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Hundreds gather for conference
Supporters of Appalachia Powershift gather for the Jobs for Our Kids Rally in front of the Federal Building Home Office of the Huntington District Corps of Engineers on Sunday, Oct. 25, 2009, in Huntington.
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HUNTINGTON -- Legendary West Virginia politician Ken Hechler says he knows a movement of the people when he sees one.
On Sunday afternoon, the 95-year-old Hechler -- the only Congressman to march with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, Ala. -- said he saw one at Marshall University.
It was in the drumbeats and in the signs, in the people sitting listening in the trees at Buskirk Field, in those passionately speaking and in the movement of those marching for a cause.
Hechler was one of a couple hundred environmentalists and students from more than a dozen colleges that gathered at the field for an afternoon of speeches and music that wrapped up the weekend-long Appalachia Power Shift Summit.
Started earlier this year when 12,000 students gathered in Washington, D.C., demanding action on climate and energy issues, Power Shift spread this weekend to 11 regional conferences.
The Appalachia Power Shift Summit, which started Friday at Marshall, featured students from more than a dozen universities in West Virginia and Kentucky who came to gather and hear activists and authors.
Power Shift was designed and organized entirely by students to help prepare the next generation of Appalachian residents for a more sustainable future. It was hosted by Marshall University's Sierra Student Coalition and the Marshall Environmental Students' Association along with statewide assistance from the West Virginia Youth Action League and its counterpart in the Bluegrass State, the Kentucky Student Environmental Coalition.
Hechler, who spoke to the crowd in front of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers building, where students gathered after marching from campus, said this nationwide gathering of students reminded him of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. He called Power Shift a "harbinger of future action."
"One thing I would like to emphasize is that this was what turned the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham and Selma," Hechler said while pointing at the youth-infused rally. "It was the Freedom Riders and the children's parade in Birmingham. They arrested so many students and people they ran out of jails -- and that's what turned Bull Connor."
Joe Gorman, a student from West Virginia University's Sierra Student Coalition and co-organizer of the event, was one of about a dozen students from WVU at Marshall this weekend attending workshops centered on sustainable jobs and discussing environmentally responsible energy concerns.
"What's happening right now is huge," Gorman said. "Issues are happening today with nationwide permitting and with blasting happening this weekend on Coal River Mountain. Everything is in full swing."
Gorman said one message they are sending is that young people are paying attention, care about the environment and will be heard.
"One thing that young people are watching for and asking for is accountability of regulatory agencies," Gorman said. "We are paying for them to be working for the people. If they're not working, then we will have to pay for the problems they caused. As young taxpayers without a lot of money, that concerns us."
Janet Keating, one of the founders of the grassroots group Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, said Power Shift and the influx of younger generations of environmentalists pushing for a green economy in West Virginia is vital for the economic and environmental health of the state.
"West Virginia is tied to coal through economics and energy," Keating said. "Our leaders are pushing us to the edge of the cliff and allowing the coal companies to push us over. What economic future will we have if we don't diversify and if we don't start now? This is exciting because these students have a raised consciousness, they're very open to new ideas and innovations, and they're willing to put everything on the line. We've had more than 100 people arrested protesting mountaintop removal -- that's a lot of commitment."
Tanya Turner, a volunteer with Mountain Justice, which helped organize the event, said Power Shift is just the start of more cohesive student involvement in environmental issues at campuses around the nation.
"Today was all about strategic meetings and action plans for what we'll all be doing in the next month and to get things done and to support each other," Turner said. "People came and got organized so we don't lose the mountains we have left."
