The undergrad in the Black Sabbath T-shirt peers at me over the edge of the bestickered skateboard he holds. “You know, I actually like fracking. So no, I’m not gonna sign your clean energy thing.”
I step back, dazed, unable to tell if he’s being sarcastic or sincere. It’s midmorning rush hour at the University of California, Berkeley, and as per usual, my team is asking our fellow students to sign their name in support of clean energy on campus. My shift has barely started and I’m already shocked by the apathy of my peers here at supposedly one of the most progressive college campuses in the world.
It doesn’t help that the Berkeley Seize the Grid team is tackling a pretty ambitious goal. Our plan is to gather petition signatures, use them to convince the administration to support our goal, then take on Pacific Gas and Electric—the energy utility whose natural-gas-derived electricity is responsible for about 66% of UC Berkeley’s total campus carbon emissions. Ultimately we want our administration to negotiate with PG&E to supply 100% clean energy to our campus.
And, standing in the quad watching "Black Sabbath Guy" stroll serenely away, I’m beginning to realize that the same things that make Berkeley great for a fledgling campaign like ours can also be pretty darn intimidating.
First off, our school is big. 30,000 students means a huge pool of people to support our campaign—but our team must net even more signatures to prove to administration that a large portion of the student body cares about clean energy on campus.
Luckily, UC Berkeley has many environmental student organizations that can help us out. But the environmental community here is notoriously fragmented and difficult to bring together—so much so that an organization was recently created just to facilitate meetings between other environmental organizations. For new arrivals on the environmental scene, this system is confusing.
And as I stand in the quad with a flyer in my hand, it’s easy for me feel like nobody else cares. "Black Sabbath Guy" isn’t the first person to say ‘no’ to my team’s petition this morning.
But the very next person I approach gives me a huge grin. “Oh, a clean energy proposal? That’s Awesome! You know, I’m part of the solar engineering club…”
That’s the incredible thing about organizing, at Berkeley and anywhere else. The people who do stop and think, who pause for the petition and come back for the protest, know change won’t be easy. And those same people tend to be the kindest and hardest-working folks you could meet. So though we know the struggle will be hard, we also know we aren’t alone.
Seize the Grid at Berkeley held our first general meeting in spring semester. We welcomed new arrivals, plied them with cookies, and listened as they contributed momentum to our discussions for this semester and beyond. As our meeting drew to a close, a messenger arrived at the door: the Environmental Coalition down the hall had just voted to officially endorse our petition. We have 350 petition signs and counting. And we’re reaching out to other groups on campus to gather our most important, infinitely renewable, resource: people power.
Help us transition UC Berkeley to 100% clean energy -- TAKE ACTION HERE: https://www.addup.org/campaigns/uc-berkeley-seize-the-grid-for-100-clean-energy.
Photo credit: Shiran Hershcovich