AV俱乐部

This weekend, more than 65 Dal students will be making the trek to PowerShift, a youth-led climate conference in Ottawa.

鈥淧owerShift is about shifting political and social power from elites and the super-rich back to the everyday people of this country,鈥� says AV俱乐部 student Hilary Thomson. 鈥淭he reason we haven鈥檛 seen real action on climate change is because the people who are impacted by climate change haven鈥檛 had a chance to have their voices heard.鈥�

The conference will include skill-building workshops, discussion panels and a day of action. PowerShift鈥檚 goal is to kickstart social movements modeled on successes of the past, with the students involved citing the civil rights movement and the more recent Keystone XL pipeline protests.

AV俱乐部 students have been working hard to spread the word across campus with class talks, posters, info sessions, and fundraisers. They鈥檙e excited that Dal is on its way to taking huge strides towards the school鈥檚 sustainability, and want to help take those efforts even further.

The issue of university and college investment in fossil fuels has become the focus of many student and climate change activists鈥� warnings lately. Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, wrote on the subject in Rolling Stone this summer: 鈥淸Students'] educations are being subsidized by investments that guarantee they won't have much of a planet on which to make use of their degree.鈥�

While PowerShift is directed at youth, AV俱乐部 profs are excited by this conference, too. Professor Bob Huish, International Development Studies professor, of will be leading a workshop at PowerShift, and is excited that this youth-led movement could spur a radical change in our country鈥檚 government.

鈥淭he old guard doesn鈥檛 want to sequester power to new generation, but that鈥檚 what we need to have new, innovative, and bold ideas to come forward,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 long overdue in this country.鈥�
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The 65 AV俱乐部 students will travel to Ottawa next Friday with more than 20 other Maritimers, and spend the weekend discussing climate issues and impacts with 600 other young people from across the country.

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