"Calls for Bush Administration to Stop Blocking Smart New Energy Solutions "

LAKE BLUFF - Bringing the message that he wants the Bush administration to join the rest of the world in combating dangerous climate change, local student Jeff Walter traveled to Montreal this week to participate in the most important international meeting on the threat of global warming.

Walter is a local member of the Sierra Student Coalition, the student-arm of America's oldest and largest environmental organization, the Sierra Club. In Montreal Walter joined hundreds of other youth from around the globe to take part in the 2005 United Nations Convention on Climate Change. This conference marks the first international negotiations since the Kyoto Protocol went into effect last February.

“Because the Bush administration is attempting to block progress in Montreal, it is critically important for students to send a message that we do not agree with our President's ineffective policies on energy use and global warming. Instead of increasing America's dependence on nonrenewable energy sources, we should be seeking a sustainable energy future that improves American health and security, creating new jobs by utilizing clean and efficient technologies that already exist today,” said Walter, who is an intern organizer for the Sierra Club Illinois Chapter Office in Chicago.

In 2001, the United States pulled out of the Kyoto Protocol, even though we account for over 25% of the world's global warming pollution. Our government's continuing refusal to participate in international global warming agreements has motivated Walter to travel to Montreal to encourage the world to take action against climate change without waiting for approval from the Bush administration. He joined 15,000 people from across the world marching in Montreal on Saturday in support of the delegations.

One of the main messages of the youth delegates is that climate change is a global issue that needs to be addressed at a local level. “Everyone has the responsibility of preventing global warming by reducing emissions in their local communities,” explains Walter. “Real change will happen when people start taking simple actions like conserving gas and turning off the lights when you leave the room. Nobody has an excuse to do nothing, and everyone can do something.”

Jared Duval, National Director of the Sierra Student Coalition, also took part in the conference. "America has the technical solutions today to curb global warming emissions, and we could start implementing them tomorrow if only we had the political will," said Duval. His organization has encouraged students across the country to participate in the “Campus Climate Challenge,” an ambitious effort to cut university emissions by 90 percent in 50 years, or two percent per year over the next forty-five years.

“The barriers of progress for a clean and efficient energy future are no longer technical, but completely political,” said Duval. “Walter's participation in this conference helped to hold our leaders accountable, and is making them understand how their inaction today sells short the promise of tomorrow's generations,” said Duval.