The Steger Foundation is proud to partner with Focus the Nation in our mission to educate, empower, and engage a new generation of climate leadership on a local, regional, national, and international scale. A nationally based organization, Focus the Nation (FTN) accelerates the transformation to a clean energy future by fostering connections between generations, and empowering young people through education, civic engagement, and action.

All FTN programming is intensely focused on empowering young people’s imaginative, civic and systems-thinking capacities so they can become powerful agents of change in their own communities. The skills that young people gain through FTN programming can be applied for decades in addressing the root causes that affect our current environmental, social, political and entrepreneurial challenges.

As part of a national program aimed at engaging climate youth leadership across the country, FTN is launching Clean Energy Forums a core component of their part 'Forums-to-Action program.  Aimed at developing new student leaders to drive solution oriented clean energy collaborations between their campuses and communities, the F2A program provides students with leadership skills, energy literacy, experiential learning and professional development.

The following Clean Energy Forums are being hosted in the Midwest this February and are open to the public:

University of Wisconsin Madison, Feb 15th

Through Focus the Nation’s Forums-to-Action Program, a multidisciplinary group of UW-Madison students is planning a clean energy forum for February 15th, 2012. This year’s event will focus on ways the campus and Madison community can speed adoption of energy efficiency and conservation measures in buildings. Students and campus leaders will come together with energy experts, business leaders, and elected officials to identify roadblocks and solutions in this effort to pick the low hanging fruit known as ‘negawatts’. One panel session will seek innovative solutions to get more rental property owners investing in energy efficiency retrofits. A brainstorming session over dinner will inform an action plan which students will implement over the next semester(s). This event represents a great opportunity for the campus and Madison community to come together in addressing an issue of great import.

The event is free and open to the public. It will take place February 15th, 2012 from 3-7pm in Union South, Varsity Hall III.

Who should attend:

• Students or community members interested in energy efficiency, energy policy, or renewable energy
• Business leaders
• Elected officials

Focus the Nation is now accepting applications to launch September 2012 teams. This spring they will be selecting one school in each state across the US to participate in our F2A programming. Sign up to host a forum for 2013.

Emerging from a several years of strategic conversation, cross-state collaboration, and the intense growth of the youth climate movement here in the Midwest, a fledgling coalition is rising. Following in the spirit of regional coalitions launched in the Southeast (Southern Energy Network) and Northwest (Cascade Climate Network), the Midwest Youth Climate Coalition seeks to deepen connections between key youth climate organizations and activists across the Midwest and foster a coordinated approach to regional and national challenges and opportunities.

Since the fall of 2009, Campus Beyond Coal (CBC) has been leading a student run, grassroots campaign to move the University of Minnesota beyond coal power. With the mission of “To bring about, through active engagement and awareness-raising measures, the phase out of coal-fired power on the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities campus” we have built a grassroots campaign to address coal use on our campus. Our grassroots campaign initiated with a group of dedicated students who were concerned about the carbon emissions of the University Of Minnesota, the institution’s sustainability initiatives, and the fact that the U was burning 38,000 tons of coal in Minneapolis!

In 2010 Campus Beyond Coal gained the support of over 5,000 students, faculty, and community members via petitions asking the University’ s Sustainability Committee “to move beyond coal as soon as feasibly possible.” Furthermore, Campus Beyond Coal received resolutions from the surrounding Minneapolis neighborhoods, such as Como, Seward and Marcy Holmes in addition to a resolution signed by the Minneapolis City Council.

Over the past year CBC worked with Sustainability Committee as they formulated the Climate Action Plan for the University. The Climate Action Plan is the plan for the U to become carbon neutral by 2050 as called for by the President’s Climate Commitment, signed by the U in 2008. In order to become carbon neutral, the Sustainability Committee had to address the coal burned at the Southeast Steam Plant, so Campus Beyond Coal asked that the Climate Action Plan eliminate the use of coal at the steam plant within the next five years.

