Letter from the Executive Director

With Expedition Copenhagen complete, Will and I recently visited Stonyfield Farm to thank them for their support. The Expedition Copenhagen final report is now available, complete with feedback from delegates and media highlights - you can also watch the reflection video here. Select Expedition Copenhagen delegates are organizing Clean Energy Forums for April 3rd across the Upper Midwest to build public support for climate and clean energy legislation.

With the public’s concern for global warming waning and confusion increasing, it is becoming increasingly evident how important our work is to educate, inspire and empower the public in a campaign to propel climate change solutions. Paul Hawken told a crowded room at the Minnesota Renewable Energy Society 30th Anniversary: “the climate issue is an issue of survival for civilization; this is our work and why we’re here.” To keep momentum strong in the U.S. Senate as we move to pass comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation, our authentic eyewitness account is needed more than ever. Will Steger’s Eyewitness to Climate Change tour was in Montana last month and is gearing up for a whirlwind tour of South Dakota, Maine, New Hampshire, and Alaska in April! Follow the Will Steger Foundation blog for updates from the road.

We are also gearing up to host our 5th annual Summer Institute on Climate Change Education on Wednesday August 11th; the focus will be on global warming basics, solutions, and addressing climate skepticism.

Here’s to an inspiring and action-filled Spring!

Sincerely,

Nicole Rom, Executive Director

Letter from the Executive Director

Was Copenhagen a failure? This was the question asked at a recent event sponsored by the University of Minnesota Center for German and European Studies. MN delegate Reed Aronow joined Will Steger at the event to discuss what they experienced at the December UN Climate Summit. Will’s message was hopeful; he shared insights based on his past experience working on international treaties, such as the 1991 Antarctica Treaty review. He talked about the presence of U.S. leadership, civil society, the power of youth, and the fact that unlike Kyoto, heads of state came together rather than environmental ministers to hammer out the Copenhagen Accord. Will commented “if there was any failure, it was the failure of the U.S. Senate to pass comprehensive climate change legislation….and that climate change has been seeped in politics.”

This message also framed our recent Eyewitness to Climate Change Tour across Montana last week. While in Montana, Will delivered his Eyewitness presentation to over 800 Montanan’s in Billings, Bozeman and Missoula; met with business leaders, field directors for U.S. Senators Baucus and Tester, media, and University of Montana students and faculty to engage different stakeholders in the urgency of global warming and the need for political action. Check out the video.

The Montana tour followed a recent fly-in of over 220 business leaders from across the U.S. who traveled to Washington D.C. where they met with their Congressional delegation and urged them to pass comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation this year. We hosted a press conference with five business leaders and Environment Minnesota at a locally owned solar business, fre-Ener-g, to discuss the potential such legislation has for American business and job creation. While in Bozeman, Will and tour partners met with over 30 area business leaders, three of whom also participated in the fly-in and were excited to share their experience and reasoning for supporting climate and clean energy legislation.

As we move into spring, we will continue to remain focused on educating and mobilizing the public in support of climate and clean energy legislation.

Sincerely,

Nicole Rom, Executive Director

Letter from the Executive Director

Four years after the establishment of the Will Steger Foundation, I still feel honored to have the opportunity to lead this amazing organization, because I deeply believe in what we do: we empower rising environmental leaders to affect change in their communities, and in the process we are building a more sustainable future, one person at a time.

Expedition Copenhagen was a tremendous success for the Will Steger Foundation – for the first time we were able to connect our education outreach, policy efforts and youth programming into a single program and we certainly empowered the next generation of climate leaders. While we were disappointed with the outcome of the Copenhagen Summit, what transpired there was incredibly important – for the first time U.S. climate leadership was at the table in a serious manner – from the heads of cabinet that were present, to President Obama arriving on the final day. The Copenhagen Accord that resulted from the summit was a huge step forward in that emerging economies such as China, India and Brazil committed to transparency and accountability with regard to their greenhouse gas emissions. This provides an essential step for the U.S. to respond with its own federal clean energy policy. Additionally, the conference demonstrated tremendous energy on behalf of civil society, and in particular from youth. Youth play an incredibly powerful role. This was demonstrated again and again through recognition by influential decision-makers – from scientists, to negotiatiors, to decision-makers and by their peers. Watch the video of Juan Carlos Soriano, the youth delegate that spoke on the final day of the negotiations. But as we move beyond Copenhagen, we must focus on the year ahead.

As our delegate, Jamie Racine, from Wisconsin so eloquently captured, 2010 is the year of action. “We can address this global issue of climate change through local solutions. The Midwest specifically has phenomenal opportunity to become a leader domestically and internationally through clean energy development. 2010 must be a year of action. We must continue to hold our leaders at the top to the promises they campaign on, but we cannot go to the top alone. Our action, as we know, needs to happen at all levels of government and in the home of our community members.”

This is why we need your energy to help us make this year a transcendent moment. This is our time to move clean energy legislation forward nationally and locally. Get involved in any way you can. Gather with friends and family. Work your smart phone. Write letters to your local paper. Call your senators and representatives often. We can truly take U.S. climate leadership to the next level.

Sincerely,

Nicole Rom, Executive Director