I got back late last night from speaking at Dr. Phillips High School and University of Central Florida on “We Can Kick Climate Change one Step at a Time: An Expanding Role for Youth.”  (I’ll get a copy of some of the lecture in the next few weeks or so and will post it up)…What a tremendous experience. There is such great energy around the campus and the Global Perspectives Lecture Series; I have to give a shout out to John Bersia and Gabriela Orton who made the day go smoothly.

Before I head to campuses, I like to touch base with some key influencers to see not only what they are doing on the grassroots level, but what they are also looking to accomplish.  If there is any way that I can aid them, I’ll try to do that in the short time that I have. It was nice to hear from Rich of Focus the Nation UCF who helped me organize some direct action after the talk- in the form of letters to Representative Feeney and the two Senators: Martinez and Nelson, as well as sign-ups for support of Green Jobs. And it was also a pleasure to hear from Mandy Hancock from the Southern Energy Network, who will be bringing 200 students to Powershift this February 27-March 2. Thank you also to the students who were able to spend some time after to engage in further discussion.

I’m also so happy to get feedback - of any form. It’s always great to hear from attendees because the more feedback I get, the more I am able to understand what is going through people’s minds and tailor my talk more effectively -

Thanks Ben for putting together your critical analysis of the talk. Well taken and love to speak with you about it more. Let’s arrange a call.

I do believe there are tremendous young leaders in the audience and was so happy to have met many of them and hope to cross paths again. I got a nice flood of discussion from Facebook, which I’d love to share with you below.   I left names anonymous, as they were personal messages, but kept the first initials…Thanks guys and gals!

“Hello! I saw you speak today at UCF and really loved your speech! I am a member of the Student Sustainability Alliance so I’m so glad you inspired me and other students to get involved.” - J.

“Hello! I saw you speak today in Orlando at UCF and was just so impressed with your speech and everything you’re doing to motivate our generation to get involved and speak up. You mentioned you had facebook so I thought I would just send a message and let you know what a great job you did! I’m a student at UCF and decided on the major of Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus in Environmental Science and it’s turning out to be the best major because it combines a number of focuses, all of which I’m thoroughly interested in. Good luck with everything - just wanted to let you know I appreciate all you’re doing! :)” - G.

“Thank you so very much for coming to UCF today to speak with us. Your words, passion, presence, and story were all incredibly uplifting for me. I find myself in the unique situation of also being on a path uncharted and at 18 it is a bit daunting! However, I know I am going to do great things and it is just the most amazing thing to know that there is another bright, young woman willing to put it all on the line to pursue what makes her come alive. Please do let me know when you will be travelling back to Orlando. I would love to have the chance to sit down with you and talk. Thank you once again!” - A.

“The planet and I want to thank you for your continued participation in saving us.” - J.

“I was at your presentation today at UCF…I thought you did a great job, and you were very inspiring…I hope you the best in the future.” - M.

“Great presentation today! I wish you the best in the future, you are a great speaker.” - M.

“I attended you presentation today at UCF (which was awesome by the way) because I was interested in your take on the climate crisis since a lot of society will rather heed the warnings it seems. I’m currently a Freshman at UCF and your story about setting your goal for the future instead of completing your major impacted me as I had not thought of it that way. So thank you!” - K.

“Hey. My mom (the teacher who talked to you at DP) said I should poke ya. You’ve taken out that option, so I’m sending you a message instead. From what she said, you sound like a twin, and you’ve actually found something to do with your passion, and I would LOVE to hear about it. I’m hoping you can help me make this world just a little bit greener (and bluer…and browner…).” - C.

“Hi Summer! I was at your presentation today at UCF although admittedly, I am not a student there. I have a friend who is and she invited me to come along. I really enjoyed your presentation and heard your invitation to add you on Facebook, so I wanted to do so. I’m actually from Upstate NY, around the area you attended college. Right now I’m a law school student in Orlando and an avid environmentalist. I really love the PlanetGreen channel and watch it as often as I can, and I’m surprised when people haven’t heard about it… I tell everyone they have to watch it, especially Greensburg, as I’m a huge Leo DiCaprio fan as well! Anyway, enough about me and thanks for the opportunity to hear you speak.” - B.

“I was at your presentation at Ucf today, and justed wanted to say congratulations for all you have done so far, and for everything you will achieve in the future. You are a moving speaker, and I support everything you are doing. I wish you the best of luck.” - J.

