Although many students are also ramping up for exams and summer internships, all across the country student activists hosted earth day events and actions to honor this planet and bring more people into the fight to protect it. In Michigan it looks like it was also a nice opportunity to spend some time outside, appreciating nature and good friends:

Photo from Connor Meston, MSU student.

And of course, Earth Day isn’t the only day students are hosting awesome events and taking action to make our world a more sustainable one. Most of these students are engaged in campaigns that work every day to undertake important sustainability goals on campus, like ending the sale of bottled water, transitioning to renewable energy, and divesting from fossil fuels. Stand in solidarity with these students by taking action today too! Take a minute to prevent oil spills in the Great Lakes by voicing your opposition to Enbridge’s tar sands pipelines. 

Kate Catlin, a native of the Seattle area, has been selected as a member of the United States Youth Delegation to the United Nations climate negotiations in Durban, South Africa from Nov. 28-Dec. 9, 2011. A junior at Gonzaga University pursuing a B.S. in Economics, Kate is currently in Nicaragua interning with Soluciones Comunitarias. She will be providing updates about her experience as a youth delegate on this blog.

During a community event with a local philanthropy group, one member asked me, “Why exactly should we send young people to an international summit like this?”

It’s a fair question. Why pay for a bunch of 20-somethings to fly around the world for the next UN Conference of the Parties concerning Climate Change? Compared to other attending NGOs, we have years less experience in UN negotiations and bureaucracy. We are just another group of youth idealists — right?

These distinguishing features are exactly why we are so essential.

1. The SustainUS delegation suffers from none of the jaded attitude of veteran participants.
2. We have no need to avoid stepping on international toes to prevent provocation concerning other international issues.
3. We maintain an unbridled enthusiasm and for optimism for the future.
4. Most importantly, we put a human face to the need for sincere efforts towards stronger mitigation. After all, we are the ones who must survive the consequences.
5. Moreover, these youth are by no means ignorant.
• Agents of Change Coordinator Ming-Jay Shiao is currently a Solar Analyst at Greentech Media Research, focusing on US photovoltaic demand and global inverter markets.
• Social Media Director Katherine Rainone is an Account Representative at Chapman Cubine Adams + Hussey, a non-profit fundraising and marketing consultancy and a simultaneous Master’s Candidate in Environmental Planning and Management at Johns Hopkins University.
• SustainUS Chair Ellie Johnston is a project coordinator for Berkshire Publishing’s Encyclopedia of Sustainability and the International Review of Sustainability in Business and Law.

Motivations for attending 17th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC are equally diverse:

• Delegate Amanda Formica is in her second year of the Lutheran Volunteer Corps at Miriam´s Kitchen in Washington, DC. As she works to provide services to the homeless and the destitute, she can see the effects of environmental policy on a daily basis: “Rising fuel costs, health effects of poor food, proximity to coal power plants and more are all unfair burdens on people who are poor.¨
• Marielle Remillard, head of the delegation’s Policy Working Group, found her passion for climate issues while working on the North Slope of Alaska. She says ¨I had originally gone to work as an engineer analyzing stream conditions and weather patterns. What I found were communities that were being washed into the ocean¨

The delegates range from 20 to 26 in age and Stow, OH to Quito, Ecuador in hometowns. While our variety of perspectives has lead to extensive chain emails debating policy positions, they are also what make us strong. Read each biography here. Next week is the last pre-conference blog post so check back for policy and preparation updates. Until then– stay green!

Find out what National Wildlife Federation is doing to combat climate change.

Chloe Gleichman, the president of Central Michigan University’s Student Environmental Association (SEA) has taken the lead on planning the event, is calling on all students to come and join the fight for our earth:

Click here to view the embedded video.

“Sick of corporate tyranny?  Fed up with the destruction of our precious earth in the name of profit?  Had enough of political corruption?  We have, too.

“And we want others to be just as tired of the profit-over-planet precedent, so we’re holding the first Reclaim Earth March on September 18 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. If we’re going to win this fight, then we’re going to need consistent and relentless action all over the nation.  The Reclaim Earth March is proof that we don’t need an emblematic city such as DC of a bunch of nationally known climate activists to make a statement. All we need is a cause, our passion, and our voices!

“So come to Ann Arbor on September 18 and participate in the march! We are the leaders for which we have been waiting.”

For more information or to assist in planning, please contact Chloe at gleic1ce@cmich.edu and visit/invite others to the Reclaim Earth March Facebook page!

This Sunday, May 15^th at noon, youth from across the state of Michigan will be traveling to Ann Arbor to take part in the iMatter March. The youth-run march will raise awareness about the current climate crisis and ask the U.S. government to stop prioritizing corporations and give our atmosphere and planet the protection necessary for a healthy and prosperous future.

The Ann Arbor iMatter March is one of dozens of other marches being organized by youth across the globe. As the generation most affected by the climate crisis, young people around the world are standing in solidarity, letting their governments know that they matter, they have a voice and they’re going to use it to promote the urgency of putting an end to climate change by transitioning to an economy based off of clean energy.

Chloe Gleichman, the student organizer of the march said “The iMatter March is an opportunity for youth to engage in protecting their future and the future of the earth.  In today’s society, there are so many messages telling youth that we don’t matter.  That is simply wrong.  We are each powerful individuals and as a group, we are unstoppable.  This Sunday, we will take to the streets to demand that the government protects our right to exist and begins to govern as if the future matters.”

Youth take to the DC streets to march for a clean energy future at Power Shift 2011- Just as we'll do at the iMatter March Ann Arbor

The Ann Arbor iMatter March route will begin at 12pm at the corner of North University St. and State St., then it will travel in a loop leading through Ann Arbor’s busy downtown streets and ending in the diag. In total the march will cover approximately 1.7 miles. The march kicks off at 12pm but come as early at 9am to help make those all important signs to march with.

Join the iMatter March this Sunday, May 15^th at 12pm, to show your support for a more healthy and sustainable future!

On April 21, 2011, sixty elementary school kids from Dobbs Elementary School part of the Atlanta Public Schools and and God’s Little Angels Academy based in Lithonia GA, came to the OAC to learn about water conservation and to connect to nature by helping to install a rain garden, working to refurbish the frog pond, and learning about the insects that inhabit the OAC Forest.  The highlight for many of the students was the release of host of beatutiful butterflies as they worked with Ms. Evonne (affectionately called “The Bug Lady”)! This terrific Earth Day project was held at the Outdoor Activity Center (OAC) in partnership with NWF Earth Tomorrow of Atlanta,GA  Green for All of Oakland, CA and the Ludacris Foundation of Atlanta, GA.

The Earth Day event was pulled together in a very quick timeframe, and we appreciate evertything that was done to make this day meaningful for the kids and helpful for WAWA (West Atlanta Watershed Alliance) and the OAC (Outdoor Activity Center) as we try to raise the profile of both. Actress Keshia Knight Pulliam (best known for her role as “Rudy” on the Cosby Show), Radio Personality, Rasahan Ali, and Rapper Ludacris’ Mom, Roberta Shields were on hand to help the kids plant in the rain garden and connect to the natural world in new and special ways! Atlanta Falcons “Green” Starting Fullback Ovie Mughelli dropped by to catch a bit of the fun, and he pledged to come back to hold his “Recycle on the Run” event at the OAC for West Atlanta youth!

Photo courtesy West Atlanta Watershed Alliance (WAWA).

Check out the Green for All blog post with photos from the day.

So far, we’ve had a great Earth Month starting with the well-attended Urban Forestry Festival on April 2nd, the debut of “Storytime in the Forest” and Spring Break Activities for youth in the community, and a full day of activities for area girl scouts on April 16th! Add the service projects that we’ve already had and the upcoming environmental education outreach events planned for the rest of the month, and you’ve got a fantastic earth month for WAWA and the OAC!

I know that many events are happening, and encourage you to get as actively involved in your local community. Personally, it’s been a whirlwhind month of sustainable events and traveling to D.C. for NWF Young Leader Assembly & Powershift 2011, but I thought last week was pretty special as we work to build a sustainable community in West End Atlanta.

For more information, check out CBS Atlanta’s Web Article and Video on the event, along with a slideshow of pics from the day, or even more event photos taken by Green For All Videographer & Media Archivist, Ryan Dexter.

Imran Battla is a 2011 delegate to the NWF Young Leaders Assembly and Senior Program Manager of the Applied Mentorship Program for Sustainability based in Atlanta, GA.

As cherry blossoms pop up all over Washington, D.C. and as winter is soon to be a distant memory, my immediate thought is my mother encouraging my brother, sister and I to go play outside until the night falls.  However as we face a changing economic, political, and social environment, it seems that swinging on trees, playing in fields, and collecting bugs and worms to make “delicious” mud pies is not the “norm”  for the future generation of kids. Given this scary reality, I personally see the true value in programs that promote time outdoors for children, and hope that one day, it will not just be me urging my kids to get outside, get dirty, and learn something in nature, but the larger community as well.   

PhotoLibrary.com

The US Forest Service is a major force contributing to a growing national movement to bring kids to nature—and nature to kids.  On April 4^th, 2011, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced $1 million in cost-share funding for children’s programs furthering USDA’s commitment to connect young people around the nation with America’s great outdoors.  This announcement comes at the heels of President Obama’s unveiling of the America’s Great Outdoors: A Promise to Future Generations report which encourages active, outdoor lifestyles.  Similarly, Let’s Move Outside!, was launched nearly a year ago as the outdoor component of the comprehensive initiative launched by First Lady Michelle Obama aims to solve the problem of childhood obesity within a generation. 

