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Friday, March 29, 2024
The Eagle

Thousands rally for environment

AU students braved a snowstorm that temporarily shut down most of D.C. Monday to be among thousands protesting coal and attempting to raise awareness of environmental issues.

A rally on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol marked the culmination of Power Shift 2009 - a four-day conference sponsored by Capitol Climate Action, according to the event's Web site. Many of the protesters then made their way to a subsequent sit-in at the gates of a coal-fired power plant that powers the Capitol, U.S. House and U.S. Senate office buildings, according to USA Today.

During the Greenpeace-sponsored non-violent sit-in, participants protested the use of coal power by physically blocking the entrances to the plant, according to Ian Pajer-Rogers, a Power Shift volunteer.

"Global warming is a vastly urgent issue that is unprecedented," he said. "So we just hope to really push the issue and continue to really put pressure on coal and make sure this is a kick-off event."

Drew Veysey, treasurer and environmental science officer for Eco-Sense and a junior in the School of Public Affairs, said he recruited students for Power Shift by putting up posters, tabling, e-mailing and sending Facebook messages. Seventy-five students attended the conference and most took advantage of an Eco-Sense group discount that allowed them to pay $35 in registration fees instead of the usual $50.

Getting AU students involved was a very important aspect of Eco-Sense's participation with the event, Veysey said.

"AU has a lot of students in international relations, international development and political science," he said. "Those [three] fields are extremely important to the future of the planet, especially as it concerns climate change."

Eco-Sense members also contributed by doing volunteer work at Power Shift and housing participants from schools in New York, Texas and Vermont, according to Veysey.

Grenye O'Malley, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, housed four people for Power Shift and attended the conferences on Friday through Sunday. Her favorite speakers discussed how a green economy also needs to focus on issues of oppression and women's rights, she said.

"There were panels, workshops and conferences on everything from [GLBT] issues to religion to economics," O'Malley said.

The conference drew students from across the country, and Power Shift volunteers helped ensure the thousands of protesters at the sit-in stayed peaceful, Pajer-Rogers said.

"We expect there to be a little bit of aggression coming our way, so we just want to make sure that we're completely non-violent at all times, de-escalating any situations that are getting heated and just making sure that we are keeping our people safe and keeping everybody safe," said Pajer-Rogers.

Many of the protesters planned to risk arrest by blocking the power plant entrances. The most likely charges would be incommoding or failure to disperse - offenses about equal to a parking ticket, he said.

However, there were no arrests in connection with the protest, according to USA Today.

Instead of attending the two protests on Capitol Hill, Veysey said he spent Monday lobbying environmental ideas in several Power Shift-organized meetings with members of the Iowa Congressional Delegation.

He said he focused on suggesting a cap and trade system of green house emissions to the representatives. This would create green jobs and investing in clean energy, Veysey said. The majority of the representatives were responsive to the ideas, he said.

Pajer-Rogers said he did not think the snow kept any activists away from the Capitol Monday.

"I don't think it's a huge factor," he said. "I mean, people are pretty committed to this."

Bryan Davis, a junior at Ithaca College, said he took a bus to D.C. for Power Shift and spent some of the weekend staying with a friend at AU. He said he thought the number of people that came to support the Power Shift movement most likely changed the minds of many oppositionists.

"I came because I wanted to be reminded of just how many people care about the environment and green issues in our country," he said.

Mia Sloan, a freshman at St. Lawrence University, said she traveled 10 hours on a bus to make her voice heard on some important environmental issues.

"We want to shift into clean energy for the United States and lead the world in a greener planet," she said.

Eco-Sense will be holding a meeting Thursday at 8 p.m. in Battelle Atrium to discuss Power Shift and what further steps need to be taken, according to O'Malley.

You can reach this staff writer at mkendall@theeagleonline.com.


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