Ivan Stiefel was SEAC's WV Organizer during his role in the 2007 Mountain Justice Spring Break. For all of us that know him & know the extraordinary work he's done in building grassroots youth power - we know he deserves this award!

Go Ivan Go!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Sharon Smith
September 11, 2008 415-788-3666 x144
sharonsmith@earthisland.org

Six Young Environmental Leaders Honored with Prestigious Brower Youth Award

Annual Green Prize Recognizes Outstanding Efforts to Protect the Planet

San Francisco, CA—A teenage Latina student in Chicago battling industrial polluters, a recent college graduate working to halt the devastation of mountaintop coal mining, and a young woman restoring a migratory bird corridor in Costa Rica were among the newly announced winners of the 2008 Brower Youth Awards, the premier environmental youth prize in North America.

A selection panel of environmental leaders, including Majora Carter, Bill McKibben, Barbara Brower, and Kevin Danaher, selected six youth from among 122 applicants for the 2008 Brower Youth Awards. “David Brower was one of my great heroes, and the winners of the Youth Award named in his honor are his real heirs,” said author and climate change activist Bil McKibben. “I’ve known many – and they’re changing the world.”

We have seen unprecedented support for the Wind Power, Green Jobs, and Underground Mining Jobs that are threatened by Mountaintop Removal. I am damn proud to be a part of this historic effort and to stand with all of you.

Since the launch of the Coal River Wind Campaign in August, more than 8,500 of you have shown your support. Since the alert went out earlier this week that Massey Energy is moving blasting rigs onto Coal River Mountain, more than 2,500 letters have been sent to WV Governor Manchin demanding that he hold Massey accountable. We have never before seen such grassroots support for a concrete & positive alternative to Mountaintop Removal, but the amazing showing we've had so far is not enough.

Massey Energy did not blast on Coal River Mountain yesterday because they did not have the necessary permits from the Mining Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). They've since gotten these permits. The very thought that Massey is looking to blast dangerously close to an underground mine makes me sick. It confirms every thought I have ever had that Don Blankenship (Massey's head) has as little concern for mine workers as he does the communities around the mines that he operates. Although there are other permits that Massey still needs to get from government agencies - we still have time to stop their machines from taking the green jobs & wind power that we're pushing so hard for.

Governor Joe Manchin still has the time and the power to revoke Massey's permits. All that he needs is the will, and that's what we're here to give him.

This is directly copied from a Rising Tide North America email, the West Coast Convergence for Climate Action is rockin!

Check for photos at www.risingtidenorthamerica.org tomorrow!

At approximately 2 p.m. today two activists with the Convergence for Climate Action walked onto Portland, Oregon's Morrison Bridge and unfurled a banner protesting the Interstate 5 expansion known as the Columbia River Crossing. One activist suspended from the bridge and another locked himself to a gate leading to area where the banner was hung. The banner reads “Six more lanes equal more sick people – No I-5 Bridge Expansion.”

The bridge activists are supported by a politically charged street theater performance depicting the expanded bridge, cars, and bikes. Representatives of the Oil Enforcement Agency will be handing out tickets to passersby.

Activists were drawing attention to the proposed Interstate 5 expansion and Columbia River Crossing (CRC) project because of concerns about the climate impacts as well as the continued reliance on oil-based transportation infrastructure at a time when oil supplies are falling and prices are rising dramatically. Opponents of the project point out that the state of Oregon has stated a goal of reducing global warming pollution to at least 75% below 1990 levels, with transportation-caused global warming pollution responsible for 1/3 of regional global warming pollution. Public health advocates at the hearing point out that the I-5 freeway has already had a negative impact on the health of low-income communities and communities of color along the freeway and that increased driving would lead to further pollution. Finally, homeowners are up in arms about the possibility of their property being seized through imminent domain to make way for an expanded highway.

SEACers helped to plan & participated in this action - to everyone who planned and participated in this action, you're amazing!

Below is a snip from a post by Scott Parkin (the title's from his post too), to see the rest of the post, visit http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/2008/06/30/actions-speak-louder-than-word...

"Actions spoke louder than words today as Blue Ridge Earth First! (BREF!) and Mountain Justice (MJ) blockaded Dominion’s Richmond Headquarters early this morning. The all-woman lock down team anchored a climber who hung off a suspension bridge in protest of the air permit awarded to the company’s proposed coal plant in St. Paul, Virginia last week. This blockade is another in a line of escalating actions against coal plants and mountaintop removal in Virginia."

Southeast Convergence for Climate Action

July 30 - August 5 Central VA

This summer, join people of all ages and backgrounds from throughout the southeast and beyond for the second annual Southeast Convergence for Climate Action. After the resounding success of last year's convergence we are excited to continue the struggle for climate justice in the southeast with an engaging week of workshops, strategizing, and direct action! This year's convergence will be hosted in Virginia where communities are fighting uranium mining, nuclear power, mountaintop removal coal mining, and new (as well as old) coal plants. Once again we will unite to fight the coal industry's stranglehold on our region while rejecting the deadly nuke industry's attempt to position themselves as the solution to the climate crisis.

The convergence is a place to strengthen our movement, network with new allies, and take action against dirty energy while working to build a sustainable world. Workshops will include: community organizing, direct action 101, debunking false solutions to climate change, blockades, sustainable living systems, media, disaster response, fighting nukes and coal, and much more. The convergence will culminate in an empowering action to show that the southeast is serious about tackling climate change.