“I enjoyed your environmental enthusiasm. I found it inspiring to think about what I could do with five thousand youths at my command. I am most fascinated by the idea of more green collared jobs for the “new economy”. What has been the most progressive group you have been a part of or has just speaking to people been enough to create change?” - M.

“Great presentation today!!” - T.

“I believe your message about Green Living and Climate Change is important…You had a good talk. I’ve probably done something like 15-20 of these and yours was among the better ones. You may have knocked the quantum physics speech from last year out of my top 5! :)” - W.

“I had to run out of the seminar right after the speech to go to work, but I thoroughly enjoyed everything you had to say. I am not at all a traditional student, and everything you said is pretty much what I have believed in my whole life. The future we want is never given to us, so we must get out there and get it if we want…Sorry for any rambling, but your speech just got me so fired up and helped me remember why I put up with all the sleepless nights I do working hard for my future.” - R.

“Wanted to let you know that the entire day was fabulous. I understand now why she wowed your office. She spoke to two groups, a high-school audience totaling about 60 and our afternoon keynote here (with about 425). Both were great.” - J.

“Thanks for speaking at UCF I love seeing other people our age as passionate about something as you are. I really think you lit some fires under some asses which is always good!” - C.

Thanks everyone. Please feel free to send along more feedback - comments, critical thoughts, or other thoughts of getting your community engaged. x, sum

I got a great talk lined up for UCFers on the 9th for their Global Perspective Lecture Series about an Expanding Role for Youth in Climate Change. There’s a lot of great energy coming from everyone, so I’m really looking forward to this particular talk. The Focus the Nation UCF crew has also been tre cool in helping out on a few logistical items after the discussion. (Note: We’ll have some direct action lined up for you (if you so choose) after the talk). No more talks with nothing to offer. That’s not a good style if you want to see $hit get done, so be sure to stay afterwards. I’ll be hanging out for an hour or so too before I have to head out, so be sure to stop by.

In the meantime, I’m catching up on writing before meeting up with a Miami-based photographer and crew. We’ll be shooting fashion editorials on sustainable style for Vicious and City Luxe tomorrow. Looks as if the weather will hold out.

In between doing some Planet Green events I’ve been filming for G Word, one of Discovery’s new shows. Here’s a recap on one of my favorite episodes. Stay tuned for some clips, bloopers, and the stuff Discovery doesn’t want you to see!

About Me and “G”
I guess they know I’m comfortable in the grit and the glamour because that is exactly what I’ll be covering for G Word-a show about all the oddities and goodies of “green.” You can watch me tackle ocean trash, dance on top of windmills, sniff out garbage, and plod through cow poo. Unfortunately I’m still waiting for the glamorous part of my job to kick in…

“I imagine putting up a windmill is quite a big undertaking,” I said to Ned Hall, President of AES Wind Energy. “Yes, very much so,” he responded. “So when one is going up, do you notify the community that you are having a big erection?”  Oh yes I did, I said it. Bam, Bam, Bam. (joke I got compliments of W. LaDuke)

A windmill kisses the wind.

Journey to the Center of a Windmill
Where: Abilene, TX—the “Friendly Frontier” of wind energy and the U.S. city with the most churches per square mile (as told to me by a Wiccan cab driver who picked us up from the airport).

What: Explore wind energy and what it means to us

Why: Because gas isn’t cheap or green and wind seems like a cool, viable alternative

“It’s kinetic art,” Ned Hall, President of AES Wind Energy said to me as we looked out over the miles and miles of magnificent white wind turbines. The rotating blades were hypnotizing, leisurely spinning their 120ft arms in the wind. The blades may only turn 20 revolutions per minute, but the 20 mph winds were enough to whip our hard hats off as we craned our necks David-&-Goliath-style to ogle at the impressive structures that easily rival the Statue of Liberty in height.

The producers told me I’ll be climbing to the top of the windmills. Ha! Good thing I didn’t tell them I am terrified of heights until we were in the safety training. They seemed pretty pissed that I didn’t let them in on that important tidbit of information beforehand. Hell, I didn’t even know you could climb up the belly of a windmill. What’s in there anyway? How does it convert wind to electricity? And what does it look like from the top of a turbine? I guess my curiosity totally outweighed my acrophobia, because I had a blast climbing to the top to salute the breeze.

