With the Energy Action Coalition and all of our partners gearing up to run Power Vote again this fall, we have the opportunity to learn from the mistakes made with this campaign in 2008, and to create a more diverse and exciting campaign this year. A key piece of making this a successful campaign that promotes climate, energy, and environmental issues to the forefront of discussions and dialog in electoral campaigns across the country, while also building the skills of leaders in the youth climate change movement, is to build a strong narrative around broad youth civic engagement. Find out more about the campaign at www.energyactioncoalition.org/fall

We need to create a media and movement narrative that tells the story of all of the ways in which youth are engaged and involved. One part of this, of course, needs to be direct engagement around the 2010 elections. But that needs to be tied to all of the rest of the amazing work youth around the country are doing to win against dirty energy, to create clean energy infrastructure, to build sustainable communities and campuses, and to fight global warming. Our generation's work in this movement is extremely powerful and diverse. If the Energy Action Coalition wants to call itself the hub of the youth climate movement, we needs to realize that this work is much larger and much more important than engaging in election cycles alone.

Parts of this entry also appear on the Kentuckians For The Commonwealth blog

Hearing the stories of the devastation caused by Mountaintop Removal coal mining is what first got me involved in social justice. A few years later, I continue to be outraged by what my friends in Eastern Kentucky deal with daily, but I now also find myself enthralled by what is happening in my hometown, Louisville, with coal ash.

In February, I first learned of E.ON's plans to add a 60-acre coal-combustion waste (CCW) landfill adjacent to their Cane Run Rd. power plant in South Louisville, five miles away from the neighborhood I grew up in and from where I now live. Coal ash is a new issue to me and to many folks, but one thing's for sure, it's not the kind of stuff you want in your neighborhood or next to your city's water source. Coal ash contains concentrated amounts of heavy metals and other pollutants that have been found to cause cancer and other health problems in humans. A 2007 EPA report found that those living near coal ash dumps have a 1 in 50 chance of getting cancer. There is already a coal ash impoundment at the Cane Run Rd. site that the EPA considers “high hazard,” meaning that a dam break is likely to cause significant damage, including loss of life.

The I Love Mountains Website has teamed up with Ashley Judd and The Alliance for Appalachia to get mountaintop removal into America’s living rooms.

We’re using the most talked about ad in America’s history -President Johnson’s “Daisy Girl Ad” – to convey the severity of mountaintop removal.

We don’t have the coal industry’s billions. But we do have the power of people like you! We need people to watch thead, share the ad, and then help raise money so that we can raise the stakes! Can you help publicize this powerful ad and fundraising effort? Please share this important effort on Facebook, Twitter – you name it.

Hello all,

I am writing today to inform you about an exciting opportunity for West Virginia youth this summer. On Brighterplanet.com, there is a grant that would bring $5,000 to the Youth Action League to develop a summer program to work side by side with other grassroots groups to develop various sustainability projects. All of our sites are low income communities who are looking to build their economy.

The grant will allow for 15 people to work in these communities and work with the residents living there to develop jobs. Those who work will earn a fair-wage stipend to work with these communities.

The link to vote is http://brighterplanet.com/project_fund_projects/145

In addition, you can read more about the summer program at: http://www.seac.org/wvyal/summer

When you go to vote, all you need to do is go to the grant, register to vote and then vote three times for "Build It Up, West Virginia!" Votes are pouring in as I write this email, but as of 3:11 PM on May 3, we are in 2nd place at 418 votes. We can catch up to the first place grant which has 816 votes as of right now, but it takes mass organizing. Contact your friends, family, neighbors, and elected officials and ask them to vote three times and spread the grant proposal onward. We have 2 weeks to build up and back the summer program and win this grant. Only the proposal with the most votes wins the award.

Thank you so much for your dedication to building a sustainable future to West Virginia. We need all the support we can get

Most Sincerely,
Billy Astrove
WVWC '10 (December)
SEAC
astrove_wg@wvwc.edu

When we learn about American History, we are not taught anything about the historical city of Cahokia. This former city is located within 30 miles of where St. Louis is located in Illinois. This city thrived by 1250 AD, and at around that time, the city had 20,000 residents. This was the largest city in the America's at the time, and was larger than major European cities such as London. It would not be until 1800 that Philadelphia would have a population that reached the height of Cahokia. However, this ancient city had a downfall by 1350 and this can be attributed to an increase in warfare and natural resource depletion. Cahokia expanded and ultimately became too powerful. As the city grew, the more trees were cut. The age of Cahokia was famous for mound building in which the Native Americans would carry by hand soil in a bucket to build up these mounds. More than 120 mounds were located in Cahokia, however the earth was shifted by these mounds.

The depletion of natural resources in Cahokia led to its collapse, and by 1400 AD it was completely dead and abandoned. We are not taught about this city in school, and is a quiet subject in universities because there are very few written records. However, it is time that the American government and media recognizes the rise and fall of this once prosperous city and realizes that society collapsed due to resource depletion in Cahokia. We are not doing enough today, letting big corporations mine coal in destructive ways, freely drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico, and depleting the United States of it hardwood trees.

"Oh Say, did you see him; it was early this morning.He passed by your houses on his way to the coal.He was tall, he was slender, and his dark eyes so tenderHis occupation was mining, West Virginia his home
It was just before noon, I was feeding the children,Ben Moseley came running to give us the news.Number eight was all flooded, many men were in dangerAnd we don't know their number, but we fear they're all doomed"
- Jean Ritchie

Coal mining is dangerous business and the people of the Appalachian Coalfields, from Tennessee to West Virginia to Pennsylvania, have come to expect disasters out of the mining industry. Mining is a job that's full of risks and packed with hard work. Miners have come to be proud of the work that they do which truly has had a great role in powering the United States for more than the last century. It's been work that's populated Appalachia with amazing people but has kicked up a lot of coal dust in the process all over our great state of West Virginia.
After 9/11, where I was less than 10 miles from the Pentagon and remember hearing fighter jets & helicopters flying over my house throughout that tense night. I never thought I would feel that tragic emotion that brought anger, anticipation, fear, mourning, and pride together into one horrendous stomach ache again. Then came the disaster at Massey's Upper Big Branch Mine.

SEAC is currently accepting applications for our student and youth led National Council! Applications are due May 15.

APPLY TODAY!

SEAC's National Council is the youth leadership of our organization. We don't have any adult executive director or any figure in the shadows giving orders to SEAC - we are an authentically youth led and run organization. The National Council provides the vision and planning, and is involved in the day to day operations of SEAC. Check out the responsibilities, and if you're interested in helping to build an awesome youth-led grassroots organization, apply today for the National Council! Applications are due May 15, 2010!

Being on SEAC's National Council is a great way to get involved in the national work of SEAC, as well as meet organizers and activists from all over the country, while learning the skills to improve your organizing. The SEAC NC meets twice per year in person, and has conference calls every other week to keep in touch and get work done. For more information about the responsibilities of NC members, check out the list here.

On April 8th, I got the chance to meet Congressman Mollhan and talk about important issues that directly affect West Virginia. Mollahan stopped by the West Virginia University’s Young Democrats meeting to talk with the students. I was lucky enough to attend that meeting and get a chance to talk to the Congressman on important issues. As a member of SEAC and the Youth Action League’s political working group, I feel that one way to directly make a change in our communities is to constantly interact with our political leaders and let them know we’re watching. This is one of those times….
Congressman Mollahan is currently running for re election this year, so it’s important that he decided to visit us and get a feel for what matters to students. I found it very interesting that he was extremely critical of Massey Energy and particularly it’s CEO, Don Blankenship. We know that Massey is the root of most evil, but it was refreshing to see that an representative felt the same way. He said that Blankenship has a “personality disorder” and that he “operates like a feudal baron”. This was a good sign in that while he may support industry and coal, he wasn’t an extension of Massey’s influence.

In the communities of Benham and Lynch, Ky clean water supplies are endangered by a proposal for a mine that would be 812 underground acres. Harlan Reclamation services which will soon be owned by Massey Energy wants to mine the coal there. This mine would be very close to a clean water reservoir, and it greatly endangers the risk of this water that is clean enough to be placed in a bottling agency.

Below is a letter that I sent to Mr. Campbell, Kentucky's director of Natural Resources. It is based off a standard model provided by Kentuckians for the Commonwealth.

Here is my letter

April 14, 2010

Commissioner Carl Campbell
Department for Natural Resources
#2 Hudson Hollow
Frankfort, KY 40601

Dear Commissioner Campbell,

I am writing to object to the state permit #848-5458. The proposed Massey mine threatens the water sources and the quality of life for residents of Benham and Lynch in Harlan County. Lynch and Benham have high quality public water. They will mine over and around Lynch’s water source. This proposal comes within 150 feet of the Benham underground water reservoir. Benham’s water quality is good enough to be considered for a water bottling facility. Residents want at least 1,000 feet buffer zone to ensure the protection of the underground water reservoir.

A third of Lynch’s water reservoir is fed by Gap Branch. This deep mine would go close to that water intake and underneath the creek. Mining should not go on east of Gap Branch to ensure the protection of Lynch’s drinking water.

This post was written by Greg Capillo, a student at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky

On Friday April 2nd, the Benefits Committee at Western Kentucky University (WKU) called an emergency meeting and reversed 2 previous decisions; it extended benefits previously reserved for spouses to "other qualified dependents" including gay and lesbian couples. In the faculty email, the committee head mentioned "feedback" that the committee had heard regarding the decision.

That feedback was in actuality a movement 5 years in the making that united people from all levels of the university community; faculty, staff, and students stood together to strive for justice. On Friday, we achieved that.

When people first began petitioning for partner benefits at WKU, we knew we had a challenge. No president of a state university in Kentucky would want to stick their neck on the line and make an executive decision about this issue. After all, we live in a state that overwhelmingly voted to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman. Yet we also knew that we didn't have a progressive base on our Board of Regents that the more cosmopolitan universities like NKU, UK, and U of L, schools that already passed domestic partner benefits, might have. The issue was placed squarely in the lap of the benefits committee, and on two separate occasions, the benefits committee had voted to deny benefits. If this was going to happen, it was going to involve direct action from the bottom up of the university clamoring for change.