Howard E. Woodin Environmental Studies Colloquium Series

“The Rise of a Movement: How Young Activists Transformed Climate Politics” by Nick Engelfried, author of Movement Makers: How Young Activists Upended the Politics of Climate Change.

From small beginnings, the youth climate movement has become a political force to be reckoned with, shaping federal legislation and putting the fossil fuel industry on the defensive. From campus sustainability, to divestment, to the push for a Green New Deal, student climate organizers have reshaped university life and sparked a true grassroots uprising. In this talk, longtime climate activist, educator, and movement journalist Nick Engelfried will share how young people at schools like Middlebury led this national transformation.

Nick Engelfried first became a climate activist in college in the early 2000s. He spent the next ten years immersed in grassroots movements to challenge the fossil fuel industry, helping lead the Oregon Beyond Coal Campaign and launching the Blue Skies Campaign in Montana. Nick now writes and teaches about the climate movement, contributing regularly to Waging Nonviolence. In 2018 he founded Reconnect Earth, which works to foster and grow a network of empowered young activists. His book, Movement Makers: How Young Activists Upended the Politics of Climate Change, is the first to comprehensively examine over two decades of youth-led climate organizing in the United States.

Co-sponsored by “Climate Action Program”