The Environmental Defense Action Fund has launched a Campus Video Challenge for student environmental groups.

The student environmental group that adds the most unique videos telling Senators to support climate legislation to their personal Take a Stand YouTube playlist by May 30th can earn up to $3,000 in grants for future projects.

The university groups that upload the most videos will win grants to support future activism. We know there are lots of demands on student’s time, so this is our way of encouraging campus groups to get involved in this national movement. They may also have a chance to meet with their Senator’s office to state their appeal in person!

* The group with the most videos will receive $3,000
* The group with the 2nd most videos will receive $1,500
* The next five groups with the most videos will receive $500

You can use the money to continue your activism however your group sees fit after the challenge is over. Your group could use the grant to:

* Organize an event to raise awareness of environmental issues
* Invite a guest speaker to give a talk at your campus
* Plan a field trip to visit a local NGO working on environmental issues
* Have a t-shirt design contest and print the winning design

You must upload a minimum of 100 videos to be eligible for a grant. This is just a minimum – we expect the top winning groups to upload many more.

You can learn more about the challenge at edf.org/takeastand and become a fan of the challenge on Facebook.

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The Economic Policy Institute has released a new briefing paper entitled “The Kids Aren’t Alright: A Labor Market Analysis of Young Workers.” (Seriously though, that Kids Aren’t Alright line is getting way overused). Despite the uninspired title, there is a lot of interesting information in this analysis.

Young adults have faced the highest unemployment rate on record (since 1948) with workers 16 to 24 peaking at 19.2% last September. Especially interesting is the sub-demographic breakdown:

The difference between male and female unemployment rates for 16-24 year olds started 2010 at 7.5 percentage points; young men have a rate for 22.5% and young women 15.0%. This is the largest gap between men and women in any age group—the difference for 25-54 year olds is 1.7 points, and for workers 55 and older it is 1.4 points. The disparities between the unemployment rates of white, black, and Hispanic young workers are also stark. Black 16-24 year-old workers had the highest rate, starting 2010 at 32.5%, followed by Hispanics (24.2%), and then whites (15.2%). However, it is 16-24 year-old Hispanics workers who saw the largest increase in unemployment (13.2 percentage points), compared to their black (10.7 percentage points) or white (8.2 percentage points) counterparts.

I would like to see further study at some point as to why the sub-demographic differences are so dramatically starker with young workers than other age groups. This has serious consequences:

Because rates of unemployment for minorities have risen faster than for whites, the recession has exacerbated existing racial disparities among young adult workers.

The report reveals other significant statistics:

• One in every four unemployed persons in America is under
  the age of 25.
• Half of unemployed young workers have been unemployed for more than 15 weeks.
• If all those young workers who left the labor market (and have stopped looking for work) were counted as unemployed, the unemployment rate for 16-24-year-old workers would be 23.9%.

The analysis portrays a dark image of the youth employment environment, with young workers left behind as older Americans come out of retirement to rejoin the workforce. The 10 page report is worth a read and should cause us to seriously look at unemployment from a youth lens.

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A Wall Street Journal article on Monday exclaimed that the recession has led to the closing of “The Bank of Mom and Dad” for many young Americans. While I have always found the term to be condescending, and somehow only applied to middle-class families and not the ultra-rich, students do seem to be more on-their-own today in their increasingly uphill struggle to improve their lives. However, these challenges haven’t stopped politicians from continuing the under-reported trend of making larger and larger withdrawals from the bank of students.

What do I mean by the bank of students? It refers to attempts to use funding cuts and fees to backhandedly make up for budget shortfalls at student expense, and it seems a tax by any other name would not smell just as sweet to these politicians.

Last Friday there was an article about New Jersey college towns seeking a $100 fee per student to cover the “free municipal services” provided by those towns. It is amazing how the economic benefits of a college or university to a town so quickly become invisible to those in charge.

“If you look at it from our standpoint, Montclair State has more than 18,000 students. At $100 per student it could mean $1.8 million,” said Little Falls Mayor Michael DeFrancisci, adding his state aid has been cut more than $500,000 in the past three years.

“Getting the money from college students is not something we’d take pleasure in doing,” DeFrancisci said.