Now in its fifth year, The More Kids in the Woods program is a competitive funding program for partnership projects that engage kids in active, meaningful learning experiences that get kids outside. Projects focus on reaching diverse youth and serving under-served populations, using outdoor activities and nature-based learning to create meaningful and lasting connections to nature and to advance children’s health.  This year each region of the Forest Service also has a new Children’s Forest initiative!  All of these programs help kids to make the connection between healthy forests, healthy communities and their own healthy lifestyles.  In 2010, funded projects reached more than 15,000 young people.

“The value of these programs and partnerships for youth must not be underestimated,” said U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell. “Young people are tomorrow’s stewards of our public lands, and we must invest in building lasting and meaningful connections between our youth and America’s great outdoors.”

50 student leaders from American NGOs showed up to protest a weak presentation by Americans for Prosperity to deny the science of global warming.

It’s so important to hear from these youth since their generation will pay a terrible price if we fail to act now to address climate change. Will we stand together with them in Copenhagen against those who would steal their green job opportunities and a safer future?

I am sooooo excited and humbled to be writing from Copenhagen, Denmark, where I have the honor of serving as a Youth Delegate from Atlanta, Georgia at the United Nations Climate Change Conference! 

Over the course of the next 10 days, I will be posting updates from the conference and sharing my experiences as a "green" (this is my first time participating in a U.N. conference) delegate.  This first post is brief, as I have only arrived in Copenhagen today to settle in to my temporary home with our wonderful host Jakob and should probably be sleeping.  While it's only 8:00pm in Atlanta, it is 2:00am here in Denmark and I have my first meeting of Youth NGO representatives at 8:00am tomorrow morning, which is 2:00am in Atlanta.  Yikes!

I spent a fair portion of today reading the most recent version of the International Climate Treaty that representatives from all over the world have come together to negotiate in an attempt to reach an agreement.  Let me warn you that it can be fairly repetitive due to numerous instances of alternative options for wording, content and structure of the document.  However, I highly encourage those of you who are interested to at least take a look to see first-hand what the international debate is about.  You can download a PDF of the treaty here: http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2009/awglca7/eng/inf02.pdf

To give you a glimpse of what to expect from my blogging adventure, here are a few of the events that I plan to attend outside of official meetings this week (although most of them are affiliated with the conference in some way):

• Boat Tour to Middelgrunden Offshore Wind Farm
• “From Globalization to Localization of Life and Economy” featuring Dr. Vandana Shiva at the Kilmaforum 09
• “The Role of Education in Relation to the Climate Crisis”
• “Livelihoods, Forests and Climate" featuring Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai (learn how you can host a screening of “Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai” on your campus for FREE!)

Plus, this weekend I’m going to have some fun:

• Visiting the polar bears at the Aalborg Zoo
• Seeing the Bright Green Exhibition
• Ice Skating in a local park that uses NO water or energy to make their “ice”
• Dancing to the beats of Ojos de Brujo in concert
• Attending the New Life Copenhagen festival
• Viewing the Ghost Forest exhibit at the Thorvaldsen Museum
• Enjoying a nice, QUIET afternoon at the International Eco Enduro electric motorcycle race

So stay tuned! And for those of you who are really looking forward to following my activities, I will also be blogging at www.forestjustice.org and tweeting under our YouthForClimate account. Godnat!

His appearance at the talks is considered especially important given that healthcare continues to dominate the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has promised to move forward with healthcare reform hoping to hold votes in December. The timing of these votes could directly interfere with the Copenhagen meetings, preventing Senate climate leaders John Kerry (D-MA) and Barbara Boxer (D-CA) from traveling to Copenhagen and build support.

Obama’s announcement also coincides with the announcement of a provisional greenhouse gas emissions target for 2020 in the range of 17% below 2005 levels. These levels will be placed on the bargaining table at Copenhagen and closely parallel with levels included in the House climate bill passed earlier this year, as well as the Senate bill that will likely reach the floor in the spring.

Possibly due to the youth campaigns that have urged Obama to action,the White House will host a Clean Energy Economy Forum with youth leaders from around the country on Wednesday, December 2 from 4:00-7:00 pm. Campus Ecology’s own Praween Dayananda will be in attendance, along with Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, and other Administration officials. The forum will address the benefits of the clean energy economy for younger generations and the role young Americans have in being leaders in and benefiting from those opportunities.

The forum will be webcast live here, and will also be open to the public through a Facebook application which allows the public to watch and discuss the event live. The White House will be keeping up with the chat, taking questions, and incorporating feedback from chat participants during the event.

The message of these young people is clear. They are determined to make their voices count in shaping the future that they and their children will inherit.

Jessy Tolkan, Executive Director of Energy Action Coalition said “Young people have an incredibly important role to play in demanding a clean energy future. They understand that we must pursue a ‘Yes We Can’ approach to our nation’s climate and energy challenges and that there are real consequences-for our economy, our security and the future of our planet-if Congress fails to act.”

These inspiring young leaders remind me of what Margaret Mead said about the power of individuals willing to stand together for what they believe in: “Never doubt that a group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.”

Are you a young person willing to stand up on behalf of your future? Add your voice at Consequence.