Friday, 9 Jan 2004

PHILADELPHIA, Penn.

Last night was full of excitement as I was reunited with friends I haven’t seen since last summer’s Student Environmental Action Coalition National Council meeting in Ann Arbor, Mich. After an easy plane ride to Philly from Kentucky, I wasn’t surprised when we arrived at the “Sparkle House” (aptly named as the walls of the living room glitter) after midnight to find folks awake and pulling together last-minute logistics for the meeting later that morning. After many hugs and smiling faces, a few of us went walking in West Philadelphia in search of some space to sleep.

I woke this morning on the floor of the SEAC office and returned to the Sparkle House for a lovingly prepared, hearty breakfast of oatmeal, fruit, bagels, and coffee. Even more nourishing was the energy in the room. Throughout the semester my organizing time has been spent with voices — conference calls and emails from other student and youth activists changing their campuses, regularly sleeping in the SEAC office so they can keep the pulse of SEAC national running through this country. To see these people all in one room not only makes them more real to me but also fills me simply and fully with joy.

After breakfast, we headed upstairs to a room full of posters — “SEAC Goals,” “SEAC Organizing Principles” — and a blank white dry-erase board full of potential to illustrate the ideas and visions that will be generated throughout the next three days. I heard one fellow say that he came to the meeting because he wanted to learn more about Youth Power Shift, and my eyes widened. Another woman came to network in order to get clean energy on her campus, and I couldn’t help but smile as my heart lifted at the reality of our growing grassroots campaign and how far word has spread.

We spent the morning getting to know one another and becoming acquainted with the radical and inspirational history of SEAC — how more than 1,000 students came together in Chapel Hill, N.C., in 1988 after a few students put a notice in Greenpeace’s magazine calling for a gathering of student and youth environmental activists. This initial gathering solidified the national student environmental movement and established the network known as SEAC. The second gathering, “Catalyst,” was in Chicago; there, more than 7,000 young people gathered to communicate and organize as an effective force against injustice. More than one student activist network exists today, but most communicate and remain in coalition with one another for the sake of strengthening local efforts.

SEAC exists to expand and empower the grassroots, and we came together today to decide how SEAC can better fulfill such a purpose. After getting settled and discussing, in a surprisingly entertaining way, exactly what SEAC is, we concluded the National Council’s morning orientation meeting with a question-and-answer session. “How can action and concrete change come out of our caucus discussions?” “How can we realize our goals more fully on the local and national levels?” These are only a couple of the thought-provoking questions that came up in the first few hours of our meeting.

As we sat down for lunch with warm bowls of homemade chili, lentils, and rice, I could hardly wait for the afternoon meeting — to be in a room of driven, intelligent young people, forming our concrete visions of what SEAC will grow to be.

But first I snuck away to conclude this ever-so-brief snapshot of my life. If I have any closing thoughts, any last-minute words I want to send into cyberspace, they are: Not only is a life of working, loving, studying, and grassroots activism possible (however busy), it is more fulfilling than I could ever have imagined. There is power in youth, and there is a movement, a current of change flowing through our schools and businesses and communities. I hope we will realize our strength and solidarity as a collective force uprooting injustice and constructing an equitable society.