded the White House and demanded President Obama reject the Keystone XL pipeline.

The fight for a clean energy future is a fight between special interests and people power. What we saw yesterday was an incredible demonstration on the side of people power — and now we have to build on it.

Last week, thirty-five of the best and brightest young leaders descended upon the nation’s capitol to deliver the grassroots demands and action that we’ve been organizing for months. From leading campaigns to move campuses beyond coal, to mobilizing against the Keystone XL pipeline, and hosting training and strategy sessions at our regional Power Shift conferences, these young people are leading in the grassroots, but last week they came to DC to be heard. And heard they were.

The first stop was a meeting with EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to thank her for her leadership, and show our support for her continuing to lead on critical matters of the mercury ruling and the Keystone XL pipeline. In a packed room on Howard University’s campus, we had a frank discussion on the state of public health, and the challenges we face in protecting it. Tayla Tavor from Michigan shared how she was diagnosed with asthma when she was 3-years old, and now finds herself at Michigan State University fighting to retire the largest on-campus coal plant in the country, which continues to threaten her and her peers’ health.

Administrator Jackson shared our concerns about the impacts of dirty energy. "It's so important that your voices are heard, that campuses that are supposed to be teaching people aren't meanwhile polluting the surrounding community with mercury and costing the children a few IQ points because of the need to generate power. It's simply not fair," Jackson said. And she didn’t mince words about some of the challenges she faces in protecting the American people from big polluters. She slammed the GOP for putting the interests of the coal industry ahead of those of the American people.

This weekend, over 400 youth leaders from across the Midwest converged in Cleveland, Ohio to do some political organizing. Ohio is a critical swing state in the 2012 election, but these activists weren't coming to knock on doors for Mitt Romney or phone-bank for Barack Obama.

Instead, their mission was two-fold: continue to work together building the clean energy economy in the heartland, and two, stand up against the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, a major setback and threat for the Midwest.