Before I get to the news, I need to plug a free event that's being hosted by the Teton Sustainability Project on Tuesday, February 6th, at 6:30 pm, in the Teton County Library Auditorium:

telling a new story…tales of inspiration and how they teach us

I think this kind of inspirational tack is an important one. Otherwise, what is it that distinguishes us from a hopeless horde of acquisitive gatherers of stuff?  — Alexandra Fuller, author of Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight and one of four scheduled speakers

Speaking of inspirational stories…

I thought I'd shine today's spotlight on the thousands of students at 575 U.S. and Canadian colleges and high schools who spent the last week being fully engaged in the Campus Climate Challenge. The Challenge united young people around the goal of getting campus administrators to enact 100% clean energy policies at their schools. The week of action was anchored by hundreds of showings of An Inconvenient Truth.

It's Getting Hot In Here provided the blog behind the week of action (as it does for everything and anyone related to the Global Youth Climate Movement). Here are some of the highlights from dozens of posts about the week's activities:

• On Monday, January 30th, Josh Lynch provided A Vision for Our Campuses
• On Tuesday, Matt Reitman posted A Vision for Our Communities
• On Wednesday, Ivan Stiefel published A Vision for Our Mountains
• On Thursday, Andrew Nazdin offered A Vision for Our Government
• And, on Friday, Josh Lynch invited readers to post their own Visions for Our Future

Here's one compelling vision for the future from Timothy DenHerder-Thomas:

The future is people power.

We will build a new economy integrated with the diverse world of global energy flows, and harnessing the power of the living world. Every person will be engaged in rising to the climate challenge through efforts in their homes and workplaces, and relationships with the friends and neighbors who produce their power. I see smart cities integrating work, home, service, and recreation into a vibrant urban matrix driven by bus, train, bike, and foot. I see a rural landscape of restored prairies feeding bison and growing bioenergy, with community-owned wind power revitalizing small farm culture. I see a global development framework built on the skill of locally-aware actors building healthy agricultural ecosystems, and green manufacturing providing livelihoods by cycling materials. I see citizenship becoming a mark of engagement in the world; a future where global decisions are made by you and I in intimate connection with the world.

Energy fuels life. Fossil power is a monolithic force screwing up the dynamic energy flows that run the world. In the future, we put our faith in diverse, integrated energy in which we partake. We become powerful.

And it is already coming.

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