Timothy Burroughs, a second-year graduate student, took out his cell phone and called President Bush's campaign office in Miami. The person on the other line hung up after hearing his pitch. He tried two more offices in different states, leaving a message that he wanted a cleaner environment and sustainable energy sources.
AU students, along with representatives from Greenpeace, tabled outside the Mary Graydon Center on Tuesday to encourage students like Burroughs to sign the petition of the Declaration of Independence from Dirty Energy and call the campaign offices of the presidential candidates in swing states as part of National Day of Action for Energy Action.
"I'm calling in because it's vital that we stop our dependence on a finite resource such as oil," Burroughs said.
AU students were not the only ones participating. The action was part of a nationwide effort by Energy Action, a national coalition of 18 environmental organizations that helped organize events at 300 colleges to mobilize young voters across the country to take action on their campus for renewable energy sources.
According to Jackie Ostfeld, coordinator of the event on AU's campus and a first-year graduate student, about 85 phone calls were made by AU students to campaign offices.
"I'm passionate about solar power and care about the earth," Ostfeld said. "The U.S. makes up 5 percent of the world's population and produce about 25 percent of the carbon dioxide ... one of the main causes of global warming."
Ostfeld said that if the United States focused its energy on finding alternative sources, it could create more jobs, alleviate the nation's dependence on Middle Eastern oil and help it repair alliances with some European countries.
"As a nation with economic means to switch over to sustainable energy sources like solar and wind power, it's our responsibility to do that since we are [making] the problem," Ostfeld said.
Greenpeace representative Andrea Cuccaro, who helped Ostfeld Tuesday, said that a lot of students on campus were either curious or knowledgeable about global warming. However, she said a lot of people in general are not concerned about the effects of global warming.
"Young people are such a critical voting bloc, and we wanted to get this message out right now," Cuccaro said.
She said that people do not know about the effects of intense weather patterns or the possibility of an ice age in Europe within the next 10 years because of the pace of the glaciers melting, which also affects the Gulf Stream. She also said that the Earth's temperature has risen about 1 degree on average over the past 100 years, which is the largest rise in the past 1,000 years. She attributed the rise to the Industrial Revolution.
So far, the group has collected more than 270 signatures, exceeding its goal of 100. The group expects to collect at least 100 more by next week, Ostfeld said. She also said that ultimately, all the signatures collected from the universities will be sent to the president the day after elections.
"Whoever is president, this is an issue that needs to be a concern for everyone," said Ashley King, a volunteer and first-year graduate student. "Where we get our energy from affects [things like] national security and our economy ... and you can't separate those things. If you get clean energy, the benefits will spill over to those sectors"
