Environment

Join the 2016 #CleanEnergyU Earth Day Dialogue

Apr 22, 2016 11:50 AM ET
Campaign: GM Energy Efficiency

April 22, 2016 /3BL Media/ - Join the 2016 #CleanEnergyU virtual Twitter dialogue this Earth Day, April 22 from 12-4 ET, where students and national clean energy and White House leaders will engage directly in conversation with each one another.  They will share creative ideas on delivering the Paris promise of a future “well below 2 degrees.”

Following the groundbreaking Paris Accord and #CleanEnergyU’s pioneering top trending social media conversations in 2015 spanning student, clean energy and White House leaders, #CleanEnergyU seeks to empower student leadership to #ActonClimate post the 2015 #ParisAgreement to accelerate progress toward a #CleanEnergyU future.   

Student leaders have played a critical role at the Paris COP meeting, leading #SeizeTheGrid campaigns on campus, researching how students can achieve a 2 ton CO2 footprint and pioneering social media innovations to engage diverse stakeholders in clean energy dialogues. #CleanEnergyU seeks to leverage their collective voice and thought leadership to scale up clean energy innovation.

 

Dialogue objectives:

  • Translate the Paris Accord’s 2050 vision into simple, actionable goals that students, clean energy leaders can achieve together
  • Empower students and clean energy leaders to accelerate both individual and collaborative progress on priority 2016 actions across campus and corporate sectors
    • Empower the 4 million students spanning the White House’s American Campuses Act on Climate leaders to engage White House, corporate and NGO leaders to better reach their stretch GHG/renewable/carbon neutral/clean energy goals together

 

Schedule and topics:

On Earth Day, the four hour-long tweetathon will convene virtual panel conversations with clean energy leaders on Twitter using #CleanEnergyU, based on these topics:

 

12 ET/9 PT:  What must Americans achieve by 2050 to deliver on the Paris Accord’s promise of a future “well below 2 degrees” – as individuals, companies, campuses, cities?

  • Mark Kenber, CEO, The Climate Group
  • Joel Makower, chairman, Greenbiz.com
  • Gifford Pinchot III, author of Intrapreneurship, founder Pinchot University
  • Rohan Patel, Special Assistant to the President; Deputy Director of Intergovernmental Affairs
    • Students leaders spanning Emory University, University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, Boston University and University of Washington

1 ET/10 PT:  What kinds of cross-sector collaboration between students, campuses and companies will best accelerate our progress towards these mission critical climate goals? 

  • Snehal Desai, global business director, Dow Water & Process Solutions
  • Ralf Pfitzner, Corporate Sustainability and Strategy, Siemens
  • Jim Lowe, chair, Sustainability Committee, Ball State University
  • Georges Dyer, co-founder, Intentional Endowment Network
  • Ruben Aronin, vice-president, Better World Group
  • Bert Hunter, chief investment officer, Connecticut Green Bank
  • Chris Librie, senior director, Living Progress, Hewlett Packard Enterprise
  • David Tulauskas, sustainability director, General Motors
  • Student leaders from UWSP, Puerto Rico and Berkeley and BU

2 ET/11 PT:  How do we best scale up our 100 percent renewable investments to deliver on Paris goals?

  • Rob Threlkeld, global manager of renewable energy, General Motors
  • Anastasia Schemkes, student coalition representative, Sierra Club
  • Eban Goodstein, founder, PowerDialog/Professor, Bard College
  • Amit Ronen, director, George Washington University Solar Institute
  • Chris O’Brien, director Higher Education, Altenex
  • Students from Berkeley, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, and BU

3 ET/12 PT:  The View Beyond Paris:  Making Change Happen Together

  • Dan Utech, Deputy Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate

 

How to engage:

To join #CleanEnergyU during Earth Week activities, students and clean energy leaders can:

1.  Write a personal statement on a post-it note and share a selfie online at #CleanEnergyU to describe what you will do to reach our Paris personal or campus low carbon goals:

  • “For my #CleanEnergyU future, I will …”  … #ActonClimate
  • “I will go below a 2 degree #CleanEnergyU future because …” … #ActonClimate

2.  Join the #CleanEnergyU Tweetathon conversation on Earth Day 9- 1 ET – from public or individual Twitter accounts.  Include the #CleanEnergyU hashtag in all posts so that everyone can hear the great ideas.

3. Share the #CleanEnergyU core questions within your community:

  1. What actions will we each take towards a future “well below 2 degrees”?
  2. Why do we care about a #CleanEnergy future?
  • Convene post-it board conversations on-site to inspire thought leadership in your community and beyond
  • Lead classroom discussions based on the #CleanEnergyU core questions – and share views and insights on #CleanEnergyU

 

#CleanEnergyU encourages clean energy leaders – whether from business, civic or campus networks – to champion post-it board conversations in person. Post-it notes contributed to campus/workplace boards can also be individually shared as photo selfies via #CleanEnergyU to contribute ideas to the dialogue.  These post-boards have engaged hundreds of students and clean energy leaders in dialogue across the country toward a low-carbon future. Check out the post-it boards, classroom conversations and individual selfie-posts that student and clean energy leaders voiced during earlier #CleanEnergyU dialogues.

      

For more information, contact:

Sue Hall                       sue@climateneutral.com

Lindsey Chew              lnchew22@bu.edu