18,000 students. That is 18,000 people who are most likely spending the majority of their income in Little Falls and paying sales taxes on those purchases. The university has a faculty, which not only provides jobs but additional taxpayers of income, sales, and property taxes. How many businesses in Little Falls exists because of the customer base that 18,000 students provides? How many students that are forced to work part time jobs to pay for school are paying income taxes as well? Without the university, Little Falls would be just another small town with no draw, and I guarantee it would have been hit much harder by the recession. But how soon is all that forgotten, as local politicians lick their chops at the prospect of digging their teeth into the hand that feeds them.

This is not just a New Jersey issue. Skyrocketing tuition has largely been the result of state legislatures cutting funding to the colleges and universities, forcing them to make up the difference out of student pockets. I’ve heard Republican legislators say that this is not a tax in disguise, but an investment that the student is making in their own life. It may be an investment in their own life, but it is also an investment in the community, state, and country. There is a world of difference in the economic well-being of a college graduate and someone without a degree, and today potential and current students are being priced out of their dreams and relegated to a second-class life from which they will never make up for the disadvantage.

Even those tuition dollars often end up benefiting the local community more than the students themselves. Take for example athletic budgets. Only 14 athletic programs broke even last year, with every other program costing the university, hence the students, money. However, the local communities are certainly profiting more than the schools. Football and basketball games bring a lot of money into local businesses as fans come to attend.

Through fees and tuition increases politicians are using the weapon of funding cuts to pull more money out of the bank of students as their districts benefit from their presence, but the bank is about to dry up. As we witnessed last month during the student protests, this exploitation is reaching its limit. In the past politicians were comfortable balancing budgets on the backs of students because they assumed they would not vote; that the young were the safest to indirectly raise taxes on. These politicians now face students that are more aware of their political power, have learned to organize, and are fighting for the economic security of their lives. Students will fight this exploitation because their quality of life is at stake, and those stakes create a powerful and committed opponent.

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This weekend Craig countered a Wall Street Journal article that falsely claimed the minimum wage increase is the main factor leading to increased youth unemployment. Unfortunately, Republicans in Arizona are running with this false argument in an attempt to drastically reduce the minimum wage for young adults.

This attempt is AZ House Bill 2639:

Legislation approved by the House Commerce Committee would set the minimum wage for anyone younger than 22 at 75 percent of what those 22 and older are required to be paid. With the state minimum wage at $7.25 an hour, that translates to $5.44.

Rep. Laurin Hendrix, the author of the bill, makes the following argument about how this is good for young people:

But that’s not all. Hendrix said once they have jobs — even jobs that don’t pay the full minimum wage — it will “get them in the habit of going to work and developing a work ethic that will be useful to them later in their lives.”

Translation: we are going to get these kids in the lifelong habit of working their asses off for scraps.

This measure is the handiwork of Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform, and Barry Aarons, one of Norquist’s lobbyists, was the only one to testify in favor of the bill.

In 2006 Arizona voters approved the creation of a state minimum wage tied to inflation despite the attempts of Norquist’s organization.

Even if the state legislature fails to pass this discriminatory policy, it won’t yet be dead:

Hendrix does have a backup plan. He convinced committee members to also approve HCR2043, which would send the question to voters in November.

The Young Democrats of Arizona sent out an action alert to their membership encouraging members to take action against the GOP effort:

Subject: Make Less Money?

That’s exactly what will happen if the Republican legislature has its way. House Bill 2639; introduced by a Republican Representative from Gilbert may be up for a vote next week. This Bill if passed and signed by Republican Governor Jan Brewer will cut the minimum wage for workers under the age of 22 by 25%.

Yes, this is a serious proposal. Republicans in the state legislature don’t think its hard enough for young Arizonans to pay their bills already.

Take action!

There is still time. You can make a difference, and hopefully stop this law from passing. Here is what you can do:

1. Write a letter to the editor of a local paper. We need to get the message out. Too many times bad legislation gets through because people don’t realize what is happening.

2. Call your legislators and make sure they know you oppose this bill.

3. Sign up to join a small group to meet with legislators. Legislators take meetings with lobbyists all the time; now they need to hear from everyday Arizonans!

Together we can make a difference. Take action today!

