I wish you all could be here in Memphis with me to celebrate the resurgence of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream.

This conference is a breath-taking expression of youth-driven passion and vision in addressing the climate and social crisis in our world. Change-makers from all states, Canada, Mexico, and more, have been exchanging their successes, frustrations and visions of a movement grounded in hope and sustainability.


Among the unending list of inspirational speakers, I had the honor to hear from Jerome Ringo, the current president of the Apollo Alliance, relate his story of struggle while working for a petrochemical company in Texas. After-hours his fellow workers were ordered to discharge the daily output of toxic sludge in the nearby waterways poisoning nearby towns in clear violation of the Clean Water Act and any measure of human decency. He would see, in the near horizon the houses where his family members, friends and compatriots carried on their lives without knowing about the lurking threat creeping up on them from the groundwater. As more and more of his brothers and sisters fell ill due to the toxic exposures, Jerome’s desire for justice became unbearable. He blew the whistle, quit his job and joined National Wildlife Foundation with a mission to diversify the environmental movement and bring attention to the daily plight of low income and minority communities that are habitually treated as the dumping sites for our excessively consumerist capitalist system.

His story of environmental racism and corporate exploitation was echoed by many throughout the conference. In a panel called “Stones of Hope in a Mountain of Dispair”, MaryAnne Hitt from Appalchian Voices and Kandi Mosset from Indigenous Environmental Network shared their touching stories. Few in the audience were able to withhold tears as they showed pictures and shared narratives about their peoples’ struggles to fight against the devastation of their precious natural environments due to mountaintop removal, oil refineries, tar sands, and uranium mining. If you take anything from this post, please walk away knowing that people throughout the United States are, and have been, suffering from the brutal and hidden effects of our addiction to fossil fuels and economic ‘growth’.

But the Dream Reborn is not all about despair, it is about hope. After all, Jerome managed to mobilize his community against the polluters, Appalchians are making their protest visible through www.ilovemountains.org and Kandi is stubbornly building support for local renewable energy production in her beloved native lands.

Two of the most inspiring aspects of the conference are the passion of youth and the multi-racial united front for fair green jobs. The “Campus Strategies for Building Green Jobs” panel featured three youths from Historically Black Colleges and Universities who have been active on the front of uniting the causes of environmental and economic justice. They talked about student movements of all sorts, from pushing universities to use their endowments responsibly to canvassing low-income neighborhoods with the gift of energy efficient light bulbs.  From the grassroots to the top-down, our youth are fighting so that their future, our future, will be just.

On my second day in Memphis, it is hard to acknowledge that this conference will come to an end. The passion, optimism and courage shown by all participants are contagious and warm like a mother’s embrace. Tomorrow at noon, it will be time to leave this place of understanding and compassion to go back to the real world. After this conference, I will always look back to these days wearing a comfortable smile knowing that the magnificent dream of Dr. King is kept alive by the energy and passion of today’s diverse youth. Green Jobs for ALL!