A CALL FOR COLLEGE STUDENTS TO HELP SHAPE THEIR STATES’ CLEAN POWER PLANS

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Updated, 3:13 p.m. | Back in January, Eban Goodstein, the director of the Bard College Center for Environmental Policy, distributed an invitation to college students and faculty across the United States to participate in “Power Dialog,” an exciting effort to mesh learning and civic engagement around the nation’s efforts to curtail power plant emissions of carbon dioxide, the main human-generated gas contributing to global warming.*

The focus is the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan. Despite the Supreme Court ruling delaying the plan, not to mention the turbulent presidential race, the plan’s mix of regulation and regional flexibility is likely to persist well into the future. The academic effort, which is nonpartisan, centers on a nationwide series of meetings in state capitals April 4 in which students can offer their views to top state officials.

Goodstein, in an email on Sunday, said the focus has broadened since the Supreme Court ruling. “The Power Dialogs are now focused on what states can do to support the U.S. Paris climate commitment,” he said. “There are multiple policies supporting renewables and energy efficiency in many states, red and blue. This is a chance for students to learn about solutions, instead of being demoralized by partisan gridlock.”**

There’s a map here with locations. You can sign up here. But there’s plenty happening between now and then, including a series of online seminars. The next one, Wednesday, March 9, will be by Alex Barron of Smith College and formerly the Environmental Protection Agency. He’ll speak about “Job and Economic Impacts of the Clean Power Plan.”

The Bard website has much more information on the events, as well as background links and readings.

Here’s the note introducing the effort, which came from Goodstein and three prominent environmental leaders, Bill McKibben, Hunter Lovins and Gus Speth: Read more…