It's been a busy few days here at Campus Ecology, between gearing up for our rapidly approaching Chill Out broadcast and our attendance at the Smart and Sustainable Campuses Conference yesterday and today. Yours truly was there, live-blogging on SCUP's excellent Campus Planning Network (think Facebook, but with warmer colors and a campus sustainability focus).

I suggest you check it out to see what I learned. And, since I lack the ability to be in more than one place at once, you can also look at AASHE's live-blog, which covers some of the sessions I didn't make it to. If you were there, we (and AASHE, who has a similar conference planned for the fall) would love to hear what you think.

Overall, it was an exhausting and inspiring two days. We heard about some great things happening at different campuses (Ithaca, Yale, Ohio, LACCD, and UMD are just a few), and talked to people on the cutting-edge of clean technologies and sustainability planning. Please do look over our live-blogs, and send us your questions and suggestions.

It was amazing to have the opportunity to experience the energy of 6,000 students converging at the University of Maryland at Power Shift 07 to demand action on global warming--but even better has been to see the ripples that are spreading.

For those that couldn't experience it firsthand, the NWF Campus Ecology staff wants to share some of the great stories and images that are emerging. When you need a shot in the arm, just click on one of these links for some inspiration:

Immediate Impact:

Power Shift made some folks awfully nervous--the right wing attack machine was brought out in full force:

· Rush Limbaugh attacked NWF's own Charlie Lockwood, a student leader from the Alaska Youth for Environmental Action (AYEA). She gave an incredibly powerful and courageous testimony before the House Select Committee on Energy and Climate Action on his radio show.

· And poor Pat Buchanan never knew what hit him when the Energy Action Coalition's Co-Director Jesse Tolkan came out swinging on Hardball

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Ed Markey, Chair of the House Select Committee on Energy and Climate Action addressed students and responded positively to chants of, "We want more!" (as in stronger climate action). In a follow up letter to Power Shift, Speaker Pelosi pledged, "Combating climate change and working toward energy independence are flagship issues for my Speakership and top priorities of this Congress."

News Highlights: (For a full media round up, check out the Power Shift newsroom.)

· Discovery and MTV - aired video clips highlighting the energy of the lobby day, which many say was the largest yet on climate change--more than 2,000 students visited Members of Congress.

· NPR - An article dismantling Thomas Freidman's concern that this is "The Quiet Generation."

· Time magazine online - An article quoting Jesse Tolkan: "For the Millennials, climate change is emerging as the defining issue of their time, just as civil rights or Vietnam might have been for the generation before. 'This is a new generation that sees itself at the forefront of a great movement, just like the greatest movements of the past,' says Tolkan."

· Grist - "They've Got the Power"

· It's Getting Hot in Here - a youth climate blog has loads of dispatches.

· Wildlife Promise - NWF's invited people to send messages to students attending Power Shift, and got great comments from people "passing the torch" from one generation to another.

Pictures and Video

Hundreds of pictures have already been uploaded to FlickR with the "Powershift07" tag. Also, the "I Shot Power Shift" project put video cameras in the hands of more than 100 students and the footage is just starting to come in. They include:

· The "Green Jobs Not Jails" rally cry was one of the most powerful of the weekend. This "Green for All" video captures some of the incredible diversity of Power Shift and you can't help but get excited about the future by watching Van Jones who lit up crowd each time he spoke.

· And former NWF Campus Ecology Fellow Summer Rayne Oakes put together the coolest video called "We Are One" featuring the Faces of Power Shift.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to the success of Power Shift 07!

National Wildlife Federation (NWF) hosted a luncheon at the Power Shift conference on Saturday, November 3, at the Marriot Conference Center on the University of Maryland campus. The luncheon was packed with 62 students (and 2 campus staff) from 20 campuses, including Ball State University, Colby College, Furman University, Texas Southern University, Macalester College, Randolph College, Richard Stockton College, and the University of Maryland. NWF's president and CEO Larry Schweiger and Chairman of the Board Tom Gonzales, as well as Julian Keniry, Kristin Kranendonk, Justin Schott, and Praween Dayananda from the Campus Ecology program, addressed the audience and students were invited to speak about their motivation for joining Power Shift 2007. The luncheon was a great opportunity for Campus Ecology members, fellows, and others to network and learn what others are doing to confront global warming on their campuses.

Photo: Students from Texas Southern University, copyright Julian Keniry

Six thousand student leaders from 2000 colleges, universities and high schools all across the country traveled to Washington, D.C. over the weekend as part of Powershift to ask our nation’s legislators how they plan to protect their generation from global warming. After participating in over 300 panel sessions and workshops on the weekend at the University of Maryland, the student leaders proceeded to Capitol Hill where they spoke at a Congressional hearing, paid hundreds of visits to lawmakers and held a large rally on the Capitol steps wearing hundreds of green hard hats.

The green hard hats symbolized the students’ vision of a prosperous economy through the creation of thousands of new green jobs. This is not a distant prospect. The National Wildlife Federation’s report, Higher Education in a Warming World: The Business Case for Climate Leadership on Campus (released November 2007), cites several studies illustrating how hundreds of thousands of exciting new jobs are likely to be created through investments in clean energy in the near future.

