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Media Advisory
For Immediate Release
January 16, 2008

Texas students take on climate change

First statewide youth conference on global warming

WHAT: The Re-Energize Texas Summit

WHEN: Feb 8-10, 2008

WHERE: University of Texas - Austin

University Teaching Center - Rm 2.112A

Hundreds of young adults from across Texas will converge in Austin February 8-10 for the first statewide youth conference on climate change. At the “Re-Energize Texas Summit,” 300 college and high school students will learn about solutions to global warming and how to effectively put those solutions into practice.

“This is an incredible opportunity for young Texans to create a powerful youth coalition to make Texas a leader in safe, clean, just and affordable climate solutions,” said Praween Dayananda, Campus Field Coordinator for the National Wildlife Federation and one of the organizers of the Summit. “Students will learn what’s at stake and how to take action on campus and in their communities.”

The conference’s agenda includes a mixture of issue briefings from leading scientists and policy experts, organizing and advocacy trainings, and built-in networking opportunities for attendees. The conference is being hosted by the University of Texas Campus Environmental Center.

Keynote speakers include biologist Dr. Camille Parmesan, Stonyfield Farm CEO Gary Hirshberg, commentator Jim Hightower, Reverend Lennox Yearwood of the Hip-Hop Caucus, Peter Illyn of Restoring Eden, Tom “Smitty” Smith of Public Citizen, Arlington mayor Robert Cluck, and Ted Glick of The US Climate Emergency Council.

Trainings and workshops at the Re-Energize Texas Summit will be led by the Sierra Student Coalition, Public Citizen, the National Wildlife Federation, Oxfam, Climate Counts, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Interfaith Mindfulness Ministries and others. The trainings will focus on reducing the climate footprint of campuses, organizing in the digital world, sustaining activism through spiritual practice, and more.

“Our speakers and trainers really represent the diversity of the climate movement,” said Dayananda. “People from all walks of life have grasped the magnitude of the problem and the fact that solutions are at hand.”

Students who attend the Re-Energize Texas Summit will participate in a regional break-out session at the end of the conference. By connecting students geographically, the break-out aims at helping students coordinate future campaigns and events.

Registration for the conference is $20 and scholarships are available. To register, go to http://www.reenergizetexas.org/.

“Texas is at a crossroads. We have more potential to produce renewable energy, clean up the skies, and be a leader in the clean energy economy than any other state,” said Trevor Lovell, one of the organizers of the summit. “This conference is about students from all over the state coming together and creating the momentum for change.”

For Immediate Release

Contacts:

To arrange a media pass to the summit, or for other media requests, please contact:

Anna Pierce, UT - Austin Campus Environmental Center, anna.pierce@mail.utexas.edu or 214.212.1033

Trevor Lovell, Public Citizen, trevorl@mail.utexas.edu, 512.470.6572

Praween Dayananda, National Wildlife Federation, dayanandap@nwf.org, 512.610.7761

Lacey McCormick, National Wildlife Federation, mccormick@nwf.org, 512.476.9805