In Virginia where the Climate Convergence will be held, Dominion Power is trying to expand a nuclear power plant near Richmond and construct a new dirty coal plant in the southwestern part of the state. Citizen action is amping up to fight Dominion's deadly plans on both fronts and the timing couldn't be better for you to join us! Check out this video from a recent action in which Blue Ridge Earth First! blockaded the company's corporate headquarters.

For more information check out: www.climateconvergence.org
Email: risingtide@mountainrebel.net

-Anti-oppression policy

On March 29th, Danny Chiotos (SEAC) and Vernon Haltom (Coal River Mountain Watch) educated a room full of grassroots Obama volunteers and staff on Mountaintop Removal and broader coal + green jobs issues. By the end of the event, more than half of the room was wearing SEAC buttons and left encouraged for more action!

Danny Chiotos Presenting:

OBAMA TAKE A PUBLIC STAND ON MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL - NO NEW PERMITS!!!

Miguel Mendez (on the right) sports a SEAC Sticker:

This post is in addition to the post that Sarah Kidder wrote:

The youth organization of the most powerful political party in West Virginia passed a multi-pronged resolution on coal & green jobs that included a call for No New Mountaintop Removal Permits. Our generation knows that Mountaintop Removal takes mining coal too far and we have safer ways to mine it as we transition to renewable energies & energy efficiency. This resolution passed in the midst of an above-the-fold article in the Washington Post, the Presidential Campaigns closing in on the May 13th WV Democratic Primary, and a record showing of grassroots involvement in the WV Democratic County Conventions. The political machine in West Virginia is getting scared of what true grassroots organizers are building here in West Virginia and we are in the year of a lifetime to build our movement for justice here!

The February 10th "Young Dems on Kayford" event that brought more than 35 Young Dems onto Kayford Mountain to see the effects of Mountaintop Removal was a crucial event in the organization learning about the issue and taking a stand.

written by Liz Veazey and copy/pasted from http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/2008/04/01/nc-youth-stop-coal-plant-const...

At 6:30 this morning, North Carolina residents, including former Energy Action Coalition fellow and organizer [and SEAC National Council Member], Christine Irvine, locked themselves to bulldozers to stop the construction of Duke Energy’s massive Cliffside coal-fired power plant being built 50 miles west of Charlotte, NC. “In the face of catastrophic climate change, building a new coal plant is tantamount to signing a death sentence for our generation,” said local farmer Matt Wallace, while locked to a bulldozer. The concerned citizens also roped off the construction site with “Global Warming Crime Scene” tape and held banners that read “Coal Fuels Climate Change” and “Social Change, not Climate Change.”

Shortly after activists locked themselves to construction equipment, police arrived on the scene and used pain compliance holds and tazers to force them to unlock themselves. 8 young people were arrested. We’ve talked to one of them from jail and they seem to be ok.

This act follows on Al Gore’s comment in August that young people needed to get out and chain themselves to bulldozers at construction sites. So Al, when are you going to get arrested? We have to stop all new fossil fuel construction to even have a chance at meeting the needed reductions of emissions. We need everyone to step it up!

The act of civil disobedience is one of over 100 protests taking place around the world on what climate activists are calling Fossil Fools Day, a confrontational day of protest targeting companies responsible for runaway carbon dioxide emissions.

On February 22, 2008 the West Virginia Environmental Council honored Danny Chiotos and the rest of WV SEAC with its first ever Youth Activism Award. The WV E-Council created this award in recognition of the quick and passionate growth that youth organizing has seen in WV and SEAC's role in that organizing.

Dana Kuhnline, SEAC's Appalachia Organizer, introduced Danny Chiotos, Fundraiser & WV activist, who spoke on the need for an end to mountaintop removal and the need for not only green jobs in Appalachia - but the need for BROAD progressive social change. Youth is often times a rarity in West Virginia and the room loved the presence of youths as it showed with hoots & hollers for SEAC.

SEAC has been actively supporting students and youths from high schools, colleges, and towns all across the state towards environmental and social justice. We've co-hosted 3 state gatherings and work with more than 10 local organizations. We also work in direct solidarity with Coal River Mountain Watch & the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition towards justice around environmental justice issues with mountaintop removal and coal waste disposal.

SEACers are honored to be recognized for the youth organizing we have done and we are continuing to grow!

I am seeing the blue sky today in a new light. I have been at Virginia's Mountain Justice Spring Break for the better part of this week and I feel great. More than a hundred youths came together this week to stand for clean & green energy and to get our country off our addiction to coal.

This week has been inspiring, rejuvenating, and activating for me & I know that it was for other people who were there. This stretches from the participant who went to his first direct action early in the week and volunteered to be a press liason for a direct action later in the week the many of us who needed to come together to be inspired. This has been a week that has GROWN our youth movement towards taking a firmer and brighter stand for a healthy & just energy future.

Workshops during the week ranged from Sustainable Economies to Campus Climate Challenge Victories to Climbing. Nearly every day young people went out on actions at banks highighting the need for Citibank and Bank of America to pull investments from the coal industry & refocus them on renewable energy projects. This was an action focused week that also had fun times from no-talent shows to concerts to a square dance Saturday night This was an incredible week that brought youths together to stand with each other and fight against coal companies and for clean & just energy future.

There will be pictures coming. There will be video coming. For right now, I can offer the attached audio file from our action that highlighted the need for the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to reject Dominion Energy's proposed coal plant.

Please give a listen to the attached audio file from the action and there is more media coming up.