Last spring the Sustainability Committee presented its proposed Climate Action Plan which calls for an 85% reduction of coal use at the Southeast Steam Plant effective this fall! In addition, the University has committed to cut CO2 emissions by 50% in 2020! Campus Beyond Coal considers these proposals victories for the campaign, students and community members of the U of M. We are very proud of all the hard work students have put into this campaign and are very thankful for the support we have gained in our efforts. This reduction in coal use is a giant step towards carbon neutrality and sustainability at the U; a step we have been awaiting to see happen for some time and an achievement for the entire University community.

It has been a whirlwind couple of years in this awesome campaign; we have grown from a small group of students to a network of support at the U of M, and now we have a victory under our belt! But…we are not slowing down. With all this momentum our goal this year is to address U of M coal use at the next level and look at Xcel Energy. Since Xcel provides power for the University of Minnesota, we are asking Xcel to increase its commitments to renewable energy and energy efficiency. Xcel’s positions on the forefront of renewable energy and energy efficiency should be applauded, but to maintain this position, we ask Xcel to commit in its Integrated Resource Plan to retiring Sherburne County (Sherco) Coal Generating Station, build 5,000 MW of new wind generation, 1,000MW of solar generation, and achieve as 2 percent annual energy efficiency standard.

Courtney Dowell - Co-Chair Campus Beyond Coal

 

What does the Midwest have to do with a clean energy future (or a dirty energy future, it's our choice)? Everything. Did you know that the Midwest region contributes 25 percent of total US carbon emissions (if you include Ohio and Indiana)? That the Midwest relies on coal for 70 percent of its electric power, a larger share than any other region of the United States? That we are home to significant natural gas extraction (fracking) in Ohio and Pennsylvania? And that we house the proposed corridor for the Keystone XL Pipeline feeding our oil addiction from the Alberta Tar Sands, which NASA scientist Dr James Hansen describes as “Game over” for the climate? If you're not outraged you should be.

But that's just one side of the coin. We are also home to some of the largest wind energy potential in the country. The home of multiple hotly contested swing states with Midwest policy-makers who are often neither green-leaning as on the coasts, nor aligned with fossil fuel interests as in the west and south. We have energy efficiency policies in six of our Midwestern states and have promoted the most rigorous cap and trade program in the country. The Midwest is also rich in bio-energy feedstocks for fuels, power, and biogas, from energy crops to agricultural and forestry bioproducts to animal wastes. We house multiple land-grant universities who have research capabilities that are natural drivers and beneficiaries of new energy investment.  We are also home to a manufacturing base that makes everything from turbine towers to turbo-chargers and can drive and prosper from a shift to a low-carbon technology.

Along with all this potential, it also just so happens that we are also home to one of the most vibrant regional youth climate movements in the country. Coincidence? I don't think so! Of the 10,000 young people who descended on the National Power Shift youth summit in Washington DC in 2011, Midwest youth made up almost a quarter of all participants. Midwest youth have played a critical role in getting commitments from ten+ Midwest college and university campuses to move beyond coal. Youth organizers in Detroit, Cleveland and Minneapolis are breathing new life into industrial cities through community partnerships and green economy initiatives focused on clean energy technology and energy efficiency. Youth in Wisconsin are taking Governor Scott walker to task as he attempts to destroy the unions, derail high-speed rail, and undo years of environmental progress across the state. From the Dakotas to Ohio, Midwest youth are taking a stand on environmental justice and organizing in resistance to Tar Sands and the Keystone Pipeline, organizing in tribal communities, on college campuses and in urban and rural counties alike.

If you're not outraged you should be. But I hope you feel the optimism as well. The work ethic that built this country flows strong our veins as we roll up our sleeves and get to work, fueled by a deep love for this land - our great cities, the prairies, the great lakes, the north woods - and all that we know we can be. We are ready for the Midwest to lead the country in the transition to a clean energy economy and ask you to join us in making this vision a reality at Midwest Power Shift. See you in Cleveland!

Midwest Power Shift
October 21st - 23rd
Cleveland State University
Cleveland, OH
Registration: wearepowershift.org
Facebook: facebook.com

Edina High School Project Earth is a student-run environmental group that takes part in working to create a greener community. Our primary responsibility is to collect the school’s recycling on a weekly basis. In addition, Project Earth has developed a Climate Action Project we are in the process of completing, which includes the installation of a water bottle filling station at Edina High School.