Below is a blog from Greenpeace student leader Chellsee Lee following the #fowardonclimate rally in washington, dc on president’s day weekend, originally posted to WeArePowerShift.org

Hip Hop Caucus CEO Reverand Yearwood compared the environmental movement to the civil rights movement. The difference he said, was that they were fighting for their rights, and we are fighting for our existence.

As I stood next to 45,000 other people all lost in thought I was finally able to formulate the words that have hung on the tip of my tongue for so long. The reason I am fighting for clean energy, the reason I am in and out of meetings with staff and faculty, the reason I am empowering individuals, the reason I am making sacrifices everyday is because the actions we take as a university directly impact those living next to a pipeline, drinking contaminated ground water, breathing in the ashes of our mistakes. The money our university gives to big coal companies directly affects the communities that struggle every day, often times forcing themselves to work in the same coal plants that are giving their families cancer. The reason I am fighting against dirty energy and dirty money is because my family was victim to this climate oppression. As we breathed the industrial fumes of our fate we were the victims of the decisions of the people with opportunity and privilege. Continue reading →