This measure, if passed, would be devastating to young Arizonans attempting to work their way through college as they face huge tuition and fee increases and even worse for those students entering the workforce immediately after high school.

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Organized by the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, HeadCount and the NRDC Action Fund, the Best of Bonnaroo collaboration marks the first time free music has been used to prompt Americans to contact their elected officials.

The Best of Bonnaroo compilation of 17 different live performances from the festival is available for free at www.Musicforaction.org. Before downloading the music, visitors are asked to email their Senators, the President, or their local newspapers about climate change.

“This generation has an opportunity to be remembered as one that confronted environmental challenges and took responsibility for the future,” said Jack Johnson, whose song “Inaudible Melodies” can be heard on the compilation. “With that opportunity comes the responsibility to speak out.”

America is closer than ever to passing its first federal climate change-related legislation, but many hurdles remain. The House of Representatives approved an energy bill last June that would reduce emissions of heat-trapping gases and encourage the development of green jobs. President Barack Obama then told world leaders that the U.S. will reduce carbon emissions by 17 percent over the next 10 years (compared to 2005 levels). However, there has been little movement in the Senate, leaving one crucial step incomplete. Literally the whole planet is waiting to see what the U.S. will decide, as India and China are not likely to act without the U.S. doing the same.

With climate change legislation now at a critical juncture, several organizations teamed up to use the gift of music to inspire citizens into action. HeadCount – a nonpartisan civic engagement organization best known for registering voters at concerts – conceived the idea as a way to point new voters toward being informed and active citizens. The NRDC Action Fund – an advocacy group committed to passing legislation that jump-starts the clean energy economy and reduces pollution – stepped in with resources, research, strategic guidance and a base of 250,000 supporters.

“The musicians we work with are very passionate about this topic and have great power to drive change,” said HeadCount’s Executive Director Andy Bernstein. “Their music will serve as a soundtrack for action.”

“Forging a clean energy future means healthier kids, a safer world, and more jobs,” said Heather Taylor-Miesle, director of the NRDC Action Fund. “This is our moment to demand that Congress put us on the path to a clean energy future by beginning to address climate change. We are excited about the opportunity to work with musicians and new activists throughout the country to make it happen.”

Here is the full track list for the Best of Bonnaroo download compilation:

Wilco – Bull Black Nova
Pearl Jam – Animal
Jack Johnson – Inaudible Melodies
Dave Mathews Band – Rapunzel
Death Cab for Cutie – Cath…
Ani DiFranco – Fuel
Phish – Kill Devil Falls
Gov’t Mule – Banks of the Deep End
O.A.R. – Delicate Few
moe. – Not Coming Down
Raphael Saadiq -100 Yard Dash
Bob Weir & RatDog – Throwing Stones
The Disco Biscuits – And The Ladies Were the Rest of the Night
The Decemberists – The Wanting Comes in Waves/Repaid
My Morning Jacket – Oh! Sweet Nuthin’
Guster – Happier
Phil Lesh and Friends – Box of Rain

Visit Musicforaction.org to take action for climate change and download the free compilation!

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One of the big conservative talking points attempting to lure the youth vote is that the current health care bill would include a mandate to purchase health insurance without increasing affordability.

What they fail to mention is that it has been the GOP and a few conservative Democrats that have stripped away those things that would have made insurance more affordable.

It’s like someone sold you a bicycle and John Boehner jumps out and smashes it with a hammer, only to say “can you believe that guy sold you a broken bicycle?”

And what are these conservatives who are apparently so concerned about the plight of young Americans doing for us? Shutting down the Senate for 12 hours.

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Director of the Student Association for Vote Empowerment Matthew Segal appeared on the morning show on CNN to discuss the President’s new jobs program and meaningful ways in which we can impact the staggering youth unemployment.

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Operation FREE has trained almost 300 Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans, mostly Millennials, as advocates for clean energy and taking action to stop climate change.

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Aqua Shock: The Water Crisis in America by Susan J. Marks provides an analysis of the emerging water crisis in America by looking at its causes, governing structures, and potential solutions.

