Students to host rally, rave against fossil fuels
TIMES STAFF WRITER
POTSDAM — The ground might not shake today, but the students leading Clarkson University’s Moving Planet rally and rave are hoping for monumental change anyway.
The Clarkson event, initiated by the international environmental organization 350.org and organized by Clarkson students, is a local branch of a worldwide rally calling for solutions to global climate change. While the focus of the global event is to shift the planet from its dependence on fossil fuels, the Clarkson rally and rave also will showcase student-led green initiatives and research on campus.
“We want to join in with the global message and at the same time really bring about and highlight Clarkson’s and our region’s own solutions that we’ve been able to achieve,” said Matthew C. Desmarais, one of the student organizers. “We have the technology, we’ve designed some wind turbines here, we’ve done some great research, and so we’re participating in this global movement in a way to support our own accomplishments.”
The Moving Planet rally will be from 4 to 7 p.m. on Cheel Lawn and will feature an energy exposition with petitions, educational booths, refreshments and events led by dozens of college clubs. The rally will showcase accomplishments such as the campus greenhouse, anaerobic digester and new Zipcar program and will include talks by President Anthony G. Collins as well as guest speakers Jerry Jenkins, Samir Doshi and Ann Heidenreich.
After the rally, the students will host a rave with four DJs at 9 p.m. on Cheel Lawn. According to Mr. Desmarais, they hope to spread a message about the disadvantages of the fossil fuel industry and promote ways in which the community can move to alternative sources of energy.
“We’re joining this global movement, but we’re also saying, ‘We have a bunch of solutions already here,’” Mr. Desmarais said.
To advertise the Moving Planet rally, which is open to members of the community as well as college students and staff, Clarkson students have been giving away compact fluorescent light bulbs in the village.
The students hope to attract members of the SUNY Potsdam, SUNY Canton, St. Lawrence University and even Paul Smith’s College communities to today’s rally and rave and are considering collaborating with the other colleges to establish a similar event at St. Lawrence University, Canton, in the spring.
