Power Shift ‘09:Repowering.Reclaiming.Our Future-Feb 27 to March 2,2009 Washington, D.C

From February 27th to March 2nd, 2009 thousands of young adults will converge on Washington, D.C. for Power Shift 2009, the second national youth summit to solve the climate crisis. At Power Shift 2009, young people from across the country will take a message of bold, comprehensive and immediate federal climate action to Washington, D.C. We will leverage the momentum we have built through the Campus Climate Challenge, Power Shift 2007 and Power Vote to pressure our politicians to take bold, comprehensive action.

Our window of opportunity is short; the first 100 days of the new administration is critical in achieving real and significant changes immediately. We must use the time we have to redefine what is politically feasible to achieve what is scientifically and economically necessary to safeguard our future. At Power Shift 2009, we will also strengthen the movement for real climate and economic solutions by learning skills and solutions, building bonds, and setting clear plans for action in our communities for 2009 and beyond.

Power Vote
This past fall, hundreds of thousands of youth mobilized to vote and demand bold solutions to our generation’s defining issues. The Power Vote campaign collected 341,127 pledges calling on our politicians to create millions of green jobs, invest in a clean energy economy, cut global warming pollution immediately, end our dependence on dirty energy, take dirty money out of politics, and re-engage as a leader in the international community. Youth of all backgrounds will use their experience from local and state level climate change movements to create a fresh, positive, and inspiring vision of the future, one focused on our potential to overcome the challenges of the 21st century, build a clean energy economy, achieve energy independence, create millions of green jobs, increase global equity, and revitalize the American economy.

Power Shift 2009
will take the climate movement to new levels. At this conference, leaders of our generation will share ideas, learn new skills, make new connections, establish a national voice for our generation, and send a united message to our national leaders: we are moving beyond the same old special interests, empty promises, and inadequate results to embrace a new paradigm that leverages our strengths and achieves what is possible for our future. With new leadership, we are presented with a fresh opportunity to harness solutions to the climate crisis, record unemployment rates, and a depressed economy. But we must unite in a collective call for change.

Through Power Shift 2009, participants will…
Push the new Administration and Congress to pass bold, comprehensive, and just national climate legislation before entering international climate negotiations in December 2009 and to build and ratify a strong global climate agreement. Bold climate policies will protect us from the worst impacts of climate change and help us build a new clean energy economy that keeps and creates jobs and allows all communities to participate and benefit.

Develop a comprehensive movement strategy for 1.) continued and increased political pressure and accountability and 2.) a uniform vision/direction that helps facilitate the development and implementation of individual and group action plans for the overall growth of our movement.

Strengthen bonds between diverse youth constituencies, train and empower participants with the skills needed to create one movement that tackles climate change, environmental injustice, and economic failure.

Connect with fellow organizers and build community to strengthen our movement and sustain our own involvement over the long-run.

Understand the magnitude of both the challenges and opportunities at hand (climate, socio-economic injustice, personal, etc.) and explore our own capacities to create transformative change.

http://www.powershift09.org/about