Leslie Morrison, Maryland Community Organizer
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240-396-2140
Leslie was born and raised in Champaign, Illinois. She majored in nnvironmental studies at Illinois Wesleyan University and graduated Phi Beta Kappa with Honors. At IWU, Leslie helped launch a Sierra Student Coalition chapter and organized a successful campaign for the President to sign the Talloires Declaration, a ten point action plan for incorporating sustainability into university functions.
After graduating, Leslie joined Green Corps, the field school for environmental organizing, and worked on multiple clean energy campaigns. She was part of the field team for a victorious ballot campaign to pass Proposition C, a renewable electricity standard in Missouri. She also worked with Environment Texas and Environment North Carolina on solar energy campaigns.
When not fighting for a clean and just energy future, Leslie obsesses over Survivor, college basketball, and eating cookies.
Blog Posts by Leslie Morrison, Maryland Community Organizer
Despite the threat of earthquakes and flammable drinking water and contaminated rivers, the Maryland General Assembly this week failed to pass a bill protecting Marylanders from the worst dangers of hydraulic “fracking” for natural gas. Our lawmakers failed to pass a simple bill that would have funded basic safety studies before any such drilling would be allowed in our state. How did this failure happen? The answer is simple: the American Petroleum Institute happened.
This blog post was written by Megan Spindler a student at Frostburg St. University. Megan is interning with CCAN this semester.
While the popularity of hydraulic fracturing (a.k.a. “fracking”) grows, so does the list of reasons why it should be done with extreme caution or not at all. In addition to poisoned drinking water, streams and rivers, new research from Cornell University shows that the carbon footprint of fracked natural gas is greater than that of coal due to the extraordinary planet-warming power of the methane, which is released in large amounts during every stage of the fracking process.
On January 26 2012, CCAN and EIP celebrated our first major victory in the fight against dirty power plants in Maryland. when First Energy announced that it will close the R. Paul Smith coal-fired power plant in Williamsport by September 1, 2012!
We stopped the Keystone XL pipeline! Take a moment to pat yourself on the back. I sure tried to enjoy the moment, as well as the flood of emails I received from friends and family across the county who were just as excited as I am.
The video below is an excellent wrap up of the campaign and has Jane Kleeb of Bold Nebraska and Bill McKibbin of 350.org’s immediate thoughts after the victory.
Bill also plugs the action happening on Tuesday the 24th here in DC. As Congress returns to business, we’ll be ready to blow the whistle on their corruption. Hundreds will gather at the Capitol dressed in referee uniforms, and then heading to the American Petroleum Institute - Big Oil's top lobby - to do the same. Check out the facebook event here if you are interested in attending!
As Bill McKibbin said in this video- this is a “real victory for people standing up. ” So here’s to standing up for what you believe in!
That’s right. Even my mother (and father) is coming to the tar sands rally this Sunday. They left this morning to start driving all the way from Champaign Illinois! When I asked them why they were coming (other than the obvious desire to spend time with their gorgeous and talented daughter) they talked about how inspired they were by the arrests in August and how they wanted President Obama to do the right thing.
It's taken me a little bit to process the Tar Sands Action. Ok I've been busy. But I wanted to share my arrest story with fellow Power Shifters, especially leading up to the big October 7th action. We are still fighting.
I never thought I'd get arrested. I'm committed 100% to this cause and plan to work on these issues for the rest of my life. But I wasn't convinced this was my role until the action began and I realized that this one felt different.
Event information was sent from Baltimore student Thalia Patrinos
Towson is having a activism panel and screening event all about the issues surrounding coal!
On Thursday, September 15th, 6:00 - 7:30 We will have panel discussions featuring Climate Ground Zero's Mike Rosell and Antrim Caskey, two key figures in the social movement against Massey Energy. Then from 7:30 - 9 we will have a Community Resource Fair, featuring several organizations committed to working with labor movements.
On Friday, September 16th starting at 4 will be a large teach-in on Freedom Square.
There will also be a film shot, edited and produced by Towson University student David Resiche as well as a photo exhibition by Antonio Hernandez, both exploring the struggles of local communities against Massey.
THIS EVENT IS FREE!
If you have any questions, please contact Antonio Hernandez:
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This post was written by Caroline Selle who will be a senior at St Mary's College of Maryland. It was originally posted on wearepowershift.org
In between bites of pizza and homemade peach and blackberry pie, the members of the Maryland Student Climate Coalition (MSCC) spent the bulk of last Saturday planning our campaign for offshore wind. Clean, job-creating, renewable energy like offshore wind is exactly the kind of resource we want to use to power our homes and our schools.
As a resource, offshore wind is kind of incredible. The wind blows relatively constantly off the coast, including at times of peak power usage. Once the infrastructure is in place, it's almost completely free to generate wind power. Best of all, wind power is clean and renewable. It reduce emissions of the greenhouse gas CO2 and will help public health by creating cleaner air and cleaner water.
Unfortunately, last year the Maryland General Assembly failed to pass a bill that obligated major Maryland utilities to purchase offshore wind power for the next twenty years. The bill would have helped Maryland reach it's 20% by 2022 Renewable Portfolio Standard and given wind developers the incentive to build offshore wind projects that create thousands of manufacturing, operation, and maintenance jobs during their lifespan.
This fall, the MSCC is running a campaign to make sure that offshore wind is a part of Maryland's future. We will petition our school and community leaders to support offshore wind, because it is a way to create jobs, harness clean and safe energy, and reach our renewable electricity goals.
Past MSCC campaigns changed the way Maryland leaders looked at youth. Once again, we are going to use our combined energy, skills, and resources to change the state's landscape and bring offshore wind to our homes.
We arrived to quite the welcoming party- a group of really incredible women working to protect their homes and communities from dangerous fracking practices. Over lunch we discussed the latest in fracking news and all the issues it creates. It is overwhelming to keep track of everything: drinking water contamination, traffic on small roads, land value decreasing, harm to wildlife, methane leaks