This article was contributed to Celsias by Julie M.
Change, especially climate change, often starts with the youngest members of society, and that's what 12,000 young people proved when they converged upon Washington, D.C. to participate in PowerShift '09last month. PowerShift is a project of the Energy Action Coalition, led by and for young people comprised of 50 organizations, 700 local groups, and hundreds of thousands of supporters who work to leverage their collective resources to create a clean and equitable energy future. In March, those same young people had reason to celebrate as the House of Representatives approved a Clean Energy Corps, part of the Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education (GIVE) Act.
The new Clean Energy Corps, introduced earlier in March by U.S. Reps. Inslee (D-Wash.) and John Sarbanes (D-MD), has the potential to create more jobs and community service and volunteer opportunities for young people. For both college and high school students, the Clean Energy Corps will establish the ability to enhance climate change education and introduce young Americans to green-collar jobsthat include performing energy audits and retrofits, weatherizing homes, rebuilding trails and parks, building and maintaining gardens and other green spaces in communities, managing recycling programs and more.
A cost-benefit analysis of AmeriCorps, which operates a variety of green service programs, shows that green service initiatives yield direct, tangible benefits. Every dollar invested in weatherization, a significant green component, produces $3.71 in benefits. Currently there are more than 100 energy conservation programs operating in 46 states across the U.S. in 46 states, serving 26,000 young people each year.
The GIVE Act has many supporters who say it will have additional funding to coincide with renewed interest in national service since the presidential election. Naysayerssay it might promote one ideology over another while forcing the country's youth into volunteerism.
Marcie Smith, a Transylvania University student who is helping to implement a Clean Energy Corps pilot program in her home state of Kentucky, says she is "thrilled that Congress is following our lead and heeding our calls for a clean energy environment."
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