Busy busy

Life, as usual, has ended up pretty busy. Since my last post I was accepted into Green Corps and will be starting my 13 month journey in August training and doing campaigns across the country. The shock is just beginning to wear off and I'm tremendously excited for this opportunity.

Since I am on the run, I'll keep it brief with some things to look forward to:

-March 26th: The Issue of Coal Debate (7pm, I think)
Basically it'll be a two sided discussion between members associated with the mining industry and the environmental movement. We're looking at two students, a professor and an expert in the field on each side. It looks like I'll be one of the students. Should prove to be a very engaging debate.

-March 27th: Panel on Solutions for the Future (3pm) & Earth Hour (8:30pm)
The panel is a working title... We'll be inviting Governor McDonnell, Representative Boucher, Dominion Power, Appalachian Voices and many others to sit down and talk about the future of various subjects including solving the climate crisis, the topic of coal, and the future of renewables in Virginia.

I'm currently outreaching to the Town of Blacksburg and Virginia Tech to participate in Earth Hour, this international event where communities turn off their lights to make a statement on climate change. I've talked with Virginia Tech electric and they said that they'll be able to keep track of how much energy we save. Ideally we'll be able to use the Drillfield or Market Square Park in downtown Blacksburg as a community gathering place and turn off the lights at Burruss Hall or Downtown.

-March 28th: Field trip to Larry Gibson's Kayford Mountain
I've met Larry Gibson on several occasions and he is truly a hero in the environmental movement and for standing up for what he believes in. He refused to give up his land to the destructive practice of mountain top removal and uses it to educate others about its process. Logistics are still being figured out, but I hope we can get several administrators and town officials out there to see the process firsthand.

April 15th: Free Hug Day
Purposely the day before the anniversary of the shootings at Virginia Tech, every year since then I've helped host Free Hug Day on campus as a way to show appreciation for our community and each other. In the hours and days after the shooting I can say that a hug from a friend, even strangers I just met, meant everything to me and gave hope in a hopeless situation. We don't need tragedy to have this appreciation for one another, so in utilizing facebook as an outreach tool I hope we can get 1,000,000 signed up by April 15th. If each person hugs 30 other people we would have hugged 10% of the American population in one day. I think we can do even more than that around the world. Stay tuned for this one.

Those are just a couple events I'm working on right now. This semester is quite an adventure already!