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!
In an hour I’m going to be on the road to Washington D.C. to have an interview with Green Corps. In the half decade I’ve been an active environmentalist I’ve learned that this essential movement is terribly complicated. You have differences in strategies from direct collaboration with community leaders to aggressive direct action. Within these strategies you have the idea of utilizing a step-by-step approach of outreach and cooperation which, if unyielding, may lead to aggressive direct action protests against leadership. Others idealize a tool-box method in which cooperation and aggressive direct action can be employed at the same time.
Then you have the movement itself producing friction between grassroot approaches and top-down induction of campaigns. Professional organizers, as we’ve been known to call them, come in with regional or national efforts and resources to get people involved locally with their issues. I’ve had experience in which professional organizing has been done what I would consider a right way, and a wrong way.
Last fall Green Corps partnered with the Sierra Club to kick off the Beyond Coal Campaign where dozens of universities across the nation with coal power plants are being asked to commit to transitioning away from coal to cleaner resources. Here at Virginia Tech a Green Corps member came in and helped seed a campaign that we’ve long been interested in. We’ve asked our administration to stop using mountain top removal coal within one year, commission a study of how we can do it (how about we actually start living up to our slogan "Invent the Future" for a change?) and be off coal by the year 2020. Between biofuels and natural gas for short term and as it becomes more feasible wind, solar and geothermal technologies, we aren’t having to reinvent the wheel here.
So far all of my experiences with Green Corps have related to it being done the right way of top-down organizing by empowering a local movement. The two organizers who I have worked with are nothing short of inspirational to me and motivated me to apply to Green Corps. Between my experiences of years of organizing and even a bid for Town Council, I’m cautiously optimistic for this interview.
I’ll leave this conversation here for now. Below is my letter to the editor to the Collegiate Times, with the original article here.
This is OUR challenge
Two years ago I had the opportunity to be a part of a student delegation that met with President Steger that led to the creation and passage of the Virginia Tech Climate Action Commitment and Sustainability Plan (VTCACSP). Since that meeting then, I’ve seen countless community members have a devoted part in the research and planning associated with establishing that commitment, and I am extremely proud of our university taking a step in the right direction towards a sustainable future.
Last week I had the honor to be present at another meeting with members of the university administration with Virginia Tech Beyond Coal; a campus group with a campaign that asks for our university to 1) stop burning coal from mountain top removal sites within one year, 2) begin co-firing as much sustainably sourced biomass without major retooling of our power plant’s boilers by 2015, and 3) to end our use of coal in the central steam plant by 2020, five years ahead of the planned boiler replacement. While administrators acknowledged that “[the university does] want to work towards that ultimate goal”, they said that this plan “aggressively evolves” the VTCACSP and goes against the work of those that were involved with it. Administrators claimed they would only continue this conversation if we, as students, work on changing our behavior regarding energy consumption.
Now, not only do I respectfully disagree with what was said of working against those involved with the planning of the VTCACSP, I also am disappointed with the fact that our administration, with the defined motto of Ut Prosim and slogan “Invent the Future,” have to rely on the students themselves to put forth such a challenge to our university community. Shouldn’t it be the other way around?
We’re currently faced with enormous challenges in the world, and as a leading research institution I feel it is our duty to step up to these challenges and take them head on. West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd, a long advocate for the coal industry, said in a recent speech: “To be part of any solution, one must first acknowledge a problem. To deny the mounting science of climate change is to stick our heads in the sand and say ‘deal me out’… The greatest threats to the future of coal do not come from possible constraints on mountaintop removal mining or other environmental regulations, but rather from rigid mindsets, depleting coal reserves, and the declining demand for coal…”
I have been heavily involved in the environmental movement and have seen it grow exponentially in the last several years. I know solutions aren’t as simple as flicking a switch, but Appalachia has already passed peak coal, meaning regional coal supplies will likely dwindle to nothing in the next few decades as costs continue to skyrocket. As companies begin to abandon already struggling communities, I find it the duty of our university community to advance alternative energies to create new green jobs, preserve the values of our land and work with communities as we pursue a carbon neutral and sustainable future.
President John F. Kennedy challenged our country to reach the moon in a decade, something deemed impossible. We did it. Now we are faced with another challenge with the same deadline, and we don’t have to go to the moon to achieve it. This is our challenge, and as a community let’s have newfound collaboration in our pursuing creative solutions. Let’s Invent the RIGHT Future. Let’s work together and move beyond coal.
