Bryce Carter, Community Organizer

Not Alone

noreply@blogger.com (Bryce Carter) — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 14:33:29 PST

I just watched a video I came across on Facebook and I found myself doing a lot of reflecting. First, give it a watch:

In elementary school I was teased a lot. I was beaten. Even as a school patrol, on the main school corner with the police crossing guard, I was put in a headlock and pounded on the head repeatedly which left bruising. I had sand flicked in my eyes. I was chased down neighborhood streets fearing for my safety. I was dragged along the blacktop at recess. I was called albino for my fair complexion and hair. A speech impediment made me even more of a target. I was a student who adhered to the rules and these actions pushed me to fulfill the role of a tattle-tale which resulted in even more abuse.

I was anxious and worried, questioning even the most sincere acts of kindness in deep suspicion. I withdrew in fear of being judged, of having something else be fodder against me. At one point during a summer in middle school I was so anxious I no longer could pick up a phone or look out a window. Paired with the strong and confusing hormones at that time of life, --at hindsight--I made silly mistakes (what middle schooler doesn't?) that then felt like being cut down to nothing and even less. I was a bitter hole that sucks in others, friends, who were so generous and would eventually see no benefit in staying in that hole with me. I didn't want to pull them in and I felt terribly guilty about it. So guilty the rational of suicide came to mind. However irrational I knew I was, the emotion was there: I was exhausted of the cycle, of that toll I put on others, of always being beaten down. Ending my life in many ways made sense.

But I wanted to live.

I remember walking home one day from elementary school, passing the blacktop and looking over at some high schoolers playing basketball. A group of four or five guys carefree in shooting hoops. I found myself in envy of them when, suddenly, something clicked. I wanted to be like them, I wanted to get on that path and the only way for me to do that is to challenge myself. I needed to get out of this darkness, which I knew I could only do one step at a time.

It's now been over a decade since then and I'm still working on it. In fact, it wasn't until last year when I faced an election campaign in my organizing work that required full-time phone banking did I finally fully get over my anxiety of phones.

Ten years ago I pulled back that curtain at the window. I started to explore who I was and not let myself be written off by others. I started to enjoy life more, take a hold of opportunities head-on. In late middle school I went with People to People Student Ambassadors to Australia and New Zealand. In high school I worked two summer jobs with Hensel Phelps Construction Company on wedges 2-5 of the Pentagon Renovation Project. I was told at one point I was the youngest person to have clearance with the project. I was invited to speak to an educational conference with hundreds in attendance regarding my internships with the construction industry.

I grew my hair long for kicks my senior year, golden curls bounced around. I would find out years later it made me a bit of a legend. I became more passionate about my studies, particularly in the environment. I embraced some of my creativity and worked with animations and computer design. For my passion my teacher nominated me for a class art award at graduation which I received. Then I graduated high school and went to college at Virginia Tech.

I wound up at a statewide environmental youth conference and was amazed to find not only can I learn about environmental issues, but act on them. From planning a small tabling event on campus to a full day of action, my organizing skills grew over the years in college. Together with our community I was also faced with larger challenges, such as that of the shooting at Virginia Tech and having my previous blog become world-famous and quoted in numerous publications which I had to deal with (I just found a book on blogging that has a piece on me). From that experience I developed an appreciation of how the media works (and doesn't work with gross ethical violations) and just how important the support of a broad community is. The seed of sustainability-- a balance of community, environment and economy-- blossomed in my soul. By the next year I helped plan a large state-wide student conference at Virginia Tech with several hundred attendees. The year after that I ran for town council.

I found out about a program that develops the skills of environmental organizers, Green Corps. I applied and got in and soon found myself working on campaigns from protecting one of the strongest climate laws in the world to supporting family ranchers and stopping oil pipelines. I knocked on hundreds upon hundreds of doors over last summer, talking to people about protecting streams and health. