Coal

I'm writing from Charlotte, NC where the Democratic National Convention is in full-swing.

You can feel it in the convention hall, in the streets, and on Facebook--the pressure is mounting for Duke Energy to stop playing dirty politics and dump ALEC for funding voter suppression.

If you haven’t heard yet… it’s about to get HOT in Ohio this summer. Not just the post-finals-week-at-the-beach kinda hot… we’re talking about something even better; the politically-hot-cause-we’re-taking-the-fracking-industry-to-task-and-making-’em-sweat-on-home-turf HOTT. OSEC is kicking off summer vacation by teaming up with 350.org for Don’t Frack Ohio: a long weekend full of movement building strategies, trainings, and especially a big huge action that’s gonna rock Ohio’s statehouse the way earthquakes rocked Youngstown last fall (but better).

You might be asking yourself.. “Ohio? What’s so important about Ohio?” …. Well, Ohio and the Midwest, are Ground Zero for the Climate Fight, and Ohio especially has become the new front-line for the movement to end fracking; in just two years Ohio has gone from 4 permitted horizontally fracked wells to over 85, and the industry doesn’t plan on stopping until it hits a few thousand. Which means OSEC students aren’t planning on stopping anytime soon either; check out what we’ve done since Midwest PowerShift, and join us in Ohio June 14th-17th.

Last night, February 15th, Coal Free Mizzou had their kickoff event with over 70 attendees not only including students, but MU faculty and community members from the Columbia area.  Our campaign’s focus in the last semester was student health relating to the University of Missouri’s coal plant, which makes up for about 80% of the campus energy.  Since fall of 2009, Coal Free had been a small group of about 20 students on Mizzou’s campus, but after last semester’s events, including a flash mob and asthma awareness event, we have grown in numbers and in passion.