Students plan trip to energy conference

About 10,000 college students from around the nation, including about 70 from MSU, will travel to Washington, D.C., on Feb. 27 to engage in Power Shift ’09 — a youth conference to influence Congress and the Obama administration to enact legislation to combat global warming.

Power Shift was established by the Energy Action Coalition, or EAC, in 2007. Aside from Power Shift, EAC includes 50 national organizations as well as a sizeable number of local groups developed to fight for climate change laws.

“It’s our future that’s being gambled with, and I think that’s why you see young people stepping up,” said Brianna Cotter, a spokeswoman for EAC. “We know that we can solve our economic crisis and our global environmental crisis by investing in energy and clean jobs. We want to move our country towards a more sustainable process.”

The conference will commence with a career fair and welcoming addresses. Throughout the weekend, workshops ranging in topic from environmental justice to corporate accountability will be available to the participants, as well as addresses from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Van Jones, founding president of Green For All. The conference will close March 2 with a rally on the U.S. Capitol’s west lawn.

“I went to Power Shift last year as a freshman, and I kind of just went to go to Washington, D.C., because I hadn’t been there before,” said Bethany Lumbert, a comparative cultures and politics sophomore and media coordinator of MSU’s ECO Club. “And I was completely moved by how many people cared about climate change.”

ECO and the Michigan Student Sustainability Coalition helped to create the group of MSU students attending. Currently, 340 students from Michigan will attend.

“Michigan State is one of the top five schools active in Power Shift,” Cotter said.

Despite the state’s crumbling economy, Brandon Knight, statewide coordinator for EAC, said Michigan has the possibility to benefit from climate change legislation and students have the potential to sway future policies.

“Michigan has a unique role,” he said. “As young people, we’ve watched our parents lose jobs and our economy move down. I really believe that we can reinvigorate our manufacturing base through energy efficiency.”

For students wishing to attend the conference, a $45 fee is required with the registration form found at www.powershift09.org. Registration is open until the date of the conference. Bus transportation from the Michigan Student Sustainability Coalition is expected to cost $15.