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  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are >
      • Campus Affiliates
      • Allies + Networks
      • Mission and Strategy
      • Our History
    • Media >
      • The Young Kentuckian Blog
      • Power to the People Podcast
      • Press >
        • Media Coverage
        • Media Resources and Contacts
        • Media Advisories and Releases
    • Contact
  • Get Involved
    • Plug In
    • Campaigns >
      • Stop LG&E's Pipeline
      • Stop Letcher Co Prison
    • Catalyst: Camp 4 Community Organizing
  • Resources
    • Resources
    • Campaign Case Study
    • COVID-19 Mutual Aid
  • Donate

STUDENTS ACROSS KY TAKE ACTION ON NOVEMBER 20TH!

11/21/2014

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​By Cara Cooper, KSEC Organizer
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Young people across Kentucky know what is at stake if our communities and institutions don’t take sustainability seriously, our future. That is why we are united in the fight to protect our health, our communities, and our planet and it’s why we hosted a statewide day of action on November 20th.

Twelve campuses took action towards campus sustainability, reduce waste, increase energy efficiency and renewable energy, and support the local food economy as a part of the Kentucky Student Environmental Coalition's Sustainability Day of Action. Each student organization chose actions or events that could further their own organizations campus goals while staying united in the message that our campuses must be leaders when it comes to protecting our communities, our natural resources, and our future.

A day of action is just that, one day. But we know what is at stake and we won’t stop until we are sure that our future, our communities, and our planet can thrive. We deserve the same chance to flourish as previous generations without having to choose between the economy and our health, the needs of people now and the needs of people in generations to come. Sustainability is the only option.

One priority of young Kentuckians is the transition to a renewable energy future and protection of our precious air and water resources. Both University of Kentucky's Greenthumb and Eastern Kentucky University's Green Crew took action towards securing commitments from their university administration to creating and implementing a climate action plan to reduce greenhouse gases and move their campuses towards carbon neutrality. At Murray State University MESS collected petitions for their on-going Green Fee campaign to fund sustainable projects and renewable energy installations and Centre College's Centre Environmental Association educated peers and built support for a revolving loan fund to take their college's commitment to sustainability to the next level.

Another priority of Kentucky students is around the  reducing the amount of waste associated with our campuses. Many campuses across the Commonwealth still don't have campus-wide recycling (hard to believe since it’s almost 2015, but it‘s true!) so several schools focused their events on launching recycling campaigns and promoting on campus recycling and education. Campuses involved included Transylvania University's TEAL Organization, Alice Llyod College's Environmental and Outdoor Club, and Kentucky State University's Green Society (KSU is Kentucky's only historically black university AND the only public university in the state without a campus-wide recycling program). University of Louisville's GRASS Organization also participated by promoting their on campus "Free-Store" as a way to encourage reducing waste and reusing clothing and other items, rather than buying new. Berea College’s HEAL organization participated in a clothing drive to promote reusing and to collect much needed items for their local homeless shelter. Dupont Manual High School's Environmental Club also used this day of action to launch a new campaign to ban Styrofoam and to increase the amount of local food available in their cafeteria.
​Events and actions also took place at Morehead State University where their newly revived environmental club Environmental Eagles screened the documentary Dam Nation (Kentucky has dams on many of our waterways at a great detriment to the natural environment), and at Northern Kentucky University.

Beginning with Kentucky's campus communities, KSEC works toward an ecologically sustainable future through the coalescence, empowerment, and organization of the student environmental movement. We are a unified front moving forward on environmental justice through activism, development, and education. We believe in holding campuses, corporations, and governments both responsible and accountable not only in maintaining the environment but allowing ecosystems to live and prosper. We seek to expand our reach and engage our communities by building relationships with non-student driven organizations which stand in solidarity with our cause. By using our unique position as students, we demand that our universities practice sustainability by utilizing clean, renewable, safe energy. 
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VOTING IN KENTUCKY, WHY MILLENNIALS MATTER

11/3/2014

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By Kelsey Bolger, KSEC, Transylvania University​

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Today I had to choose between going to vote or $20 and to be honest, I hesitated.

Technically speaking my choice was actually between a mandatory event at my campus or going to vote, as both fall into my only 2 hour span of free time, but only one is going to charge me for lack of attendance.

I can practically feel your judgement leaking through the computer screen, so before you think too poorly of me rest assured that my desire for representation outweighed my desire for extra grocery money.

My point is, as a college student I have faced similar scheduling dilemmas every year it has been my privilege to vote, it seems between classes, extracurriculars, jobs, and other obligations I am having to make a choice between what to cut to even have the chance to rush back to my hometown and make it to the polls. At times I feels like the world doesn't even want me to vote.
And I wouldn't be wrong.

Myself- and most of you who are reading this- probably fall into the "millennial generation", also known as the "Me, Me, Me generation", the "selfie (or selfish) generation", the "ruiners of our country as we know it" etc. and the world hates us for it.


(^I think I drink just the right amount of wine, thank you very much.)

If you do a quick google search of "millennial" I'm going to let you know right now, the results aren't pretty. According to the majority of the population we are believed to be selfish, uninformed, apathetic- we are one of the most underlooked and underappreciated voting demographics out there. 

Not only that, but our stats aren't looking so hot when it comes to the polls. According to projectvote.org 18-29 year olds make up 21% of the eligible voting population, but only aproximately half end up actually turning up to vote.

21 million citizens under 30 didn't show up to vote in 2008, and if you're a young person who doesn't attend college the chances of you voting are slim to none- yet when asked why they didn't vote hardly any reported apathy as their main concern. Many cited various reasons such as confusion or errors with figuring out where to vote as to why they hadn't in previous years. Yet we as young people can, and have, made a difference as a voting demographic. Analysis after the 2012 presidential election showed that youth voters made a decisive difference in 4 states- allowing Obama to successfully claim these states and snag the election.

We are looked down on for our apathy, yet evidence shows that our generation is one of the most politically aware of all time. Resources that weren't available to previous generations, such as online news and social media, allows us to quickly spread and share ideas and beliefs. We care, we try to stay informed, and we can organize political movements arguing for sweeping changes through a singular hashtag on twitter and have it catch fire across the world- and that scares people.

It can be easy to feel intimidated and unimportant when election season rolls around, especially when the overwhelming message from the media is that, as a young person, you do not matter- but the reality is we have, and can continue to, make a difference in our elections.

These upcoming elections represent an important chance for young people in Kentucky to have our voices heard. Currently our state offers very little opportunity for us to stay here after we graduate, the unemployment rate for young people in Kentucky is considerably higher than the national average- meaning that once we graduate we are effectively forced into leaving our home state in order to seek out better chances of employment.

Not only that, but our current representation does not adequately represent and endorse issues that Kentucky youths care about- such as addressing climate change, student loan policies, and the possibility of creating green jobs that would help us stay in-state. We can change all that, but only if we vote. Voting is the biggest step we can make towards achieving the changes we want for our country, our state, and our lives as citizens.
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We know we care, we know we're informed, we know we can make a difference- and now it's time to show the world.

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    The Young Kentuckian is a blog of the Kentucky Student Environmental Coalition where youth share their work and ideas for Kentucky's bright future. 

    If you would like to write a post for the blog, please email Kat Smith.


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