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As I stood ankle-deep in sea water on the corner of 10th and Alton Street, one of the busiest intersections in Miami Beach, I wondered what else it was going to take to get our candidates to recognize the urgency of climate change. When we say its the most important issue of our generation, we’re not kidding. Because of sea-level rise, Florida is already experiencing the effects on climate change in our coastal cities. Check out the new study done by the Union of Concerned Scientists with all the details here.

Together with Climate Parents, Union of Concerned Scientists, the CLEO Institute, and Urban Paradise Guild, we came together on Thursday to call on President Obama and Governor Romney to be leaders on climate change. We can no longer deny its existence or ignore it for the sake of political gain. We must take action now. Take a look at the video above, and spread the word.

Stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp – are the sounds of Power Vote fellows advancing toward the Prudential Building in Chicago holding signs that read “Yes we can, move beyond coal” and “Yes we can, stop fracking.” The enthusiastic chants for a clean and just future resonate within the on lookers as a sea of green shirts assembles in front of the building and a feeling of empowerment washes over my soul.

The sensation of having thousands of other young people out there working toward the same goal of shutting down dirty politics is encouraging. People in Ohio and Pennsylvania have had an intruder, exposed as fracking, come in through their back doors and threaten the lives of thousands. Denver and Georgia face too many accounts of folks that suffer from malignant air quality conditions. Florida is stuck with a power plant that has been broken multiple times yet continues to be approved for repair. It is time that we approach our current politicians with assertion and command because they are not even hiding their intentions anymore. This is our country as much as it is theirs and what I hear from the people is that we desperately need a reassuring plan for a clean future.

This blog has been cross-posted from the Southern Energy Network blog.

Great news for voters in Florida this week – yesterday, a Federal judge struck down key portions of Florida voter law HB 1355, which puts restrictions on third party voter registration drives, hindering their ability to register and empower voters.

The judge claimed that the provision that requires voter registration forms to be turned in within 48 hours of an organization receiving it puts an unnecessary burden on third-party drives, and stopped officials from enforcing the rule. “Allowing responsible organizations to conduct voter-registration drives—thus making it easier for citizens to register and vote—promotes democracy,” said U.S. Judge Robert L. Hinkle.

This blog post has been cross-posted from the Southern Energy Network blog. 

Last week at Florida International University, Radio Caracol, Miami’s largest Spanish-language radio station, hosted a forum on the upcoming 2012 Presidential Election. In front of a live audience of about 50 young people from FIU, the panelists – which included two notable Spanish-language journalists, a Florida Democratic Party representative, and Florida State Representative Jose Felix Diaz – discussed a variety of issues being debated in the race for the Presidential seat from immigration to healthcare.

Most importantly to the youth climate activists in the audience, though, they discussed climate change and the hold that dirty energy has on our politics when Students for Environmental Action leader Albert Gonzalez asked a hard-hitting question about the issue.