Powershift '09

From the Houston Airport, here is some Sunday reading for you...

• Some churches are trying to make inroads with the Millennial Generation, though they recognize they're falling short in many areas.
• Where W focused on K-12 education, President Obama has shifted the focus to higher ed. USA Today has the story.
• Forward Montana is making sure youth have a voice in the healthcare reform discussion with Generation H.
• It's Getting Hot in Here recaps Powershift '09.
• More Powershift wrap-up -- Democracy Now interviews attendees.

Power Shift '09, the largest training and lobbying action on climate change in US history, finishes today with it's 12,000 attendees storming the capitol to lobby their elected officials. Unfortunatley, for a variety of reasons, I was unable to make it down to DC this weekend to attend, but It's Getting Hot in Here and WireTap both have excellent recaps of the event:

Climate blog It's Getting Hot in Here interviews Energy Action Coalition cofounder Billy Parish on the history of Power Shift:

Jesse Jenkins: Thanks Billy for all your work, and for speaking with me at the end of a long weekend. Billy, in this youth climate and clean energy movement, you qualify as an aged veteran. You were an original co-founder and the first executive director of the Energy Action Coalition, and have been around to witness this movement grow and take shape. What are the key trends and changes you’ve witnessed, and how do you see them taking shape at Power Shift 2009?

Billy Parish: Size, diversity, power. Those are the key trends. I see.

On size, we’ve seen a doubling of the attendance in just over a year between Power Shift 2007 in November 2007 and this weekend’s Power Shift 2009. And we’ve actually seen that kind of pattern in the early Days of Action Energy Action Coalition organized, so maybe there’s something there. The first Campus Clean Energy Day had 70 campuses involved. The next had about 135 and then it went to 270 when we did it again. Now, we’re doubling in attendance from 6,000 to 12,000 for Power Shift.

And WireTap offers a view on the ground from the first day, with video of some of the keynote speakers: