I was surrounded by 100 of my peers, as we listened to Sylvia Earle’s voice boom with understated power across the theatre. Her unmatched credentials and reputation preceded her, but even they could not match the gravity of the message she was imparting. Unless we do something to reverse the effects of climate change and environmental ignorance, our greatest resource, a stable Earth, will perish.
	The Green movement has often been accused of being a “Party”, instead of a “Revolution”. Though the intention might be genuine and the motives pure, but sometimes, the participants are more interested in hosting a rally than doing work.  This accusation is one that could not be applied to the Student Climate and Conservation Congress I was attending. We were not here to celebrate the earth, but to protect it. Students from across the country came together to listen to speakers, and just as importantly, spread the ideas they have implemented in their communities. Students were composting, starting energy use initiatives, eliminating disposable plastic water bottles at schools and replacing them with reusable water bottles, and researching energy-efficient appliances for their schools. Their goal at the Congress was not to give themselves congratulatory pats on the back, or simply listen to speakers, but to spread knowledge of what could be done.
	As students, we often feel powerless to create real change. After all, we are perceived to lack the talents, capability, and autonomy that adults enjoy. We feel powerless, and we often do not try at all. We decide subconsciously that failure is a worse than choosing not doing our best. In the sea of the three thousand faces that compose my school, it is easy to get lost in the crowd and think someone else can do what you believe needs to be done. After the Congress, I realized I had an obligation to pursue what I believed had to be pursued; the three thousand faces were not an excuse, but a source of empowerment, one can do more with an audience of three thousand than three hundred. I started the Energy and Sustainability club at my school, and the support from my peers was excellent. We spread the word through the school newspaper, the television, and word-of-mouth. As it turned out, there were many who were like me: people who understood the implications of environmental negligence, but did not believe they could make a difference themselves. We are working to not only show our support for the environmental movement, but create tangible change ourselves, we are not only implementing ideas I heard at the Congress, such as removing plastic water bottles and replacing them with refillables, but creating our own, like supplementing the library copier with a scanner to save paper.
	My interest in the environment has fueled what I want to do with my future. I want to help innovate, find, and implement practical and economical solutions to pollution and the overuse of energy, like Buddy Huffaker and Mitchell Joachim. Through writing and my actions, I want to inspire others, in the same way I was inspired by the speakers and students at the Student Climate and Conservation Congress.