Midwest Power Shift

Just two weekends ago, the feelings of solidarity and revolution were tangible. We came to Cleveland not only to share our struggles and our grievances with the current state of society, but also to search for solutions and support from one another. Though we have lots to accomplish, through working together and demanding the change that we so deserve, we really can move towards a cleaner future, one where the voice of every single person is heard and taken into consideration.

This weekend, over 400 youth leaders from across the Midwest converged in Cleveland, Ohio to do some political organizing. Ohio is a critical swing state in the 2012 election, but these activists weren't coming to knock on doors for Mitt Romney or phone-bank for Barack Obama.

Instead, their mission was two-fold: continue to work together building the clean energy economy in the heartland, and two, stand up against the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, a major setback and threat for the Midwest.

In one week, hundreds of young people are converging in Cleveland for Midwest Power Shift.

It’s our chance to come together and continue to build a movement around revitalizing the heartland with a clean energy economy.

And it’s our chance to join a growing nationwide movement to stop the most disastrous dirty energy project in the country: the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. That’s why we’re excited to announce that at Midwest Power Shift we will be hosting the largest tar sands action that the Midwest has seen yet.

During spring break my freshman year of college something happened that changed my life forever. While backpacking in the serenity of the Great Smoky Mountains I heard the news from a fellow hiker: our government had just invaded the sovereign nation of Iraq. I knew immediately that things would never be the same for me. Powerful corrupt forces were defining my future in dangerous ways. I knew when I returned to campus at the University of Kansas that it was time to take a stand. I started organizing.

I organized peace rallies, teach-ins, debates, and movie screenings. In short doing everything I could think of to spread the “awareness” on campus about what was happening. But it soon became apparent that basic awareness wasn’t going to end the Iraq war and so I started asking the deeper question of why were there in the first place. I kept coming back to one answer: oil. The more I learned about the dangerous national security implications of our oil addiction the more I began to understand the disastrous oil consumption and fueling climate change. Since that fateful day almost nine years ago I have dedicated myself to breaking our addiction to oil and building a movement for a 100% clean energy future.