FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 27, 2009

Contact: Dan Abrams, dabrams@masspowershift.org, (518) 527-9168

[Boston, MA] College students around Massachusetts slept out in tents on quads across Massachusetts last night, continuing their effort to pass a clean energy bill in the Commonwealth before international climate negotiations in December.

"It's a rare opportunity to stand up for something you believe in," said Northeastern University's Campaign Coordinator, Jessica Feldish, who for the third night in a row slept in a tent to protest dirty electricity.  "We know that we are contributing to a massive problem by virtue of lying in our beds at night, and we cannot just continuing pretending like we are not part of the biggest problem our species has ever created."  Other schools having sleep-outs last night included Tufts University, Clark University, Boston University, Hampshire College, and University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

The students are worried about what they call global climatic disruption.  Scientists' predict increased droughts, forced migrations, drying up rivers, and major conflicts over food and water as the planet's climate becomes increasingly unpredictable and disruptive due to the emissions of carbon-dioxide and other gases that are produced when we burn fossil fuels like coal, natural gas, and oil.

Their solution?  They want the state to pass a bill to re-power the Bay State with 100% clean electricity by 2020.  Over the weekend, over 100 students, clergy, and community members gathered on Boston Common in front of the Massachusetts State House Sunday afternoon to call on Governor Patrick and the legislature to act.  The vast majority of them stayed on the Common throughout the night, sleeping in tents to demonstrate their resolve.

The organizers, calling themselves The Leadership Campaign, are calling on the Governor to introduce and the legislature to pass a bill they have written by December 7^th, the first day of the international climate negotiations in Copenhagen, Denmark. 

“Massachusetts has already led on this issue.  When the science said 450 parts per million was the highest safe level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the Legislature led the nation by passing a bill putting the Commonwealth on track with this target,” Coordinator and Harvard graduate student Craig Altemose said. “But now the science says that the highest safe level is 350, and we are already at 390.  We are in a danger zone, and we can only stay for so long before disaster strikes.  We know that the Legislature and the Governor will again step forward and lead us to a clean energy future.”

The organizers are asking people to sleep out at a location near their home or on their campus from Monday to Saturday and head to the Statehouse for a rally and solidarity sleep out Sunday night followed by a weekly Monday lobby at the Statehouse. 

The Leadership Campaign is a state-wide network of primarily college students demanding bold and comprehensive solutions to global climate disruption.  For more information, visit their website at: www.theleadershipcampaign.org

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