What can you do?

• Call your energy supplier to find out if you can purchase environmentally-friendly energy alternatives like wind;

• Like to play the stock market? Invest in wind energy companies;

• Offset your travel emissions with accredited companies like Native Energy, which re-invests the money into wind energy projects

• Get involved in the alternative energy revolution. Support or get involved in organizations like Energy Action, Green for All, 1 Sky, and others.
• Sign up for Power Vote, whose goal is to get 1,000,000 young citizens supporting clean energy solutions, which will be unveiled at the next Powershift Feb 27-Mar 2 in Washington, D.C.

“I stand erected”
These are the scenes Planet Green didn’t want you to see…Coming soon…Coming soon. Coming soon.

At a windmill construction site in Abilene, TX

This is how big they are!

Free, clean energy: Wind and Solar!

Line ‘em up!

Energy Action, pin-up style

Yes, your eyes are not deceiving you. That is a Campus Climate Challenge pin.

Filming at the wind turbine erection site.

Shafted! Yah, I’m not just showing you this for posterity’s sake. I actually climbed up this monster! 250 ft into the air on the belly of a windmill. How about that!?!

That’s me in the top of the wind turbine, standing on the gears.

And this is my view from the top…Prepare yourself…

My view from the top! Windmills as far as the eye can see.

The answer is a resounding “YES!” I did get to hang over the edge of the windmill’s nose.

Lovely view. Lovely view.

In case ya’ll missed it, here’s a play-by-play from the Green Jobs Now call.

We’re looking to plan events in all community for 9.27.08 - The National Green Jobs Action Day. Check it out over at greenjobsnow.com. Good way to get your friends out of the house and onto the streets. Here’s the three type of events that we propose:

• VISUAL EVENT - create a visual statement, like “GREEN JOBS NOW,” or “[Fill in community name] is ready for GREEN JOBS.” Visuals can be props, signs, hardhats, work gear, anything that helps you get your creative swerve on.

• EDUCATIONAL EVENT - throw an event, block party, BBQ, sister salons, open house parties, solution festivals, or anything else that ties in educational materials with good community fun.

• SERVICE EVENT - drive interest by engaging people in service jobs, conservation corps, etc. to roll up their sleeves and get out to volunteer and make a statement. Maybe it involves delivering LCD lightbulbs to low-income areas, planting trees in a local park.

Here’s the goals that we want to achieve at the events:

• 1st Goal: Send a unified message to our elected officials – “We are ready for a green economy!”

• 2nd Goal: Position people of color as drivers in this transition of this green economy.

• 3rd Goal: Build broad support for this transition. We want low income people and people of color as the drivers and in the center of this conversation, but we also want broad network support from churches, unions, rural and inner city areas, and other pivotal players.

Special highlights from the call.

The Honorable D’Army Bailey (Civil Rights Movement)- “On April 4th, 2008 in Memphis Tennessee at the Dream Reborn Conference, I witnessed a terrific interracial gathering and celebration and such a wonderful turnout of young people…It was the young people that led the Civil Rights movement, and it will be the young people that are the engine, the fuel that will lead this movement. They have the independence, the vision, and the energy to push the movement forward.”

Gillian Caldwell (One Sky Campaign)- “Anyone who is tracking of the DNC, ‘energy independence’ and ‘5 million green jobs’ is on the tip of everyone’s tongue. It’s a credit to the leadership of Energy Action Coalition, Green for All because they are pushing this into the forefront of this conversation. We are having a significant impact in the national discourse. We are mobilizing a movement to put pressure on decision makers to enact green jobs, moratorium on coal fire plant production, and cap on GHG emissions…We are having an influence in Washington, D.C. The doors are open to us in the Congress and Senate. We will see Climate Policy in 2009, but what will it be? Will it be tepid? Will it be hot? You can get the conversation there…where it needs to be.”

Cathy Zoi (Alliance for Climate Protection) -”100% clean energy needs to be heard in the first 100 days of this election! This will be done through a national energy upgrade (millions of jobs to make it possible for everyday folks); Thousands of megawatts of clean energy from where the fuel is free-the sun, the wind, and the earth; and need a super smart grid - one that is wired from one point to the next - from rural areas to northern areas. We need that political will.”