By Michael A. Weber •
February 13, 2009
Friday February 27th will begin the four day Powershift 2009 conference, which is set to become the largest ever youth conference on climate change. But history will be made on Monday, March 2nd, when thousands of youth lobby Congress and thousands of others march to the Capitol Coal Plant to take part in what should become the largest ever act of climate change related civil disobedience.
Over 10,000 high school and college aged students are expected to turn out to this year’s Powershift conference. 2007’s conference had thousands of attendees and speakers such as Van Jones, Ralph Nader and Nancy Pelosi. This year is expecting some of the same big names, and more.
By Lisa Kivirist •
January 21, 2009
Over 2,500 miles west of Washington D.C. this week in sunny Carlsbad, California, the new Obama presidency commemorates a different type of inauguration, compliments of Legoland. The Master Model Designers behind Miniland U.S.A. – the section of this theme park that depicts Lego versions of various American landmarks – dressed up the model of the steps of the U.S. Capitol for our historic 56th Presidential inauguration.
Mini versions of everyone from the Obama family to Oprah Winfrey and the San Francisco Boys Chorus can be spotted in this creative Lego masterpiece.
As my family and I continued our California journey this week, escaping winter on our Wisconsin farm, spotting the mini-figure, four-inch version of Obama first brought a smile. Creative and colorful, you’re immediately drawn into analyzing the realistic detail of this endeavor.
But scratch the plastic surface. For me, this Lego depiction took on deeper meaning, a metaphor to inspiring the challenging days ahead. Harkening to Obama’s inspiring speech yesterday, if the new President and his administration truly seek change, particularly positive help for our planet, there are lessons to be learned from this Lego display:
1. Twist the Expected
Sure you expect to see Legos at Legoland. That’s the lure that kept our seven-year old son salivating up to the park gate. But Obama taking the presidential oath of office, constructed out of Legos?
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) launched an initiative in April to make the Capitol complex carbon neutral within two years.
To achieve this, the “Green the Capitol” initiative includes changing out 17,000 old-fashioned incandescent light bulbs for more efficient compact fluorescent bulbs and using eco-friendly vendors for furnishings.
But the big elephant in the room (and I’m not talking about a Republican) is what to do about the electricity source of the
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