On the eve of the Copenhagen climate negotiations, as our movement shifts into high gear to get a global deal (and a fair, ambitious, and binding one at that!), I wanted to chronicle and reflect on some of the grassroots action that has been going on (lots of it in just the past week!).

There have been a ton of great posts reflecting on the White House Youth Clean Energy Forum.  One thing that came out of each was how our local leadership both made the meeting possible, and made the meeting successful.  Without the thousands of young people calling on Obama for his leadership, and calling very specifically for a meeting with youth leaders, the meeting never would have happened.  Once in the room, the 150 young leaders from diverse backgrounds had a ton of experience and insight to offer, and were able to demonstrate that there truly is grassroots leadership across the country.  We had campus leaders from dozens of states, community organizers on the frontlines of stopping mountaintop removal mining, field organizers setting up innovative programs to fuel green jobs training with home weatherization, and clean energy entrepreneurs from Silicon Valley.

And while we had this impressive cross-section of voices in DC, the action was still happening across the country (and abroad!):

• Young people working with the Maryland Student Climate Coalition and Chesapeake Climate Action Network led a No Coal Rally in Baltimore to oppose proposed transmission lines from West Virginia into their state.  What would be carried on those transmissions lines?  You guessed it, coal power.  Check out this great video they produced and keep a special eye out for youth voices Zainab and Zoe.
   
• Students from across Connecticut hit up the office of Senator Lieberman this past Friday to deliver two very important messages: as a chief architect of climate legislation, he must ensure that the authority of the EPA is not gutted and that his state maintains clean and healthy air, and that our targets and timelines must be in-line with what science demands and lead us to 350 ppm.  Check out their boldness in the above video.
   
• At University of Missouri, students wasted no time in protesting anti-climate statements by their President Gary Forsee, immediately taking to the streets calling for clean energy and their President to not issue statements not reflective of the students or university. Chants of "Forsee has no foresight" could be heard around campus!

• And this is only the beginning: Kentucky Students held a coordinated day of action to move their campuses beyond coal, the Leadership Campaign continues to build in Massachussets, young people in the NW aren't letting up against natural gas - this is the story of our movement: ever expanding, relentless, and everywhere.

And as I alluded to earlier, the action is also happening on the global-stage.

Hundreds of young people are assembled in Copenhagen at the Conference of Youth (and thousands more are expected for the demonstrations), solidifying strategy and plans for what will be sure to be an action-packed couple of weeks.

But people aren't waiting to get started; students with Greenpeace Solar Generation got to Copenhagen early and paid a visit to the U.S. Embassy to deliver a Wake Up Call.  They delivered First Secretary of the Regional Enviornmental Office, Erik Hall, a scrap book that chronicled movement highlights from the past year - like Power Vote, Power Shift 2009, and all the local work on campuses.  The representative assured them that he would take their work and message to President Obama. 

This is an incredible example of youth bringing our local issues and accomplishments to decision-makers in Copenhagen, something that we need to do a lot more of over the next couple of weeks.

Which is why I'm excited that the youth in Copenhagen are so well networked and connected with the movement back home, and that together they are creating the plans to elevate each others voices.  Energy Action Coalition, its partners, and the youth delegations in Copenhagen are developing a Rapid Response Network so that breaking updates can hit the grassroots at the speed necessary to influence outcomes in Copenhagen, and finding creative ways to bring local leaders voices to Copenhagen.  Our local issues and work provide the underpinning of why we need a strong global deal, and by bringing all of our voices into the negotiations we can demonstrate the grassroots support and pressure for something truly bold and strong.

Over 200 grassroots leads have already joined the Rapid Response Network, and more are signing up by the hour.  Sign-up now and you'll receive the breaking updates and calls to action directly from youth in Copenhagen who are setting up a Skype-powered phonebank to get the word out.

And don't let down on your local or domestic work either!  It's incredibly exciting to see such a big rally to Save Coal River Mountain taking place in Charleston, WV tomorrow, and hear that over 40 vigils for survival are planned outside of Senate offices.

Let's stand tall and proud, and be strong and loud these coming weeks; even if we don't get everything we need out of Copenhagen, we know that we are apart of a movement ready to do whatever it takes to take back our future.