Energy

Join the #CleanEnergyU Conversation with Students and Climate Leaders

Apr 10, 2015 2:00 PM ET
Campaign: The #CleanEnergyU Conversation

The #CleanEnergyU conversation continues during Earth Month. Students, professors and clean energy leaders are invited to share their insights regarding the clean energy future they want to see by 2025.

The campuses leading Chevrolet’s Chevrolet's Clean Energy Campus Campaign originally convened the #CleanEnergyU dialogue. These academic leaders were the first to access a new source of carbon capital to help accelerate their clean energy leadership.

Tweeting your Thoughts

Students are welcome to post their messages to #CleanEnergyU in response to two key questions this Earth Month: What’s your vision for a clean-energy future by 2025 and what actions are you taking now to lead toward that goal?

Whether it’s a photo tweeted of the student holding a sign with their insights or a 140-character statement, students are encouraged to voice their opinion.

Tweetathon on April 22

In addition to ongoing conversation on Twitter, people are invited to join a live Tweetathon on April 22 to meet clean energy experts and ask them how to best achieve the clean energy future students most want to see. 

Experts range from clean energy entrepreneurs and visionaries to leaders challenging campuses to invest in more clean energy and divest out of fossil fuels.

These climate experts will engage in conversations from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. ET on April 22. Participants can tweet their question in advance or on the day of the chat to a particular expert by using both the #CleanEnergyU hashtag and tagging the speaker’s handle.

  • 12 ET/9PT:        Mark Kenber, CEO of Climate Group, @MarkKenber
  • 1 ET/10 PT:       David Tulauskas, Sustainability Director of General Motors, @DavidTulauskas

Joel Makower, Chairman, GreenBiz, @makower

Snehal Desai, Global Director, Dow Water & Process Solutions, @SneDesai

  • 2 ET/11PT:        Tony Cortese, Co-President, Intentional Endowment Network, @TonyCSN

George Dyer, Co-President, Intentional Endowment Network, @georgesdyer

Eban Goodstein, Director, Center for Environment and Policy, Bard College, @BardMBA

Anastasia Schemkes, Student Coalition Campaign Representative, Sierra Club, @sierrastudent #SiezeTheGrid

Blog posts from many of these clean energy leaders and campuses will be found on U.S. Green Building Council’s GBIG Insight blog starting April 15. 

#CleanEnergyU Walls

Some campuses across the country will enable their students to post their responses to the two clean energy questions via walls or chalkboards in central gathering places in their facilities throughout Earth Month.

These campuses will then cluster students’ vision and action ideas to discover where their common priorities lie – and invite further insights such as whether the actions they take are enough to deliver on their 2025 vision for a clean-energy future.

Interested in building a #CleanEnergyU wall on your campus?  Here are some tips:

  • Post students’ responses using different colored sticky notes or chalk to distinguish “vision” posts and “action” posts. One thought per sticky note is best.
  • Ask students to take selfies with their note and tweet it to #CleanEnergyU.
  • Afterward, invite students to cluster these action and vision notes to discover where their strongest priority areas lie to move forward.
  • Host a discussion with students about whether their vison and action ideas align and where their campus can lead.
  • Share photos of your clustered ideas map and tweet to #CleanEnergyU.

Valencia College in Florida will share its #CleanEnergyU wall experiences and insights on the GBIG Insight blog. 

Chevrolet partnered with Valencia College and these colleges for their clean-energy performance: Ball State University, Portland State University, Spelman College, University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point, Boston University, Rochester Institute of Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Grand Valley State University, and Southern Oregon University.

Campuses can take part in the #CleanEnergyU conversation by inviting their students to post their ideas to Twitter via #CleanEnergyU; engaging in a live Tweetathon; or creating a #CleanEnergyU wall as part of their Earth Month activities. Students are welcome to also cross-post to #SeizeTheGrid to reach other students active in this space. Join the dialogue.