Interesting fact #1: The United States is the only developed nation never to have ratified the Kyoto treaty.

Young people from throughout the world will be convening to make the case for climate justice and show the faces of the people who will be affected the most: our generation. I will join these climate activists and provide support to their efforts.

Interesting fact #2: The United States has one of the highest per-capita emissions in the world, especially when you exclude small petroleum exporting countries.

In Copenhagen I will bring the energy, enthusiasm, and ideas of the Campus Progress Network, I will be blogging on Funding Our Future to let you all know about how progress is looking on the ground, and I will be working with fellows from the Center for American Progress to try to influence the direction of the negotiations.

If you have any ideas, thoughts, or questions about the trip, please leave a comment. I will be convening a conference call for Campus Progress Network members as we get closer to my departure, hope to see you all there!

* Not in the Campus Progress Network? Join here!

After years of neglect, suppressed reports, silenced scientists, and lack of resources, the Environmental Protection Agency is back to doing it's job. 

Two years ago the Supreme Court ruled that CO2 was a pollutant and gave the EPA a mandate to establish a system to abate carbon emissions through the Clean Air Act. The Bush administration's EPA dragged its feet and it took an overwhelming progressive electoral victory for the agency to finally comply with the ruling.

Administrator Lisa Jackson announced last week that the Obama Administration will start cracking down on the largest CO2 emitters in the nation and demand that new coal power plants use the best available technology to reduce emissions.

 "This rule allows us to do what the Clean Air Act does best – reduce emissions for better health, drive technology innovation for a better economy, and protect the environment for a better future – all without placing an undue burden on the businesses that make up the better part of our economy.” Said Administrator Jackson at the Governors' Global Climate Summit in Los Angeles.

 This is a tremendous victory and we commend the EPA, Administrator Jackson, and President Obama for taking this important step towards protecting public health and reducing global carbon pollution. 

Let's Raise a Million, one of our star Action Grantees, just had a fantastic summer distributing over over 5,000 lightbulbs and 3500 water conservation kits to Atlantan neighborhoods.  

The Atlanta Workforce Development Agency, Let’s Raise A Million (LRAM), Sustainable Atlanta and the Department of Watershed partnered up to start the Atlanta Mentorship Program for Sustainability (AMPS) . The program not only provided free energy saving light bulbs and low-flow water kits to modest mean residents throughout the city (particularly in communities like Ashby Park, Magnolia Park, Chappell Forest, Overlook Atlanta and Mozley Park), but also trained 20 Mayor’s Youth Program participants to install them.  It is estimated that the initiatives of LRAM and AMPS have saved the city of Atlanta over $4 million in energy and water consumption.

The participating students were trained and supervised by college students from LRAM, a student-led urban ecological project, and recipient of Campus Progress "Action Grant". This initiative was housed by the Atlanta Workforce Development Agency (AWDA) and was responsible for training the 20 youths to install the energy-saving devices.  In an increasingly environmentally-conscious world, AMPS and AWDA's mission is to develop and cultivate an adequate pool of qualified employees for a growing business market. This means focusing on training in energy conservation device installation and maintenance. 

Our generation - and our world - needs America to take action on the climate crisis, but the current bill falls short of the reforms we need. We must make it stronger, and now is our chance.

Take action at campusprogress.org/climatebill.

Learn more about the issue at Funding our Future.

For the first time EVER, a climate bill made it out of a congressional committee yesterday and is heading to a full House vote. Unfortunately the American Clean Energy and Security Act was badly weakened in the process, to the point that some of the most principled environmental organizations are opposing it. At Campus Progress we are still hopeful that it will be strengthened on its way to the President's desk, but it won't happen without your continued engagement. 

It is still early to declare victory, but take some time to celebrate for this historic occasion. This could not have happened without all of you who took action in your communities. From PowerVote to PowerShift, from organizing town halls during the recess to clocking in thousands of phone calls from constituents, we managed to turn two 'Expected No' votes into yesses. Now let's keep this up and make sure that the final bill will be a much stronger, bolder and more just one.   

Check out the Funding our Future blog for news about the bill's progress, resources and action opportunities and tell everyone you know that our climate legislation will be hijacked by King Coal if we don't step up to protect it. 

CP's Climate Guru Tommaso Boggia reports:

On February 27th, more than 12,000 young climate leaders from throughout the nation (really, all 50 states, most congressional districts, even all territories!) made their way to Washington D.C. to demand action on the climate crisis at the 2009 Power Shift Conference. Power Shift was organized by the Energy Action Coalition, a group of over 50 the diverse local and national organizations working together to support and strengthen the student and youth clean energy movement in North America. As a part of the Energy Action Coalition, Campus Progress staff and student representatives worked tirelessly in the preceding months, and in the end, we were able to recruit over 300 people from campuses and communities across the country to join us at this year’s Power Shift.

Over the course of 3 days at Power Shift, attendees heard from amazing speakers like Van Jones, Majora Carter, and Chairman of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming Ed Markey, learned essential organizing skills, and grappled with many of the controversial issues facing the environmental movement, from the deceiving malice of Natural Gas to the promise of renewable energy to empower indigenous communities. The conference culminated in a lobby day, in which young people rallied on the lawn of the Capitol demanding action on climate change, and met with their local representatives to lay out their demands for decisive action on the climate crisis.

Not only was the conference a blast, I heard people say over and over that Power Shift had changed their lives. 

As Saturday’s headlining musical act the Roots left the stage, it was close to midnight, and I was ready to fall asleep right then and there. My feet hurt from a long, fulfilling day, and I was not willing to wrestle the crowd to leave the building. Instead, I hung back and waited for a while, as the 12,000 people left the room that they worked so hard to fill. Finally, as the crowds were thinning, I started to make my way out of the room. That’s when I heard a familiar chant coming from the atrium: "Power Shift! Power Shift! Power Shift!" Although I thought it was pretty cool, I moved on, expecting the chant to end and the crowd to disperse any second. It didn't. For over 30 minutes, thousands of young people refused to leave the Conference Center where they had been for over 12 hours. Full of energy, they continued to chant, and the more they chanted, the more the movement became their own. Finally, the excitement turned to chills and brought me close to tears.

And now, after thousands of people rushed Capitol Hill calling for climate justice, Power Shift is continuing throughout the nation. Those who came to D.C. are returning to their communities to recruit more young leaders to the cause. They are building relationships with their representatives to ensure that the principles of Power Shift will be the guiding force for the 111th Congress. In fact, on April 6 -19, you can join the Power Shifters in your home district to lobby your representatives while they are on recess.

I remember when I started working on this issue and it was so hard to mobilize anyone. People didn't get it. They felt a distant connection to the issues of climate change, but few owned the movement. Things have finally changed. Our generation not only gets it, we own it. We are determined to put an end to the reign of death of the “Fossil Fools.” We are ready for a Power Shift!

The Towson Energy Activists(TEA) are very proud to have just become part of the Campus Progress community and already have begun working for progressive changes when it comes to the environment. On November 14th, TEA paired with local Baltimore Rising Tide for a coal financers day of action in the financial district of the city. Students, young people and community activists, held huge banners, flyered, chanted and engaged in a mass action of shutting down Bank of America and Citibank accounts (video).