Tennessee

On Friday, March 9, 2012 Students Promoting Environmental Action in Knoxville (SPEAK) set out to blow the whistle on Senator Bob Corker, Senator Lamar Alexander, and Representative Duncan and call a penalty. The three of them have received close to half a million dollars from coal and oil industries in the past 5 years. Students set out dressed as referees (pinstripes and flags included) and blew the whistle at their offices in Knoxville. Students called a penalty on congressman for supporting the Keystone XL pipeline while taking millions of dollars in campaign contributions from the fossil fuel industry.

Last month, students at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville had a die in flash mob as part of the 100 actions to demand 100% clean energy. After the die in flashmob, we marched to the Chancellor’s office to discuss shutting down the coal plant! We were able to set up a meeting with the Vice Chancellor, and last Tuesday, 6 students including myself met with the Vice Chancellor, Sustainability Manager, and the Associate Vice Chancellor of Facilities Services.

Yesterday on October 13, over thirty students in Students Promoting Environmental Action in Knoxville (SPEAK) met at the University of Tennessee’s library right before classes were to change. Everyone who passed by was wondering why there were students wearing breathing masks, green hard hats, and holding signs. Then, all of the sudden a siren went off and all thirty students dropped to the ground. Slowly, one student stood up and said, “Each year 24,000 people die early due to coal related pollution”. The student fell to the ground again. We continued to do this until our message was sent: Coal kills people, jobs, our environment, and our political system. Students held the die in flash mob on campus to call on the university to move beyond coal and fulfill their commitments to be an environmental leader.