 | |
History of the Energy Action CoalitionThe Energy Action Coalition was founded in 2004 when young leaders across the country concluded that if only they worked together, we could solve a problem as large as climate change while creating a more equitable future for all.
Energy Action's flagship campaign, the Campus Climate Challenge, was launched in 2006 to spur a new wave of investment in renewable energy on college campuses from coast to coast. The Campaign spread like wildfire and Climate Challenge is now being run on over 700 colleges and universities across the country, and more than 550 of those campuses have made institutional commitments to become carbon neutral.
Just over one year ago Energy Action Coalition hosted the Power Shift '07 Conference, the first-ever national convening of young people on climate change. Far surpasing the expectations of the organizers, over 6,000 young people came, and three thousand of them converged on Capitol Hill for the largest lobby day on climate change in history. It left a mark that Congress didn't forget.
The Power Shift'09 Campaign will take the momentum rolling off of the conference and organize the "army" behind a highly strategized and unified national effort to pass bold climate and energy policy in 2009. By organizing and mobilizing the thousands of youth across this country behind the urgency of a powerful "Climate" bill, we will truely begin the Power Shift that this country so despearetly needs.
|
|
 | |
This election season, Energy Action Coalition Energy Action Coalition ran the Power Vote campaign to harness the power of the youth vote for clean and just energy and good green jobs. Powervote was a major player at both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, was formally endorsed and supported by renowned NASA climatologist James Hansen, had a large presence at each of the Presidential and Vice Presidential debates, was a featured project of Bill Clinton's Clinton Global Initiative, and hosted Al Gore in a live nationwide webcast. Over 350,000 young people got involved in the movement as climate voters and new leaders. We raised climate change as one of the key issues in the election and generated 100 of media stories.
The Power Shift '09 Conference was the largest gathering of young people to solve the climate crisis in history. Meeting with key strategic members in Congress, we have been told that they are ready to start promoting the essential legislation to achieve the just energy future we all deserve, but need a force (they specifically asked for an "army") on the ground spreading the word and gaining support. At Power Shift '09 we gathered in record numbers, 12,000 plus, to demonstrate that the youth climate movement is that "army."