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Jordana DeZeeuw Spencer

Maggie Fox, President and CEO of the Alliance for Planet Protection (started by Vice President Al Gore in 2006, who now chairs her board), commenced the AASHE 2010 Keynote Addresses on Sunday evening, Oct, 10th. She welcomed us to Colorado and said how proud she was to have us in her state. “The world is an uncertain place right now…and it’s an honor and joy to be in the company of people who are stepping up to work for the future.”

Fox remarked that, by her count, 17 Colorado colleges and universities are currently members of AASHE, and she issued the challenge to all Colorado colleges and universities to become members by next year’s AASHE conference.

Fox joined the Alliance for Planet Protection in 2009 to help build the grassroots, community-organizing dimension of the organization, and to date, there are 250 climate organizers in 25 states committed to moving us into the clean energy future. That said, she thinks that the U.S.’s national inability to move toward a clean energy economy comes from fear, a lack of awareness, a lack of clarity, and a lack in a sense of urgency.

Overall, however, Maggie Fox’s message was one of hope and optimism. She thinks AASHE’s attendees and others are training the student leaders of tomorrow and “proving this dream is a reality.” She shared some of the initiatives that the Alliance is doing, including: “Re-Power America” (the hope that the U.S will be using clean energy within a decade), which arose from a July 2008 speech Vice President Al Gore gave as a counter to the “Drill, Baby, Drill” ethos that had arisen. Additionally, the Alliance has created the “Youth Surge” program, which organizes students on campuses to look for green jobs and to write letters to their elected leaders that say, “Help me create these jobs.” The “Intervening Youth” program reaches out to the 12- & 13-year-olds who are excited to activate the Alliance’s information through their social networks of texting, and because of this, this group will arrive at college as seasoned organizers with high expectations.

Fox spoke to the speed of change at which the climate crisis is happening and the corollary of the communication crisis (distorting and twisting the reality of this change) that is also occurring. She said it was a testament to our commitment that we are involved in AASHE and not allowing the distortion to manipulate us. She asserted that we don’t have to accept the loss of beauty in our world and that we have to think about how we’re communicating to insure that the truth is heard.

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