FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009
Contacts:
Lauren Kemp, Marshall
University Sierra Student
Coalition, 412-735-9492
or Heather
Sprouse, Marshall University
Sierra Student Coalition,
304-539-3900
Students expect hundreds to
attend Appalachia PowerShift
Summit
at Marshall University’s
Huntington Campus
Renewable energy theme of
event
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Renewable energy remains controversial in political circles, but hundreds of concerned youth want to tackle the topic and look toward the future of “green” jobs during Appalachia PowerShift Summit this weekend on the Huntington campus of Marshall University, according to student organizers.
Appalachia PowerShift is a social reform movement hosted by Marshall University’s Sierra Student Coalition and the Marshall Environmental Students’ Association along with statewide assistance from the West Virginia Youth Action League and its counterpart in the Bluegrass State, the Kentucky Student Environmental Coalition.
As many as 200 young participants from West Virginia and Kentucky are expected to gather at Marshall Friday through Sunday to attend workshops centered on sustainable jobs and discuss environmentally responsible energy concerns. Appalachia PowerShift has been designed and organized entirely by students to help prepare the next generation of Appalachian residents for a more sustainable future.
Marshall student organizers say that the rising generation of Appalachian residents has a unique perspective on the need to be leaders in green jobs and clean energy. According to Lauren Kemp, president of Marshall University’s Sierra Student Coalition, organizers are particularly interested in bringing in young people, including high school students and younger, who can share ideas and learn what it will take to create a greener future.
“Shaping the future doesn’t stop with college students; high school students are taking responsibility and leadership in the climate movement,” Kemp said. “We all realize that we are the ones making the difference.”
Kemp and others at Marshall worked with student counterparts from across West Virginia and Kentucky to make the summit possible. It stems from an event in Washington, D.C., called PowerShift 09, during which more than 12,000 students from across the country gathered to demand bold action on climate and energy issues. West Virginia and Kentucky alone had 272 student representatives travel as far as 800 miles to attend the national PowerShift conference, Kemp said. This weekend’s event at Marshall is one of 11 taking place in October across the country.
Joe Gorman, a student from West Virginia University’s Sierra Student Coalition and co-organizer of the event, said the U.S. Geological Survey states that there are only a few decades of coal left in Appalachia. Part of the conversation taking place this weekend will be how to handle that information.
“We’re taking action before it runs out,” Gorman said.
Erin Stockhausen, another Marshall University student, got involved in this weekend’s event because the national conference made a lasting impression on her.
“It was so amazing and I wanted share it with the people at home,” Stockhausen said.
Registration for the event can be accomplished online at http://appalachia.powershift09.org/register and is $20 per person. For group discounts contact Lauren Kemp at sierrastudentcoalition.mu@gmail.com. Low-income youth and families can register at http://www.powershift09.org/variable.reg. Housing and travel scholarships are available. The weekend includes two lunches, light breakfasts and one dinner. Walk-ins are also welcome.
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