What began with a guest lecture by environmental activist Bill McKibben a few weeks ago turned into one of the most monumental events for some 200 Eckerd students yesterday.  

Eckerd has long been known for its environmental awareness, but this semester seems to be bringing new hope to students who have been advocating for real change on our campus and beyond. In McKibben’s lecture a few weeks ago, he called on us as students to join him in a protest against the Keystone XL Pipeline that will be pumping oil from tar sands in Canada all the way to refineries along the Gulf of Mexico. Simply stated, it is one of the most destructive projects on earth, cutting through clean water aquifers, destroying thousands of miles of natural landscape, and ultimately increasing our carbon output. 

After McKibben spoke, a few of us got to work on organizing students to take a van up to DC for the protest. The plan was to join the Tar Sands Action rally, which would create a human ring around the White House of people holding signs with President Obama’s quotes about his commitment to clean energy. Cool idea, but we had no idea how big it would be. 

Unfortunately, I had already paid to go to a conference this weekend, the Southeast Student Renewable Energy Conference (SSREC) in Asheville, NC, so I stepped back a little from the DC planning once we had enough students helping out. Considering how little time we had to plan everything, we hoped for 60, MAYBE 80 students to sign up. So you can imagine how surprised we were when over 220 students registered to go to DC by last week! We secured transportation in the form of a bus, vans, and carpools, and Friday night around the same time I was heading up to NC, 15% of the Eckerd student body was on its way to the Capitol. 

During the rest of the weekend, I had no idea how things were going in DC, but I certainly had a blast with 400 other students from around the southeast US at the renewable energy conference. I attended workshops on media, alternative energy, the Occupy movement, and the Let’s Raise a Million project. It was so inspiring to see so many proactive young people all working towards the same goals. We had over 90 students representing FL and we are currently working on networking different colleges’ environmental groups through the FL Y.E.S. Coalition (Y.E.S.= Youth Environmental Sustainability). At the end of the conference on Sunday, students joined together in a rally in Downtown Asheville in solidarity with the DC protesters. 

Needless to say it was an incredible weekend on all accounts. As we were making the long drive back to FL, we received a text from a fellow student in DC: Some 12,000 protesters had marched, making not one circle around the White House, but 6 deep! Media reports have been showing anywhere from 8,000-12,000 protesters made 3 rings around the White House, but regardless of the exact numbers, it is clear that it was epic. 

From campus, St. Pete, to North Carolina, to Washington, DC, this weekend Eckerd students spoke out and their voices were heard. I can’t describe how empowering this weekend has been, and I sincerely hope we can keep the momentum going. I am so inspired to see students standing up for what they believe in and truly making a difference. 

Representing Florida at SSREC!