Youth organizers have planned a major conference and demonstration for this weekend in Washington, D.C. The event, called PowerShift, is also intended to organize the single biggest lobbying day in American history, putting environmentalists in front of more than 350 Congressmen and staff.
The Guardian reports that the organizers of PowerShift are already in Washington:
There are now more than 10,052 young people coming from all over America to the largest ever youth climate event in history, where they will lobby US political leaders to enact bold climate and energy policies that will rebuild our economy and halt global warming.
It will be the largest climate lobby day in the country's history, and the first mass lobby of Obama's term in office. Coverage is set to be widespread with national TV crews and newspaper journalists arriving on Friday, including BBC Newsnight.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, environmental leader Van Jones and dancehall artist Santigold are headlining and, with over 270 panels and workshops, organisers have had to hire the largest venue in the whole city.
The organizers of PowerShift are the brain trust behind PowerVote, a popular energy campaign during the general election of 2008. That project asked young people to consider the environment when voting:
This past fall, hundreds of thousands of youth mobilized to vote and demand bold solutions to the defining issues of our generation. The Power Vote campaign collected 341,127 pledges to vote and demand our leaders create millions of green jobs, invest in a clean energy economy, cut global warming pollution immediately, end our dependence on dirty energy, take dirty money out of politics, and re-engage as a leader in the international community.
Power Vote helped turn out the record 24 million young voters who decided this election and develop the skills of grassroots leaders to engage in the political process.