This past weekend, something remarkable happened — more than 35,000 people came to Washington D.C. from all over the country to make sure President Obama heard our message: take action on climate, reject the Keystone XL pipeline. So, was President Obama listening while we took to the streets in the dead of winter? It’s hard to tell. While thousands of Americans marched in the cold to call for action on climate, the President was in Florida ‘on the green’ with leading figures in the Texas oil and gas execs. For most Washington insiders this can be chalked up to par for the course, but for a president who has stressed the urgency of addressing climate change this is a bogey.

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An Invitation to the President

The President’s golf game got us to thinking, how willing is he to check out things from our perspective? Jim Murphy, National Wildlife Federation’s senior counsel and tar sands campaigner, issued an invitation:

“President Obama, we realize that this is how business gets done in Washington, which is why we’d like to formally invite you to trade in your golf spikes for some hiking boots. So next time you’re down in Florida, come with us on a tour of the Everglades, where wildlife like sea turtles and Key Deer are losing crucial habitat due to climate change. Or if you’d like something closer to home, hang out with us at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, one of the country’s best waterfowl habitats that’s facing catastrophic sea level rise.  We can’t promise a caddy, but we guarantee it will be a lot of fun.”

President Obama says he’s serious about combating climate change, but he needs to show his commitment by rejecting Keystone XL. If 40,000 people marching in Washington D.C. wasn’t enough to make our message loud and clear then we’ll get louder.  This past week is just more evidence that we need to raise our voices to make sure he is standing up for people and wildlife.

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On Sunday, the National Wildlife Federation and our supporters took part in the largest climate rally in history. And that’s exactly what it felt like: being a part of history. Over 35,000 people came out in the blistering cold to show their unwavering devotion and commitment to our planet and its wildlife. Thousands of us stood in solidarity to push the most powerful man on earth to stand on the right side of history.

If President Obama is serious about tackling climate change, he needs to reject the Keystone XL pipeline. Scientists have overwhelmed us with evidence that climate change is happening now and that we need to take serious steps to mitigate its effects. Wildlife all across the country are already feeling the impacts of climate change, and the upstream emissions alone from filling the Keystone XL pipeline would be equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions from 6.3 coal-fired power plants or more than 4.6 million passenger vehicles. This project is moving America in the wrong direction. We have a moral obligation to protect our children’s future from climate change.  So, what do people do when they want change but their elected officials don’t, won’t or can’t: we move, we march, we build, we take action.

On February 17th, we took to the streets. In a historic moment for the climate movement we stood up and said “yes we can” solve the climate crisis. However, the fight is not over, and the President still needs to be pushed.  In order to move towards a clean energy future we need to reject the Keystone XL pipeline. Make your voice heard by telling the President that it is his turn to take action.

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Here are some more photos from the rally — if you attended, please add yours to the pool:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Students Push for Sustainability on their Campuses

Students are the epicenter of any college or university campus.  They are the heart and soul and the reason why colleges and universities exist, and it would be a disservice to any campus if students were not engaged throughout all aspects of campus sustainability.  A myriad of lessons have been learned from engaging an estimated 460,000 student leaders hailing from 2,000 campuses over Campus Ecology’s23 years and counting of programming at the National Wildlife Federation (NWF).  During this time, the program has also awarded approximately 180 Campus Ecology Fellowships to current undergraduate and graduate students and nearly 500 internships to recent graduates.   Throughout the evolution of campus sustainability, there have been changes in approach and goals for greening one’s campus; however the one constant has always been student leadership.

Appalachian State Dining Services Image

Bold Campus Climate Action

Students across the country have been lobbying their college or university president to sign the American College and University President’s Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) since its inception five years ago.  Schools like University of Oklahoma and Birmingham Southern College attribute students to the signing of the ACUPCC.  In addition, once the school has become a signatory, in many cases students are conducting the greenhouse gas inventories and helping with the climate action plans.  In 2009, Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) research conducted by John Hehir, showed that approximately 19 percent of all greenhouse gas inventories to-date were compiled by student researchers and classes.

Climate Action Planning Research Team at Ithaca College

Engaging Students Across all Sustainability Programming is Key

NWF Campus Ecology staff have been working with students across the country to assist them through the process of how to effectively lobby for the signing of the ACUPCC, and once completed how to stay on task with the different commitment steps.  In addition, staff have been instrumental in bringing sustainability staff, students and faculty together to dialogue about the priorities and issues facing campuses across the country.

