As the end of the semester nears and many of us gear up for finals, graduation, tying up loose ends, and making plans for the coming chapters in our lives, it is time once again to remind ourselves and those we love: self-care matters.
Going to school instate, in Kentucky, was not my first choice- not by a long shot. In fact, it was essentially my last choice. And I tried to be positive about staying, but it was hard.
On Tuesday, more than 4,200 students at UNC Chapel Hill demonstrated overwhelming support for divesting the university’s $2.1 billion endowment from the dirty coal industry. The referendum passed by a huge margin with 77% of UNC students voting in favor of coal divestment.
Florida youth are disappointed with Senator Marco Rubio’s recent comments on climate change. Last week in an interview with BuzzFeed, Rubio claimed that despite the “significant scientific consensus” that man-made activity is contributing to climate change, he has seen “reasonable debate” on whether this is true or not.
by Maura Cowley, Executive Director, Energy Action Coalition
In the spring of 2006, when I was a student at Penn State University, there was a drought in Central Pennsylvania that was so severe that the mountain near the college campus caught fire. It was literally on fire; an early indication of the changes in our climate that have now become daily occurrences -- fires, blizzards, droughts and superstorms.
As student activists at Penn State, we took it very seriously. It was the height of the Bush Administration, so national action on climate change seemed completely out of the question. We decided that we wanted to fight for real, meaningful, climate action locally, and that meant getting Penn State to commit to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions and scaling up clean energy.
We ran a very strong campaign. We collected 10,000 petition signatures — 20% of our student body. The student government endorsed us. The faculty senate endorsed us. The student paper wrote an editorial in our favor. We hosted event after event, using our petitions to bring out more people each time to demand Penn State be a leader in the fight against global warming.
by Whit Jones, Campaign Director, Energy Action Coalition
Last Thursday night, we had a very big call.
Over 100 grassroots leaders from across the country hopped on the phone for a high energy conversation about all of the epic action coming up, including the Feb. 17 #ForwardOnClimate Rally, and the PowerUp! Divestment Convergence.
The major theme: we’ve got ambitious goals for the year.
At Environmental Action Group of Bowling Green State University, we consider community building a primary element of our 100% Clean Bowling Green campaign. In just one step of many, members of EAG have recently been encouraging all students to write to President Mazey expressing their desire to have our money truly invested in our future in the form of a transition to renewable energy on campus. Students have also been encouraged to join the campaign themselves because we believe everyone has the power to help change the world.
Congress may be stuck in political gridlock, but the youth climate movement is running full speed ahead. Case in point: College students in Alabama are kicking off 2013 with an unprecedented statewide Sustainable Investment Project. The goal? Allocate one million dollars in campus sustainability funding by January 2014.
