OSEC has enjoyed huge levels of participation from Ohio University, Bowling Green, Cleveland State, Kent State, Miami University and Ohio State University, just to name a few. From OSU's Free the Planet, to OU's Sierra Club Chapter, to Miami University's Ohio Beyond Coal (I'll get more into that one later), there is some SERIOUS work getting done in Ohio. (By the way, OSEC kids across Ohio, I just randomly picked schools and groups off the top of my head no hard feelings that I didn't name them all k?)
UC has been the missing piece to the Ohio collaborative, and it was noticed by both parties. Maybe OSEC realized the need to build a relationship when UC suddenly, maybe a lit bit out of nowhere, leads the nation in student Powershift registrations. Consider this problem solved.
An exuberant group of UC students including Amanda Morgan, Kayla McKinney, and myself were beyond excited to get the invite to the OSEC Planning Conference last weekend in Athens, Ohio. In an ironic twist, the retreat began merely days after mentions of the missing relationship at a UC Student Sustainability Coalition meeting, which subsequently was discussed at the UC PACES meeting (Presidents Advisory Council for Environment and Sustainability).
Needless to say, the retreat had several moments of being taken aback by the enormous efforts and initiatives going on in both spheres. The real excitement is in the opportunities ahead.
The retreat included a visit to Meigs County, Ohio. In the picture above, I sit on a park bench with Kayla in front of a school with an enormous coal plant in the background. Besides coal being the single largest global ambient Carbon Dioxide contributor at over 60%, the most dramatic parts of this tour were the social justice issues. Meigs county has the second highest concentration of coal burners in the U.S. The cancer rates and public health in this county are simply devastating. The kind folks in that county can't afford to keep them out of their backyard, as other counties can, so they get stuck with them.
The impact on this community is unspeakable. I spoke to a man who owned a gas station across the street from one of the coal plants, whose livelihood depended on the plant workers. "You here to take pictures of the pollution they're putting up there?" he said. When I told him we were, he refused to accept money for my coffee. "Good luck to all of you", he said. "I'd rather see it shut down, and lose my business. They're going to convert it to natural gas, then we're [in big trouble]."
Meanwhile, the coal companies get lobby after lobby to put up more, and Meigs county residents don't have the political or financial leverage to stop them. This specific topic in social justice is referred to as "Environmental Justice" issue.
Enter OSEC, thousands of students, Powershift, student groups, the Sierra Club, and a level of organization unparalleled across the states. Alternative energy sources are ready to go, from wind-farms in Lake Erie, and across Ohio, and the amazing technologies of biofuel being diligently produced in University Labs across the US.
Also, enter the Ohio Beyond Coal campaign. Now, OBC is represented at each of the seven universities (including UC) in Ohio, and has made a partnership with the Sierra Club. The main initiatives are to shorten timelines for removal of coal plants on Ohio campuses, protecting the Clean Air Act, and targeting a specific coal plant in Cleveland to pressure.
It's time for Ohio to go beyond coal, to renewal, sustainable energy sources. Lets heal Meigs county. Lets heal the climate.
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