Once again, life goes speeding by and LJ is left in the dust
Ok, Powershift was incredible, and I've been a little stressed about catching up on schoolwork. I signed out one of the dance studios from 10-11 to practice my dance phrase for a quiz on Wednesday, but I'll write for a bit.
Powershift was exhilarating, inspiring, and kick-in-the-pants motivating. I was especially grateful for was the emphasis on what is being done and what we can DO. I didn't feel depressed about the state of the earth over the weekend; I felt empowered, rather than burdened, with knowledge. There were 6,000 attendees at Powershift, many more than were expected. My face hurt from grinning at all the like-minded, impassioned, and motivated young people. I met people from Oregon, Kansas, South Carolina, Maine, Iowa, Utah, Florida, California, Alaska, Canada, Hawaii, Colorado, Louisiana, and Texas.
Our group drove to MD by regular bus, but there were a number of biodiesel-powered vehicles, as you'd expect. The University of Maryland has a HUGE campus. It takes 45 minutes to walk from one end of campus to the other (as opposed to 10 at Alfred). It was disorienting to need such a detailed map to find my way around campus (and I mean way the heck more disorienting than USUAL. I know y'all know how bad I am with maps).
Saturday consisted of a choice of several dozen panel discussions with titles like "The Soul of Environmentalism", "Eating Sustainably", "Campus Activism", "Ecofeminism", and "Climate Legislation". The latter was my first panel of the day, and I was proud of myself for finding my way to the auditorium EARLY.
I was sitting several rows back from the panelists, reading my schedule, while the seats around me quickly and noisily filled with several hundred other people. Suddenly someone yelled "Leah HOUK?!" and I jumped in my seat. I whirled around and looked up into the incredulous face of Noah Fields. This would have been a fun meeting in any case--both Noah's and my eyebrows were launched into our hairlines as it was--but I had a dream the Thursday before I left that Noah was at Powershift. It was the only vivid dream I'd had for several weeks, and I hadn't been thinking about Noah at all, so it stuck in my mind when I woke up. I mentioned it to Mom on the phone, and she said I should email him to see if he knew about Powershift. I agreed I should, then promptly forgot about it until he was standing next to me. We hugged, and as the blood pumped slowly back into my face, I said, "I can't believe this! I had a dream you were going to be here..."
Panel discussions, discussions with other students from colleges in our particular states, live music, workshops, a green job fair, and lobby training filled the rest of the weekend, and Monday we took the metro to Capitol Hill, where we spoke with our senators and their aides. Those of us from New York (several hundred of us) spoke with Chuck Schumer's aide. Then we rallied outside and listened to various speakers for an hour and a half or so, and made deafening noise.
I am EVER so glad I went. I have tons more to say about the weekend, and my hand was cramped from note-taking. What I came away with, more than a new understanding, was a refined attitude about environmentalism. The message was consistent across the board, and I felt it come to roost firmly in my head and heart: yes, we have to act now, yes, this is a critical time, and no, there is no time for despair, cynicism, or apathy.
I am not one of the environmentalists who feels guilty for being a human, and thinks humans deserve to die off for defiling the planet. I am an environmentalist because I know balance needs to be restored, not only for flora and fauna to survive, but for people to continue on as well. As one strikingly handsome Greenpeace activist, Gabriel, put it, "We are working to save the environment not just because we love nature, but because we dearly love people."
Powershift was exhilarating, inspiring, and kick-in-the-pants motivating. I was especially grateful for was the emphasis on what is being done and what we can DO. I didn't feel depressed about the state of the earth over the weekend; I felt empowered, rather than burdened, with knowledge. There were 6,000 attendees at Powershift, many more than were expected. My face hurt from grinning at all the like-minded, impassioned, and motivated young people. I met people from Oregon, Kansas, South Carolina, Maine, Iowa, Utah, Florida, California, Alaska, Canada, Hawaii, Colorado, Louisiana, and Texas.
Our group drove to MD by regular bus, but there were a number of biodiesel-powered vehicles, as you'd expect. The University of Maryland has a HUGE campus. It takes 45 minutes to walk from one end of campus to the other (as opposed to 10 at Alfred). It was disorienting to need such a detailed map to find my way around campus (and I mean way the heck more disorienting than USUAL. I know y'all know how bad I am with maps).
Saturday consisted of a choice of several dozen panel discussions with titles like "The Soul of Environmentalism", "Eating Sustainably", "Campus Activism", "Ecofeminism", and "Climate Legislation". The latter was my first panel of the day, and I was proud of myself for finding my way to the auditorium EARLY.
I was sitting several rows back from the panelists, reading my schedule, while the seats around me quickly and noisily filled with several hundred other people. Suddenly someone yelled "Leah HOUK?!" and I jumped in my seat. I whirled around and looked up into the incredulous face of Noah Fields. This would have been a fun meeting in any case--both Noah's and my eyebrows were launched into our hairlines as it was--but I had a dream the Thursday before I left that Noah was at Powershift. It was the only vivid dream I'd had for several weeks, and I hadn't been thinking about Noah at all, so it stuck in my mind when I woke up. I mentioned it to Mom on the phone, and she said I should email him to see if he knew about Powershift. I agreed I should, then promptly forgot about it until he was standing next to me. We hugged, and as the blood pumped slowly back into my face, I said, "I can't believe this! I had a dream you were going to be here..."
Panel discussions, discussions with other students from colleges in our particular states, live music, workshops, a green job fair, and lobby training filled the rest of the weekend, and Monday we took the metro to Capitol Hill, where we spoke with our senators and their aides. Those of us from New York (several hundred of us) spoke with Chuck Schumer's aide. Then we rallied outside and listened to various speakers for an hour and a half or so, and made deafening noise.
I am EVER so glad I went. I have tons more to say about the weekend, and my hand was cramped from note-taking. What I came away with, more than a new understanding, was a refined attitude about environmentalism. The message was consistent across the board, and I felt it come to roost firmly in my head and heart: yes, we have to act now, yes, this is a critical time, and no, there is no time for despair, cynicism, or apathy.
I am not one of the environmentalists who feels guilty for being a human, and thinks humans deserve to die off for defiling the planet. I am an environmentalist because I know balance needs to be restored, not only for flora and fauna to survive, but for people to continue on as well. As one strikingly handsome Greenpeace activist, Gabriel, put it, "We are working to save the environment not just because we love nature, but because we dearly love people."