The United States uses approximately 408 billion gallons of water every day, 345 billion gallons of that usage being freshwater. The largest usage of water in the United States by far — 195.5 billion gallons — is for energy production. When most people think about water they tend to focus solely on drinking water and household usage, yet domestic use ranks a distant third behind agriculture with 46.9 billion gallons per day. Water is used in every aspect of our civilization and is a critical component of every supply chain. Droughts have an enormous economic impact on the country, costing between $6-8 billion annually in losses.

Dr. Peter Gleick sums up the global water crisis:

The easiest way to describe the world water problem is that a billion people don’t have access to safe drinking, and 2.5 billion don’t have access to adequate sanitation services, which leads to 2 million or so preventable deaths every year from water-related diseases.

Most people know that the amount of water on Earth does not change. However, water’s movement, form, purity, and pollution sources are all dynamic. One of the major causes of the change of these qualities is climate change. Increased global temperatures have reduced snowfall in many mountain areas of the United States, with melting snowpack being the main resource for summer water. Climate change also affects storm frequency, intensity, and drought.

According to Joseph Dellapenna of Villanova University “the root of the water crisis historically is not so much population growth but change in the way we use water, change in per-capita water demand.” The Clean Water Act was able to actually decrease the gallons of water used per person per day from 1980-2000 by limiting water discharge for industries and power plants, causing these industries to research and implement new ways to reuse water. The success of the Clean Water Act shows that good legislation and smart planning can go a long way in improving America’s water situation.

Unfortunately, our water infrastructure and urban planning have been contributing to the problem instead of improving our efficiency. Most of the water infrastructure in the United States is antiquated: storm sewers and drainage systems leak large amounts of freshwater, paving large areas in cities and suburbs prevents water from soaking back into the ground to replenish aquifers, and leaky pipes waste 7 billion gallons of clean drinking water every day. Poor planning has caused even areas with high precipitation to have water shortages because of these factors.

Water infrastructure development and maintenance has been at a stand-still since the 1980s. The country has not built a major water storage system since Reagan was President, and our dams, aqueducts, and storage systems were designed for a different climate than we currently experience. Old pipes can allow contaminants into the water supply, and while water treatment facilities are normally able to kill bacteria and parasites, these antiquated systems are not well-enough equipped to deal with modern pollutants: pesticides, industrial chemicals, and pharmaceuticals. The NRDC estimates that more than 7 million Americans get sick from contaminated water annually.

People tend to turn to bottled water as an alternative to tap, believing that it makes them safer. Unfortunately this is both not the case and leads to the usage of even more water. Bottled water isn’t safety tested as often as tap water, and most bottled water is from taps and public reservoirs anyway. The real problem is that the amount of water used to make the plastic bottles and in the gasoline fuel to transport those bottles. Instead of demanding we improve our water infrastructure, people purchase bottled water which actually causes greater depletion of our water reserves.

Improving our water infrastructure and urban design would go a long way into securing our water supplies through the 21st century. Porous pavement, water-friendly landscaping, rain gardens, and vegetated swales would help rain water soak into the ground to replenish aquifers. Reducing nonpoint source pollution, which is recognized as the primary threat to American water quality, would prevent fresh water from being ruined. Fixing those leaky pipes and leaching storage systems would prevent the waste of billions of gallons of water.

This has become a problem that we as a country have put off until tomorrow, and today we are faced with expensive repairs that scare politicians. Cost estimates for the replacement of drinking and wastewater infrastructure range from $485 billion to $1.2 trillion over the next 20 years. So far the United States has only allocated $945 million for such projects, which was included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act earlier this year. From any estimate that only covers a sliver of the necessary repair.

According to Marks, “the biggest obstacle to solving the nation’s water problems is refusing to admit they exist.”

Aqua Shock also includes some informative chapters about water laws, the people who control water, the cost of water, and whether our water can be saved. The book definitely does its job in informing the reader about our water problems and water policy, and would be valuable to anyone that is interested in conserving resources and developing our country’s infrastructure for the 21st century.

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Today is Blog Action Day and this time it is dedicated to the issue of climate change. Instead of writing a post about climate change I decided to find some of the better creative commons photographs from Flickr that illustrate the damage that is being done to the planet due to fossil fuel emissions. For more information about young people and the fight against climate change check out the Energy Action Coalition.

Photo by Tim Norris

Photo by Earth Lab

Photo by Adam Peleg

Photo by Earth Lab

Photo by davesag

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