Bryce Carter Class of 2010 Humanities, Science, and Environment
Now that it has been a few months after the election I figure I need to stretch out my blogging skills. As you can see, I’ve been working on redeveloping my website to match my life as a community organizer and keep better track of all the activities I’m involved in. Check out the issues page to get an idea of where I'm headed with the design: http://www.brycecarter.com/issues/
I'll do my best to provide regular updates my final semester, especially with Earth Hour, Virginia Tech Move Beyond Coal campaign and the Wise County Project. This week I presented the Virginia Tech Energy and Sustainability Committee and the Blacksburg Town Council with a letter presenting Earth Hour. I've copied my letter to Town Council below:
To the members of Blacksburg Town Council,
As you know, climate change is happening all around us and its pace is accelerating.From melting glaciers to increasingly intense weather patterns, climate change is already impacting life across the globe.
To make a bold symbolic statement of collective concern for our planet, the World Wildlife Fund sponsored an event in 2007 in which active citizens in Sydney, Australia turned off their lights for one hour—Earth Hour. By 2009, Earth Hour became the largest event of its kind in the world with nearly one billion people from 4,100 cities in 87 countries turned out their lights, as well as international landmarks including the Golden GateBridge, EmpireStateBuilding, EiffelTower and Great Pyramids, and the city skylines of Las Vegas, Hong Kong, and Tel Aviv.
Saturday, March 27, 2010 at 8:30p.m. the world will send a powerful message that climate change is a priority that must be dealt with now.By turning off non-essential lighting during Earth Hour, hundreds of millions of people across the globe will show their support for lasting action to protect Earth’s natural resources, environment and climate, now and into the future.Earth Hour reminds us that by working together, we all have a working role to solve one of the most critical issues of our time.Earth Hour also provides an excellent forum for citizens to hold meaningful conversations about the ways in which all of us can act to be part of the solution.
With the Town of Blacksburg already demonstrating extraordinary leadership by signing the Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement, joining the ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability Program, and establishing the Mayor’s Task Force on Climate Protection and Sustainability, Earth Hour provides a new opportunity for the diverse communities of Blacksburg and Virginia Tech to come together to show support for action to save our planet for future generations.In potential partnership with Virginia Tech, our joint participation will show that we care as a community and send a powerful message to the world that the United States is a leader in the movement to address climate change.
As planning continues, it is our hope to utilize either the Drillfield on Virginia Tech’s campus and turn off the lights at Burruss Hall or utilize the newly renovated Market Square Park as a community gathering place for citizens and students to enjoy each others’ company in candlelight.With the assistance of Virginia Tech Electric, our electricity demand both on and off campus will be monitored during Earth Hour and the savings will be shared with the public.
With the assistance of Town Council, we hope that the Town of Blacksburg will choose to partner with the Student Government Association Sustainability Committee and participate in Earth Hour 2010.We look forward to your response.
For more information about Earth Hour, check out www.earthhour.org or watch the video below.
The last seven months have been quite a journey. Last Tuesday we lost the election, but in my eyes it was a tremendous success given the exceptionally high standards that we brought to the race and the Blacksburg community. The Mayor, Councilors, Councilor-elects, and countless community members have shared with me the gratitude they feel for the honor and energy our campaign brought to the table. It is said that we raised the bar for elections in Blacksburg. After the results got in last week, I stood up to speak to the Council-elect and their supporters about how their passion and devotion has inspired me over the course of the campaign. Before I could get a word out, however, they honored me with a standing ovation. I feel truly blessed to have been so recognized and would like to share this ovation with those who contributed to our campaign.
My deepest gratitude goes out to those contributors. Every handshake, every minute volunteered, and every cent donated—from every smile to every word of encouragement—I am indebted to all of you because without this support, our campaign would not have been possible. I would especially like to thank Kyle Gardiner and Graham Owen for their contributions, which considerably enhanced the quality of our campaign. Their devotion, skill sets, and countless hours of hard work allowed our campaign to maintain the high standards to which we held ourselves. They were nothing less than the arm and leg of this campaign.
Ever since making Blacksburg my home, I have aimed to make a positive difference in our town. I am proud to be a community organizer and am greatly appreciative of the incredible feedback I have received in this time, especially in the last few weeks. My friend, Chris Cox, honored me by devoting a column in the Collegiate Times to the campaign and what we strove to accomplish. In his own words, he states that, “The belief that one can make a difference is called efficacy… Bryce Carter deserves my vote because he does not need to be convinced of his own efficacy—he lives it.”
I will continue to devote myself to the Blacksburg community, striving every day to benefit the lives of fellow citizens. Recently I have been placed on a subcommittee of the Mayor’s Task Force on Climate Protection and Sustainability. In addition, I have been working on the Blacksburg Climate Action Plan, in which we’ll be laying out a roadmap towards the reduction of the town’s emissions. By the end of this semester, I intend to finalize the creation of a Student Advisory Committee that will work directly with the Town Council and the Town and Gown Relations Committee. In the first months of 2010, I will lead community events such as a joint effort between Virginia Tech and Blacksburg to participate in Earth Hour. I will also explore the resources necessary to upgrade the town’s website utilizing new interactive technologies that will promote direct democracy from the comfort of your own home.
