At the New York State breakout of Power Shift, a line of young people wound around the side of the stage in the cavernous Hall B. One by one, they came up to the microphone and spoke to the audience about their concerns for their communities: the Indian Point nuclear power plant in the lower Hudson Valley, poor transportation options in Long Island, hydrofracking in Central and Western NY, bad air quality in New York City, and the list went on and on. And I couldn’t help but smile, because the students were so articulate, so clearly and deeply passionate about protecting their communities and environment.
