Students from schools throughout the region gathered in Madison last weekend for the second annual Midwest Student Clean Energy Conference. Featuring workshops and panel discussions focusing on renewable energy, the conference was capped by a march and rally on Sunday, March 4.
The event kicked off at the UW Library Mall with a speech from State Rep. Spencer Black, who recently introduced a bill, along with State Sen. Mark Miller, to reduce Wisconsin's carbon dioxide emissions to their 1990 levels by the year 2020. From there, the participants marched the traditional route up State Street to the Capitol for a second closing rally, complete with a choreographed chant against energy waste set to the tune of Michael Jackson's "Beat It."
A three-minute video montage of the march and rally follows below.
One rationale for the conference and rally was given by Dave Rosefeld, the national program director for the Student PIRG organizations, several of which were organizers of the event. He wrote:
The conference is especially timely given George W. Bush's recent visit to the Midwest pitching his plan for America's energy future free of addiction from oil, and well-sited because the Midwest is the center of U.S. production of cars and of coal but also contains enormous capacity for renewable energy production with its plentiful wind and solar resources as well as the large amount of corn and other crops grown there that could be turned into alternative biofuels.More details about the event are available in a report from The Badger Herald.
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