Teresa's Power Shift Takeaways

Power Shift 2013 was an exciting event to be at with so many youth activists, organizers, and mobilizers!  The energy was powerful, as were the stories I heard.  Panelist from age 7 to 60+ described their personal experiences with the natural gas, oil, and coal industries.  It was heartbreaking to hear of the costs they pay on a daily basis, of the corrupt exploitation of people and their livelihoods, of the deep degradation of their landscapes, of the polluted air they breathe and water they bathe in (so toxic they cannot drink it), and of these industries’ abilities to pit friend against friend and family against family.  But it was also inspiring to hear these folks tell their stories, shed their tears, wipe them away with a courageous breath, and declare that will NEVER stop fighting for their people and their home.

I noticed the younger crowd drawn to the digital media and storytelling hub in which they got creative with digital media and made their own PSAs.  The liveliest session I went to was a creative “Climate Science 101” put on by the Alliance for Climate Education.  This presentation began and ended with some hip-hop and spoken word about the environmental and social justice and the changing climate.  The presentation itself blended video, animation, and a skillfully timed and entertaining oral delivery of basic climate science, its current and projected impacts and consequences, and examples of personal and collective solutions offered.

I picked up some new tools from the power-mapping and facilitation sessions and particularly appreciated the Movement Strategy Center’s (MSC) strategic movement building insights.  The MSC representative, Liz Butler, had us map our vision against false solutions and consider what is politically feasible.  She reminded us that service, resistance, reform, governance, and creation are all important aspects to any movement, but that at certain times more energy is required in one area over another.  She encouraged individuals to work where they are best, where they feel energized: “You cannot put 100% into a strategy if it does not feed your soul.”  Finally, we discussed 5 common challenges/roadblocks for an organization (or an individual) and what pivots can turn the organization towards the opposite strength.

It was exciting to meet with other students from across the country working on divestment campaigns and felt the movement growing as local, regional, and national networks and coalitions were being formed.

What impacted me most at Power Shift overall was the incorporation of different art forms to tell the stories of social and environmental movements and injustices.  Visual art, storytelling, and music were prominent all four days (and nights) of this conference and I felt that this was a vital part of the success of the event.  Art, in various forms, elicits emotion and can call people to act from a place deeper than the cognitive understanding that we all must do something…its call makes you not just think, but FEEL, that “I must do something”.