Sierra Student Coalition

Check out the new video of me and other SSC leaders inviting you to the #ForwardOnClimate rally, and pass it on!

This past July I was visiting Missouri, and I was a couple hours outside of St Louis when I got the news: All 114 counties in the state had been declared natural disaster areas from record-breaking drought.

Jim Rogers, (was the) CEO of Duke Energy, the nation’s largest electric utility, was Wednesday's morning’s keynote speaker at Duke University’s day-long Energy Conference. His talk, “The Future of Energy: How Will Today’s Challenges Shape the Future of the Industry,” focused mostly on natural gas and nuclear, with little attention given to climate or renewable energy -- until we got to Q&A.

N.C. State junior Caroline Hansley asked Rogers a tough question this morning about how he plans to address helping the UNC System meet their climate neutrality goals if Duke isn’t seriously investing in renewable energy.

Rogers of course evaded the question, urging universities to take measures into their own hands, telling campuses they need to become more energy efficient. We agree, this is something universities should prioritize, but no matter how energy efficient a campus becomes, they still have to purchase energy. From there Roger’s began to brag about all of Duke Energy’s risky nuclear power plants. Sorry Jim, but North Carolina is not interested in potential Fukushima situations. Of course, Rogers made sure to avoid the fact that Duke Energy is also turning on coal plants.

On my 18th birthday almost ten years ago my dad took me to our local town hall and I registered to vote. Growing up in a small town in Maine there was a big focus on community and my parents encouraged us to be involved. A few short weeks after my birthday, I voted for the first time in our local election. The following year, I voted in my first Presidential election, and I’ve been voting in major elections ever since.  

In 2008, I graduated from college and knew I needed to help young people vote in the election. I landed an organizing job with Sierra Student Coalition working on the Power Vote Campaign in Athens, Ohio. It was there that I truly realized the importance of the youth vote and the power of our generation.

Struggle. It crosses every sector of human existence. No matter your skin color, economic class, geographic upbringing, perspective on faith nor educational attainment, we all have seen or been apart of struggles to make life on this earth just a little bit better. As an African American male growing up in the United States, I have a particular view of struggle that was inherited through birth and reinforced through my personal experiences.