Yesterday, I posted an article about the Bush Administration's Major World Economies meeting on climate change in Hawaii this week (are you as jealous as I am?), where expectations for action are extremely low. Today I'd like to contrast that with the American youth climate movement, which is holding its own events at the same time as Bush's meetings. A friend suggested to me that the youth climate movement is more diluted than activist causes in the past because much of it is based online. I think this is true; our ability to publicly express our individual voice from the comfort of our own computer often causes us to miss out on the feeling of power brought about by physical masses of like-minded people. But the new climate activists are beginning to come together physically as well as digitally, and the movement is growing.

Take the events that are coming up this week. While the Bush Administration hosts its meeting which is unlikely to result in, well, anything at all, the youth movement will hold a national event to learn about climate change and how we can stop it. Focus the Nation, the capstone organization of the American youth climate movement, is organizing two days of action this Wednesday and Thursday, January 30-31, to mobilize the youth of America from kindergarten through college to fight climate change.

We stand at a unique moment in human history. Decisions that are ours to make today – to stabilize global warming pollution and invest in clean energy solutions – will have a profound impact not only on our lives and the lives of our children, but indeed for every human being who will ever walk the face of the planet from now until the end of time. At this moment in time, we owe our young people one day of focused discussion about global warming solutions for America. -- Focus the Nation

The events themselves will be a unique mixture of new and old, including both the newest means of communication and old-school Vietnam-era methods. First, on Thursday, January 30th, there will be a national webcast, The 2% Solution, to focus on global warming solutions. With a goal of 10,000 simultaneous screenings, this will be a grand expression of new media activism. The audience will be able to participate by voting on questions asked throughout the webcast through cell phone text messages. Remember those old Vietnam webcasts? Those were the days. Don't feel too left out though, all you veteran activists. On January 31 there will be a vintage event, a nationwide teach-in, in the Vietnam model. Schools and campuses throughout the country will host a day long summit with faculty from every discipline, to discuss solutions to climate change. Over 1,200 colleges, universities, and schools have organized their own teach-ins.

"... the economy ... techno pipe-dreams ... blah blah blah ..."

The Focus the Nation events will have an effect. Seven Senators, twenty-seven House Representatives, eight governors, and fifteen mayors have already agreed to attend either the teach-in or the webcast. Educators, journalists, and scientists will be listening in. And the voice of the youth will be heard. So, while the Administration engages in double-speak and avoids committing to anything substantial (I hope I'm wrong here, but it's unlikely), the youth of America will be learning and discussing ways to battle climate change. Our message to the rest of the world: although it may look like the U.S. Government doesn't care about climate change, the American people do.