It is through this work that we have found that engaging students throughout sustainability programming is strongest when it is:

• Non-Prescriptive:  Programming that empowers student leaders to define their own vision, dreams and goals is more effective and compelling for students than efforts that prescribe exactly what students should do and how they should do it.
• Whole Person-Oriented:  Initiatives that emphasize the whole person, fosters personal and professional development and the need for social connections are stronger than programs that focus on narrow tactics. Students are not campaign objectives, engaged simply to meet short-term tactical policy needs of an organization or campus and dispensed with when the victory is achieved.
• Consultative:  Programs benefit from engaging students upfront in the design, outcomes, purpose, objective and even the language used to implement it.
• Cumulative:  Programs that provide ladders and pathways for professional, career and personal growth, as well as increased leadership opportunities are stronger than programs that lead to cul-de-sacs for student leaders.  Providing connections among programs geared to various age groups and clear pathways from one to the next supporting leaders as they progress through each life stage is worth aiming towards.
• Recognition:  In one survey after another, students tell us they want recognition.  Whether it is a certificate or title for their resume, volunteer programming is enhanced when it leads to credentials students can use to advance their academic and career goals.

As college and university campuses improve their sustainability efforts it is critical to understand the bigger picture.

Why Higher Education Matters

By the numbers in 2008

• 18 million – Number of students (with 44% of undergraduates attending two-year schools)

• 4,300 – Number of U.S. colleges & universities

• $386 billion – Annual expenditures of postsecondary institutions

The numbers alone are impressive, but perhaps more important is the fact that today’s college and university students will be the leaders in most areas of the U.S. economy in years to come. They will strongly influence the values and priorities in the country’s future use of energy, resources and political power. Although the years spent in college are just one of many forces shaping a young person, they can have a big impact not only on a student’s understanding of issues like sustainability and climate change, but also on development of the skills and habits of mind needed to successfully tackle them.

Hence, it is important to consider the campus as a microcosm of larger cities across the U.S.  and the globe.  It is the college and university setting that gives students the training and experience they need to find and create green jobs, develop solutions to climate change and have positive sustainability impacts across the world.

NWF Campus Ecology works with students, staff and faculty across the U.S. to improve overall campus sustainability efforts by providing one-on-one consultations, fellowships and internships, resources, and through networking and sharing best practices. In addition, through our Greenforce Initiative, a partnership of NWF and Jobs for the Future, we help create hands-on training opportunities for students in green career pathway programs; connecting students to campus sustainability efforts provide students the opportunity to harness green job skills while greening their campus.

To learn more about the different programs within NWF Campus Ecology, find us at www.campusecology.org

This is a class that campaigned on clean energy and climate in the last election after all, and had the electorate on their side (see Zogby’s November 2008 poll for a refresher).  57 percent of voters said global warming action was an important reason for their vote. A lot has changed of course, but energy policy remains a strength for their party. A new Fox poll today shows Democrats have a nine point advantage with the electorate on energy, 46 to 37.    

The polls have been issued in recent weeks by Washington Post, Benenson, CNN and most recently Wall Street Journal.  The last one had a margin supporting climate action of 2 to 1. Republican leaders seem to be stuck in a feedback loop supporting Big Oil.

Watch NWF’s global warming policy director Joe Mendelson respond to the meeting and urge members to take action.

Larry Schweiger, president & CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, was on Capitol Hill today for the unveiling of the American Power Act. He joined Senators John Kerry (D-MA) & Joe Lieberman (I-CT) as they revealed the details of their clean energy & climate bill. Larry called the bill an important step forward:

[T]he price of Congressional paralysis and America’s addiction to oil is no longer hidden. When oil flows into our Gulf waters as fast as our gasoline money flows to the Persian Gulf, it’s past time for a new energy plan for America.

The American Power Act has the one ingredient that is absolutely essential for any energy bill to be worth doing. It holds oil companies and other corporations accountable for doing their fair share to reduce pollution.

The work on this important bill isn’t finished, but it is vital that the Senate finish its work and deliver a comprehensive climate and clean energy bill this year. We will be mobilizing our 4 million supporters and working with our allies to make sure Senators get the message.

Will you join the National Wildlife Federation’s push for a cap on carbon pollution to protect our children, wildlife & natural resources from the worst effects of global warming?

Please take a moment right now to contact your Senators!