Shift the Power, Students of New Jersey!

So it begins. New Jersey students are on the move, planning for a regional extension of Power Shift. If you aren't familiar with Power Shift, it is a conference that began in 2007 and has been held every other year since then. Organized by the Energy Action Coalition and held in Washington DC, it has served as a convergence for well over 10,000 students from all over the country who believe in transforming the dirty energy economy of the United States to a more sustainable, environmentally friendly system. The conference includes workshops and activism involving community outreach, organizing a climate justice movement, ecological and economic sustainability on the state level, saving the forests & oceans, creating community gardens, corporate control over food, and the many aspects of the BP oil spill. Yep, it's THAT BIG.
At New Jersey's conference, we are hoping to have similar workshops that can educate, inspire, and motivate students to take action on their campuses and in their communities. So far, we have reached a date, so clear your calendars for the weekend of October 29th for a Halloween Power Shift!

Here's a list of workshops that you'll want to attend:

1. Healthy Lifestyles
2. Workshop on Fair Trade
3. Panel on Fracking (Hydraulic Fracturing)
4. Save the Water panel
5. Panel on Economic Alternative Indicators
6. Yoga Workshop
7. Alternative Energy
8. Nuclear Energy
9. Pine barren ecosystem
10. Entrepreneurship
11. Waste Management Panel
12. Eco-Fashion
13. Politics and Activism
14. Consumerism “Power of the Purchase”
15. Sustainable Agriculture
16. Environmental Chemistry
17. Environmental Journalism
18. Climate Change
19. Protestors rights “Know your Rights”
20. Panel on Environmental Justice
21. Info on conservation projects in Ecuador, Trinidad, Turks and Caicos
22. Restoration of the Peruvian Rainforest
23. 350.Org workshop

These workshops have not yet been finalized, and we may have some more amazing projects in the works (not to mention the keynote speakers...yet to be disclosed!)
There is a bittersweet quality to this event. While there are great efforts being put into this conference, we have to make the move from planning to doing. We can't afford to spend another two years organizing another Power Shift. We can't afford to spend another two years allowing governors, senators and corporations to make a profit off of the destruction of our Earth. We can't afford to spend another two years sitting comfortably in our homes as people become ill and suffer from the effects of hydro fracking and the Gulf oil spill, CO2 reaches dangerous levels in the atmosphere, and species go extinct. If you believe that changes need to be made and are willing to be a part of that change, this is where you need to be.
We are bringing power-shifting energy to New Jersey to show the people of this state just what the youth is capable of, and what the future can and will look like.

Subscribe for more posts and information, and the registration website which will be posted soon.

Please look for the New Jersey Sustainable Collegiate Partners Facebook page for additional updates and events.



Feel free to contact:
Saranda Ibrahimi: sibrahim@ ramapo.edu
Amanda Nesheiwat: amandanesheiwat@gmail.com