MOSEC/MO LOVE Spring Retreat 2011

This past weekend it was a privilege to attend the MO Love weekend retreat, our first state convergence since Power Shift. Not only was this retreat an opportunity to strengthen the growing threads between our campuses, but it was a test of spirit and a refreshing reminder that the hard goals needed for our state are not unobtainable, they simply pose a challenge requiring careful tending, planning, unending persistence, and creative strategy.

What is it like? To sit in a room on a soggy day with 20 something fellow Missourians that are committed to setting a goal that will improve their state? It feels like a movement. It feels like a network of change. It feels awesome to get away from the coffee shop bitching and to be doing something about your concerns locally. Myself, I am convinced that Missouri will be a model for change in the near future, we have it. That thing it takes, that it. It’s called MO LOVE.

MO LOVE! Maybe you heard this echoing the convention center during Power Shift, maybe you heard it bouncing from tree to tree in the woods this past weekend. MO Love. It is more than a call of solidarity for the Show Me State. It exceeds a chant. It is imbued energy, a cry from the heart of the heart that we are committed to changing this state, dedicated to leading by example. Show me change. Mo Love is the push, an abbreviated exclamation of our demands; demands that we will stand strong in, which we will not compromise, will not take less than we are asking. For what we are asking is progressive and difficult and requires systematic change in this state; it is detrimental that it be asked for and fought sternly for.

So. You might be asking yourself. For what are we asking? Whadda those kids from Missour-ah want? Missouri’s energy is acquired largely through the burning of coal, 83% of the energy that powers homes, our schools, our libraries, the Plaza Christmas Lights, the laptop perched here with me, is derived from coal. Problematic, indeed. Saint Louis ranks sixth in the nation for asthma rates#. Missouri ranks amongst the “dirty dozen” states with coal fired power plants generating the highest mercury pollution in the nation#. In terms of water resources alone, mining consumes 260,000,0000 gallons of water per day, and the average coal fired power plant uses 12,000,000 gallons of water per hour#. PER HOUR. There are numerous other negative externalities not calculated into the “cheap cost” of coal for energy production and consumption. So on and so forth, what we want is an end to this dated technology.

We want our campuses off of coal and onto 100% clean, renewable, and just energy sources. The thing that I find most fantastic about this plan, this goal, is that it will require a change in the way energy is produced in this state. In demanding that our campuses get off of coal, we are demanding new infrastructure as well as a sustainable and just future for Missouri.

Currently leading Missouri (MoMo, as we have lovingly dubbed her campuses), is Missouri S&T. Missouri S&T has declared it’s coal burning power plant obsolete, and the UM Board of Curators has approved $32.4 million for a project that will replace the current power plant with a geothermal plant. This plant will reduce Missouri S&T’s carbon footprint by 25,000 tons per year#. What Missouri S&T represents for the rest of our state is proof that things happen here, at home. Show me change on all of our campuses.

Stepping away slightly from the logistics of our retreat, I’d like to focus on the badassery of our team and the amazing setting we found ourselves in. Indeed it was a sunless, soggy, and cold weekend, and we camped through it all. I heard not one complaint. It goes without saying that people huddled around the fire and shivered over soup, but no voice was raised in protest to the less-than-favorable conditions of our camp out. Johnathan McFarland (Saint Louis) had never even been camping, was not entirely prepared for the occasion and was underdressed for the weather. Yet, he could be heard in the AM howling through the trails, more than excited to be in attendance. On this note, our team is very lucky to have not only students involved in this movement but also the expertise of community organizers Johnathan (the morning greeter) and Lindsey Berger, as well as Jeff Ordower, who will be supporting us in our direct actions.

We found solace in our surroundings. Missouri be a beautiful place. We were warmly welcomed by Tao Weilundemo, Kita, and the Guineas. Tao owns 300 some odd acres near Fulton, Missouri. Tao’s land boasts permaculture and organic gardening, an impressive guest house built from straw bale and other natural and salvaged materials, rainwater harvesting, solar hot water, solar and wind power generation, humanure waste management, and composting. It was the perfect location for our retreat and it truly embodied the spirit of our movement.

My least favorite aspect of writing? Introductions and conclusions. Is this the point where I re-iterate everything you’ve already read and tell you how strong our tactics are for the summer and fall and wrap this whole package up nicely with twine ribbon? This is not an academic work, I do not feel obligated to conclude in such a clean manner, permission to be raggedy. Point is, we are stoked, we on fire, we ready. As for me, I am off to the University of Missouri Board of Curators public hearing regarding the next President ofthe system. I close with Sufjan, not only because this journey for me was kick started near Chicago (shout out, Midwest Facilitators), but because a revolution without music does not qualify as a revolution:

You came to take us
all things go, all things go
to recreate us
all things grow, all things grow.
We had our mindset
all things know, all things know
you had to find it
all things go, all things go.