Photo by Fritz Myer.

NWF's Campus Ecology Program hosted a greener campus teleconference series during the 2006-2007 academic year. Each teleconference featured practitioners in the field speaking about their accomplishments and challenges and a question-and-answer session giving participants an opportunity to engage in discussion. Each teleconference focused on a different strategy to confront global warming on campus - topics included greener purchasing and transportation, creative financing, conducting greenhouse gas inventories, and more.

Don't worry if you were unable to participate! All teleconferences were recorded and an audio file is available on the Campus Ecology website, and the three most recent - Creative Financing and Endowments, Purchasing Green Tags and Renewable Energy Certificates, and Greener Transportation - are also available via Podcast download through iTunes, also on the Campus Ecology website. So, check out our site to learn more about global warming solutions and how campuses nationwide are reducing their greenhouse gas emissions while you drive, walk, run, etc.

Check out this unofficial Chill Out video!

The students at Middlebury College are gearing up and getting ready to Focus the Nation!  To find out how you can Focus the Nation, watch the video and follow the steps!

Watch and rate more Chill Out video entries on YouTube.

Enter your own video for a chance to win prizes and get your campus out there!

The deadline for entries is March 1!

Campus Ecology just kicked off its 2006-07 teleconference series with “Campus Climate Challenge: How to Engage Students and Gain Support from Your Administration.” Speakers talked about successful ways to launch the Campus Climate Challenge on campus while evolving faculty and staff member along with students. Speakers included Josh Tulkin, the organizing director for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network; Richard Johnson, the campus sustainability planner at Rice University; Stephanie Boyd, the director of facilities operations at Williams College; and Bart Welling, an assistor professor of English at the University of Northern Florida.

The 2006-07 teleconference series includes topics on “Greener Purchasing on Campus,” “Conducting Greenhouse Gas Inventories on Campus,” and “Green Campus Transportation.”

NWF’s Teleconference Series is one of the tools we offer to colleges and universities. You can check out our website to find other online and print resources!

Last week the campus ecology team (along with my dog Pint) attended the largest conference on sustainability in higher learning to date in the United States. Put on by AASHE, the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, the conference had over 700 participants representing 225 colleges from from 46 states and 5 countries. NWF had a blast hosting a workshop on the Campus Climate Challenge, and Julian Keniry (our fearless Campus Ecology leader) was the moderator at a packed plenary on “Higher Education and Global Warming”. Julian was poised and eloquent, and reminded me of how much I have to learn in this field. It’s amazing the feeling you get when you are surrounded by pioneers in the sustainability field. It’s motivating and frightening and informative and inspiring. You realize how far we’ve come and what still has to be accomplished.

This inaugural conference was held on the Arizona State University campus. ASU has a new interdisciplinary sustainability major. As the sustainability sector continues to boom, programs like that are going to be in high demand!

NWF has been working on campus greening issues since 1989. Check out how you can get involved and see what campuses are doing to curb global warming!

The half-day session on climate neutral campuses hosted by the National Council on Science and Environment (NCSE) at its 6th annual conference entitled, "Energy for a Sustainable and Secure Future" and chaired by the National Wildlife Federation's Campus Ecology Program generated more than 100 recommendations for advancing climate stewardship on campuses. These included the following:

*Basic environmental science education should be required for all students on campuses.
*Campuses should conduct environmental audits, sharing information with the community.
*Campuses should incorporate renewable energy, conservation and efficiency into longer term strategic planning.
*Faculty should work to increase ecological awareness among student, faculty, and staff.
*Faculty should establish campus sustainability advisory groups that include faculty, staff, students, alumni, and members of the community.
*Universities should promote student advocacy and critical thinking.
*Universities should create staff positions with flexibility and resources to serve as liaisons beyond their departments.
*Universities should create green guides to campuses.
*Universities should provide resources and incentives for faculty development, including release time.
*Campuses should hire sustainability coordinators with strong science backgrounds.
*Campuses should address environmental justice, serving the needs of minority and under-privileged communities.

On January 26, 2006 NWF’s Campus Ecology Program will chair a half-day “Climate Neutral Campuses” session at the “Energy for a Sustainable and Secure Future” conference hosted by the National Council for Science and the Environment.

Participants will generate recommendations for action and leadership in higher education on climate stewardship that will be published in NCSE’s highly-regarded annual reported and disseminated to an international audience of decision-makers and science practitioners in academia, government and other sectors.

Speakers include Andrea Putman, author of the soon-to-be-published book on making the business case for renewable energy on campus, Brooke Owyang, student leader of UC-Berkeley’s climate planning initiative, and Jennifer Andersen, coordinator of the Clean Energy and Global Warming Project for the Natural Resources Council of Maine. Kristy Jones, manager of NWF’s Climate Action and Education initiative, and Julian Keniry, Director of Campus Ecology will co-chair the session. Higher education decision-makers from 30 campuses have enrolled in the session and it is not too late to register at: http://www.ncseonline.org