Overview

College students have been at the forefront of many of the most important movements for social change during the past half century. This was the case with the civil rights movement, the movement to end the Vietnam War, and the movement to stop American support for apartheid in South Africa. This has yet to be the case with global warming.

Keys to working with students

Empowerment -- Students are fully capable of being independent and autonomous. However, we can be an asset to them by sharing resources and best practices. Ultimately, we want to assist them when needed while giving them every opportunity to lead.

Organize students where they are -- Ideally, we can best engage and communicate with students by using their preferred mediums. We should strive to understand and view our organizing from the student’s perspective.

Students have short timelines -- Students view time in semester increments. In addition, finals months (December/May) are often off-limits for student organizers. With these considerations in mind, we must engage students quickly and follow up even quicker.

Institutional Memory -- Students are transient by nature, therefore it is important for their groups to retain an “institutional memory.” A history of the organization should be created by documenting everything in a common place in addition to finding a passionate faculty advisor. Commonly, student groups “reinvent the wheel” by repeating the efforts of past students. Ultimately, through creating an institutional memory, students can focus their efforts to be as productive as possible.

The voice of youth -- Young people are going to inherit the brunt of climate change, thus their words have unique power. It is important to create a space for them be heard. We can elevate their voices by allowing them to lead off-campus campaigns in the same manner they lead on-campus campaigns.

A great opportunity now: The Campus Climate Challenge

The Energy Action Coalition represents over thirty of the climate movement’s leading organizations. Together they are bringing a campaign called the “Campus Climate Challenge” to over 700 campuses across the US and Canada in an effort to reduce the global warming impact of campuses while catapulting the student movement.

What is the Campus Climate Challenge? -- The Campus Climate Challenge is a product of the Energy Action Coalition and represents one of the most ambitious, impressive products of the youth environmental movement. The Challenge helps students organize their peers into the powerful constituency necessary to leverage campus administrators and faculty towards investing in renewable energy, energy efficiency and other climate-friendly initiatives. Students are linked up with regional organizers that provide trainings and resources that help empower students to be tomorrow’s climate leaders.

Campaign Goals -- The Challenge campaign goals are twofold. First, the Challenge aims to reduce the global warming pollution emitted by campuses to as to close to zero as quickly as possible. This is accomplished through large-scale renewable energy purchases, energy efficiency, conservation and other climate-friendly initiatives. Second, the Challenge aims to empower an entire generation that has a respect for global warming and has the capacity to make change happen.

Off-campus roles for students -- Often, campuses are microcosms of society at large. Power structures and constituents are replicated within the campus structure. Such environments can provide an accessible, ideal learning ground for off-campus campaigns. “Part II” of the Challenge aims to bring students off-campus equipped with deep, transferable campus experiences.

Resources -- Students are linked up with regional organizers that provide trainings and resources that help empower students to be tomorrow’s climate leaders. Specifically, CCAN has two Challenge organizers, one in the DC/Maryland region and the other in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

• DC/MD – Matt Stern; This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
• VA – Tom Owens This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

In addition, the Energy Action Coalition compiles best practices and organizing advice into print resources such as the Campus Climate Challenge “tool kit” and the “New Energy for Campuses” manual (see links below). These print resources are supplemented by trainings, campus events, and state and regional conferences.

Conclusion

While there are many parallels between organizing students and other constituencies, students, like any other group, have specific characteristics that must be understood in order to best engage and connect with them.

Campuses can set an example for their communities and the nation by reducing their climate impact and demonstrating the feasibility and cost effectiveness of such initiatives. Academia has traditionally been at the forefront of cultural and technological change, and campuses once again can be the catalyst that drives this country into sustainable energy independence. Youth are uniquely positioned to be the vanguard of the clean energy revolution and with CCAN and the Campus Climate Challenge, the foundation will be set in the Chesapeake region.

www.climatechallenge.net

Challenge Toolkit – www.climatechallenge.org/documents/toolkit_2.0.pdf

New Energy for Campuses - www.energyaction.net/documents/new_energy.pdf