KENTUCKY STUDENT ENVIRONMENTAL COALITION: KENTUCKY STUDENTS FROM ACROSS THE COMMONWEALTH RISE UP AND JOIN TOGETHER TO DEMAND REAL SOLUTIONS RIGHT NOW!

By Cara Cooper

My wildest dreams have come true in the new year. I have now moved from volunteer campus organizer to a paid, full-time campus coordinator in Kentucky working for the Student Environmental Action Coalition! I am living proof that it can happen for you, too!
​
This month has been a whirl-wind of moving and adjusting to the freezing temperatures (Florida has one season, ya'll) and trying to get my feet on the ground. But all the while the excitement has been growing inside me from a low purr to a deafening roar with each new person that I meet.

I get the amazing honor of working with the students in KY to help build their network, the Kentucky Student Environmental Coalition, and I am blown-away at the the kick-ass people and campaigns that have been going on here. The students that I have met have shown me just how committed the youth of Kentucky are to ensuring a clean, and just energy future for all. In a place where King Coal has reigned supreme, Kentuckians are realizing that the things that Coal has given them are poor water quality and asthma rates higher than the national average, not the booming economy that was promised. Kentuckians are realizing that they need real answers in this time of energy-transition, real answers that will not only curb our carbon foot-prints but also bring thriving economies and good,green jobs to the Appalachian Region. 

Watch out, because Kentucky students are rising up, joining together, and demanding better answers not just for our futures but for right now! There is a storm a'brewin and it's about to touch down in a flurry of fossil fuel divestment campaigns, green fees, and campus commitments to 100% renewable energy!

---