Thousands rally for environment

Power shift
By Marisa Kendall

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Braving a snowstorm that temporarily shut down most of the city, students at American University joined thousands on the West Lawn of the Capitol Monday to protest coal power, which is used in congressional buildings.
The rally marked the culmination of Power Shift, a four-day conference sponsored by Capitol Climate Action.
Many of the protesters also made their way to a subsequent sit-in in at the gates of a coal-fired power plant that powers the Capitol, House and Senate office buildings.
In the non-violent sit-in sponsored by Green Peace participants protested the use of coal power by physically blocking the entrances to the plant, said Ian Pajer-Rogers, a Power Shift volunteer.
“Global warming is a vastly urgent issue that is unprecedented,” he said. “So we just hope to really push the issue and continue to really put pressure on coal and make sure this is a kick-off event.”
Drew Veysey, a junior in the School of Public Affairs and treasurer and environmental science officer of AU’s Eco-Sense, recruited students for Power Shift by putting up posters, emailing and sending Facebook messages, he said.
Seventy-five students attended the conference and most took advantage of a group discount organized by Eco-Sense, paying $35 instead of $50 to register. Getting AU students involved was important, said Veysey..
“AU has a lot of students in international relations, international development and political science,” he said. “Those three fields are extremely important to the future of the planet, especially as it concerns climate change.”
Eco-Sense members also contributed by doing volunteer work at Power Shift and housing participants from schools in New York, Texas and Vermont, said Veysey.
The conference drew students from across the country, and Power Shift volunteers helped make sure the thousands of protesters at the sit-in stayed peaceful, said Pajer-Rogers.
“We expect there to be a little bit of aggression coming our way, so we just want to make sure that we’re completely non-violent at all times, de-escalating any situations that are getting heated and just making sure that we are keeping our people safe and keeping everybody safe,” said Pajer-Rogers.
Many of the protesters were planning to risk arrest by blocking the power plant entrances, he said. The most likely charges would be incommoding (physically positioning oneself in the way of traffic or bussiness) or failure to disperse, which are both offenses about equal to a parking ticket, said Pajer-Rogers.
However, there were no arrests made, according to USA Today.
Instead of attending the two protests on Capitol Hill, Veysey spent Monday lobbying for green jobs, clean energy and a quota on green house emissions in several Power-Shift-organized meetings with members of the Iowa Congressional Delegation. Most were positive about the ideas, he said.
Pajer-Rogers said he did not think the snow kept activists away from the Capitol because most are committed to the cause.
Bryan Davis, a junior at Ithaca College, took a bus to Washington, D.C. for Power Shift and stayed with a friend at AU. He said he thought the large numbers of protesters changed the minds of many oppositionists.
“I came because I wanted to be reminded of just how many people care about the environment and green issues in our country,” Davis said.
Keith Fletcher, a freshman at the University of North Carolina, Nashville, carpooled with other students and spent the weekend at a nearby church for $5 per night.
“It’s amazing to see so many people dedicated to making a change,” he said.
Mia Sloan, a freshman at St. Lawrence University, traveled 10 hours on a bus.
“We want to shift into clean energy for the United States and lead the world in a greener planet,” she said.

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