Hopp, inte förtvivlan 3

Jesse Jenkins var en av de sex tusen (!) ungdomar som samlades i Washington förra helgen, för det stora klimatmötet PowerShift07 (se ovan). Han skriver, hos It´s Getting Hot In Here, nu tre dagar senare: "I’m still moved to tears of joy and tingle with goose-bumps as I write this letter. I assumed I’d be exhausted when I got home from Power Shift, but instead, I’ve been buzzing with so much energy I feel like I’m on a caffeine high that’ll never end! And just think about the tremendous impact that 6,000 young people will have when they go home to their campuses and communities with that kind of new energy, with new friends and connections, new ideas and projects, and a new sense of power, commitment and purpose! This is how movements are built."

Igår skrev Alex Tinker, i samma blogg: "But now the real work starts. This weekend alone will not force our leaders to listen and act – we’ve just begun to heat things up – we need to engage them in their districts with some serious education. If anything inspires us more than the raw enthusiasm unleashed this weekend, it’s what that enthusiasm will become when we all head back to our campuses and gear up for Focus the Nation. We used to think January 31st would be huge; now we know it is going to change the world! In less than 90 days, millions of student-citizens will combine the knowledge of academia with the drive our generation has sparked by creating the largest teach-in in U.S. history." Focus The Nation är som en jättelik studiecirkel om klimatfrågan ("a national teach-in on global warming solutions"), som kommer att kulminera den sista januari. Hittills har 1000 amerikanska colleges och universitet bestämt sig för att delta.

Och samtidigt länkar Global Voices till Peng Li hos China Dialogue, som skriver att "[u]niversities across China are buzzing with green activity". Han listar aktiviteter som pågår vid en rad kinesiska universitet, och skriver: "Now, whether you are at Fudan University, Nanjing University or Xi’an Jiaotong University, almost all of China’s universities have students working to promote environmental awareness, persuading hundreds of thousands of fellow students to make changes to their lifestyles. Active student environmental groups in China number 2,500, according to incomplete statistics. And they are linking up, exchanging experiences and organising regional – and even national – events."

Han avslutar: "From energy efficiency to mitigating climate change, China’s students are looking for solutions. A lack of resources and experience, fundraising, management and publicity do present problems, and it is often difficult for groups to feel they have a lasting and wide-ranging impact. If they continue to care and to act, however, progress will continue. Chinese people sometimes refer to university students as "flowers of the motherland." When our students graduate and leave university, their green lifestyles and concern for the environment will influence society as a whole. Let us hope that the Chinese people, already enjoying the fruits of economic growth, will then come to live more environmentally friendly lives and show concern for the worsening ecology of China and the world – and work to find solutions."