Power Shift Reflections: We Want More (And How to Get It)

by Sean Siperstein

Power Shift ended Sunday for those of us "older folks" attending mostly to learn, meet amazing people and network, and write-- students, on the other hand, spent Monday taking Capitol Hill by storm. Reflecting on the various sessions yesterday, I found myself ruminating on them alongside Saturday night's keynote program, during which, as student blogger Julianna Williams notes, the urgency of the present driving the crowd shone through:

Tonight at Power Shift, as Congressman Ed Markey stood before us inciting us to support the proposed Energy Bill, a few of us began chanting “We want more, we want more.” Congressman Markey stopped short to listen. We chanted for a full minute with a fervor, intensity and volume that left me light-headed, hoarse and thoroughly invigorated. As we chanted, for the first time, I felt an almost painful desire for the future we want to see.

Interesting thing about that moment, and its acknowledgment by not just Markey but also Speaker Pelosi immediately thereafter, is that viewed in the context of various panels and discussions, I was able to look at it with a sheer sense of satisfaction that Power Shift was onto something and those speakers recognized and embraced it. Indeed, Pelosi spoke of the impatience of youth as a virtue in circumstances of dire need, invoking the nation's Founding Fathers as being similarly possessed. As an employee of an organization focused on a rejuvenated federalism in line with an appeal to constitutional text and history, obviously music to my ears...

Even more resonant, in this light, was taking away from various sessions an expanded sense of the promise that has shone through thus far, in part due thanks to the efforts of conference participants. Consider the following: 

• Saturday's panel session on the "Cool Cities" campaign, where college student Ursula James of Sugar Land, TX talked about getting her hometown on board with climate-friendly measures while still in high school. Despite the city's reputation as a redoubt of the oil industry, she quickly learned that local officials were already enthused by many of her proposals but had simply held back fearing political and legal backlash (a familiar concern, as environmental litigation brought by industry is sometimes driven, nearly as much as any realistic hopes for victory, by the desire to have a chilling effect on government's willingness to act). A few years and a lot of organizing later, the city is requiring new buildings to be LEED-certified and working on "greening" its fleet.
• Sunday's workshop on fighting climate change in the courts, led by Earthjustice's Tim Baillo, which drew a packed classroom of at least 50 students to examine the evolving landscape after Mass. v. EPA. The can-do attitude of looking for ways to make the law more relevant than a mere parsing of complex statutes and regulations-- while recognizing inherent limitations-- was amazing, and I was glad to be there to add to the discussion with some of the material we've been reporting on. And while Tim and his colleagues might not be sleeping much these days, they're onto some fairly interesting ideas that I'm hoping to follow up on more.
• And finally, as though there were any other way to sum things up-- Van Jones, who closed out Saturday night's speaking program with a bang. The brains behind the Green for All campaign, Jones stressed that while the strategic argument against Power Shift's platform-- as a whole and in its various parts-- has become clear, the increasingly-effective response is that the simplistic notion of excessive costs passed on to the consumer is hopelessly retrograde. While various industries argue before Congress, the courts, and the media that they can't make the transition being asked of them by the public and government actors, the realistic promise of innovation and green jobs is taking hold.

This weekend has definitely left me wanting more, and literally working on a list of questions and ideas raised that I'm hoping to delve more into over time. At the same, time, however, Power Shift has left me with a definite sense of forward motion. Gears are shifting, wheels are turning, and what Rep. John Lewis refers to (in his memoir of the Civil Rights Movement, Walking With the Wind) as the "Spirit of History" seemed ever-present this weekend.

It's not enough, and the overall implications certainly go far beyond politics and law, but its a great start.

Comments

[kwolph]

While students 'impatiently' fight for a better environment we must also being fighting for more leaders like Markey, Pelosi, and the brillant Van Jones. Jones insightful, powerful presence is the leadership America needs to compete in a global tomorrow. The United States needs to recognize that the American economy will benefit by implementing more 'green' collar jobs into the workforce.

If you like the message of better fuel and energy standards, please visit http://energybill2007.us to learn more about upgrading CAFE and RES provisions. Also check my coalition's latest efforts at http://smnr.us/lobbyday!!