The Road to Power Shift Starts in Grand Rapids

It is one month and 13 days left before Power Shift and the Michigan Student Sustainability Coalition is beginning to rev it's electric-biodiesel hybrid engine in preperation. In one week, January 23rd-25th, the MSSC will be holding it's third annual summit on, but unlike past years, this summit will carry national implications.

www.msscsummit.org

While the rest of the country has slid into an economic crisis over the past year, in Michigan we have been feeling the pain of misguided energy and climate policies for years. In fact, between 2000 and 2005, Michigan lost 218,000 manufacturing jobs. For the MSSC, now is the opportunity to make an impact. Starting just three days after the inauguration, the MSSC is using this years summit as the perfect opportunity to send a message to the United States' newly established Presidential and congressional administrations that Michigan needs a new economic vision, built on clean technology and the development of green jobs.

The event will feature keynote speeches from Appalachian community organizer Judy Bonds, Detroit Environmental Justice Organizer Rhonda Andersen and Energy Action Coalition's own Jessy Tolkan. Jessy had this to say about the summit: "As the economic crisis continues to hit hard in Michigan, its great to see these young people putting forward real solutions. MSSC knows that investing in clean energy means creating thousands of new green jobs that can help rebuild the economy in Michigan and across thecountry. I am excited for these young people to let their vision for a clean energy economy ring throughout the state of Michigan, and for them to bring this demand for a power shift to Washington, DC in late February."

More info about Regeneration: The 2009 Michigan Student Sustainability Coalition Summit.

Regeneration 2009 is much more than a conference. It is part of a process of building people power around a vision for a clean energy economy and a sustainable future that can unite youth and students with labor leaders, unite rural farmers, inner-city residents, small businesses, students, and local governments. It is a recognition of our own role in making change, bridging the gaps between our personal lives and the sweeping changes that must be made. The Summit is intended to empower Michigan youth to demand the state of Michigan invest in sustainable energy and transportation technology at all levels.

Regeneration 2009 is about building a strong community and giving back to that community. Our goal is not a student conference, but an intergenerational gathering, with everyone from middle school students to local activists and nonprofit leaders participating in the activities. The conference has a focus on service and building community- the community and friendships that will make a transformation possible and make working with each other both more productive and more fun.

A massive service project is being organized for the summit by Toni Jones of the Grand Valley State University Sustainable Community Development Initiative and Sarah Chartier of GVSU's Student Environmental Coalition as part of USA Service's National Day of Service. The service project will be held January 24th from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. and will include service with 14 non-profit organizations in the Grand Rapids area.

Regeneration is about going beyond “drop-in-the-bucket” solutions – its about transformation. It is about recognizing our crucial role as change agents, not just to improve our own local communities, but to build models for change that generate more economic, social, and political power for the global transformation while inspiring other local groups, students, small businesses, and local leaders around the world. Regeneration acknowledges the importance of both policy and technology, but also that neither will be adequate or effective unless they focus on empowering we, the people, to actually implement the solutions we need to reorient our lives and our neighborhoods for a sustainable future. It is literally a shift in power: from fossil fuels to clean energy, from an economy controlled by large centralized entities to one that emerges from the vibrant relationship of local producers, from seeing ourselves as victims of the turbulent changes facing our future to seeing ourselves as collaborative creators of the future we want to see.

Join us January 23-25th in Grand Rapids for Regeneration! Visit www.msscsummit.org for registration, donation, and sponsorship.