Twin Cities students take climate and energy action to next level

Participants at the Minnesota Citizens Conference on Climate and Energy Action.

Photo: T. Abraham/CWS

March 12, 2007

Students from St. Paul’s Macalester College and the University of Minnesota launched the World Energy Community Action Network (WeCAN), a citizen alliance to help Minnesotans shift to clean energy and confront global warming.

The alliance was launched at a February 23-25 Minnesota Citizens Conference on Climate and Energy Action in Minneapolis supported by Church World Service.

Last year CWS joined two faith partners in supporting the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in its legal action to force the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate carbon-dioxide emissions—the main cause of global warming—from motor vehicles. Climate change has widespread effects on the vulnerable people worldwide with whom the organization partners. It also affects hurricane victims and other communities requiring CWS disaster relief efforts.

CWS supports young adults as they engage in a variety of issues that underpin its advocacy and education. The organization co-sponsors the annual Young Adult Ecumenical Forum to promote dialogue and action on the impact of globalization.

WeCAN launched its website at the Twin Cities conference. The website allows members to share information and collaborate within the network. It is hosted by RE-AMP, an online commons for Midwest leadership in 21st century clean energy.

Among the 30 or so participants, there was a local trade union leader fighting for public ownership of a hydroelectric power station at a soon-to-close Ford assembly plant in St. Paul, a proponent of grass-fed beef, and non-profit groups at the forefront of clean energy and water initiatives in the Twin Cities Metro area.

Working groups discussed sustainable transportation and urban design, and better agricultural systems. Participants shared skills in messaging, citizen lobbying, funding, movement building, and transportation alternatives.

Also attending the Minnesota Citizens Conference was a member of the Planning Commission of Frontenac, MN, and representatives of Congregations Caring for Creation, the Alaska Coalition, and the foundation of polar explorer and global warming activist Will Steger.

The conference was organized by student members of the Macalester Conservation and Renewable Energy Society (MacCARES) and the University of Minnesota’s Ecowatch. MacCARES members at the meet included Jason Rodney, a former Cleveland Heights, OH, high school student who coordinated a CROP Walk there, and David Schmitt, the first student at Macalester majoring in both religious and environmental studies.

High school student Jennifer Heinzel from Edina told of working with the town's mayor to pass an energy bill.

Such conferences connect citizens acting locally on global issues with policy makers. They help advocate for policies that bring sustainable solutions to global and local challenges.

“The challenge is to connect policy makers to everyday people,” said MacCARES co-chair Timothy DenHerder-Thomas, who helped organize the conference. “How the community responds is driven by what people on the ground are doing.”