Once again, I would like to thank everyone for their support; we couldn’t have done it without you. I now invite you to join me in working to make Blacksburg a stronger, more cohesive community as we move into the future. Indeed, this is just the beginning.
"The Roanoke Times endorsed four excellent candidates. Four others are now posting information together. One other, Bryce Carter, deserves consideration. I’ve known and worked with Bryce since he arrived in Blacksburg. Bryce has become attached to our community. To those who’ve said “Well, he’ll move in a couple of years”, I say that any us may want or have to move. So, that is not a solid argument. Bryce, more than some candidates, has done his homework. If you’ve attended or viewed any of the candidate events, you would have seen Bryce articulating solid answers to questions without vague responses. If he didn’t know an answer, he didn’t “shovel” it. I’ve been impressed with his intensity and his friendly responsive nature. He truly wants transparency in government. Bryce and his dedicated campaign team have attended nearly every Town Council meeting and work session since last spring. He’s taken it to the streets to meet voters and learn about citizen concerns. I trust Bryce; and I believe that he will help us grow smart, build our economy, protect our resources, and help reflect the demographic balance of our town. Consider him as fresh eyes and new energy on old issues."
- Mike Rosenzweig, Blacksburg Town Councilor
“Bryce Carter represents a new breed of campus leadership -- mature, engaged; hard-working; and, above all, well informed. He outshines candidates twice his age…”
- Leslie Hager-Smith, Blacksburg Town Councilor
"Bryce Carter displays an impressive level of knowledge in both municipal planning and fiscal management. Bryce has the skills and dedication to make Blacksburg an even more Special Place."
CT Editorial: Candidate Bryce Carter's efficacy evident in his work
I am truly honored by my good friend Chris Cox, who I consider a passionate leader of whom I find personal inspiration, use his Collegiate Times column to recognize me for the upcoming election. This was unexpected and what he wrote is very touching.
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Collegiate Times: Candidate Bryce Carter's efficacy evident in his work
Christopher Cox, regular Collegiate Times columnist
The greater part of my last fall semester consisted of running the Virginia Tech chapter of Students for Barack Obama. My role called me to spur others to political action, which is superficially recognized as bothering a lot of people to vote.
I found the inspiration to bother so many people from the sincere and still-believed truth that I could make a difference among a cacophony of opinions, distractions and individual pursuits.
The belief that one can make a difference is called efficacy. Efficacy, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is the power to produce an effect. It is manifested in the way people spend their time, which, because we’ve created the cultural “work week,” can be measured.
It’s easy and convenient to not believe in your own efficacy. If you don’t believe you have it, you don’t have to feel responsible for the outcomes of your efforts or how you spend your time.
My organization’s efforts last fall — alongside many other politically active groups in Montgomery County — registered more than 6,000 voters. Many of these voters were students, and some were casting ballots for the very first time. We are now in a very unique position as a student body to politically engage with the community in which we spend the majority of our time: Blacksburg. We make up more than 60 percent of the Blacksburg population and have no voice on Blacksburg Town Council.
We have a chance to change this on Nov. 3.
I have a close friend who has a profound and fundamental knowledge of his own efficacy. His efficacy is rooted in years of activism as a student and community organizer, and he is emboldened with unique experiences in regard to addressing issues of equity, community and environment. His name is Bryce Carter, and he’s running for Blacksburg Town Council.
I had the opportunity to listen to all the town council candidates at the SGA-hosted debate last week — and it became clear which of them have a working knowledge of the concepts of “sustainability” and “community.”
With the specter of “urban growth” thrown around among the candidates, I find solace in my knowledge of Bryce’s experience as an advocate for “smart growth” and his commitment to cooperation in producing change. An example of such a commitment has manifested in the Virginia Tech Climate Action Commitment, which he helped draft as a leader of the Environmental Coalition.
What all the candidates did have in common during the debate was a reverence for Bryce’s ideas.
Bringing the town of Blacksburg Web site to Web 2.0-standards and setting up a Student Advisory Committee to provide input in town decision-making are just two of Bryce’s initiatives that have quickly been picked up and espoused by all the candidates.
I know very few other people as committed as Bryce to serving the student community and Blacksburg in the pursuit of our common goals, and if our values can be measured by how we spend our time, the position of town council member wouldn’t even do Bryce justice.
Bryce’s commitment to public service and his willingness to engage with others, no matter how outwardly friendly they may be, or whether their values align with his own, is evidence enough for me to fully support his endeavors in this election.
More importantly, I am thoroughly convinced Bryce Carter deserves my vote because he does not need to be convinced of his own efficacy — he lives it.
Bryce is an example of who we all hope to be within our academic fields and among our communities: respected leaders who spend their time and commit their efforts to serving their friends and families without sacrificing their values.
Perhaps living our efficacy is the only way to learn how to make our envisioned hopes and dreams real. You’ll never know your own power unless you choose to exercise it. Original Article
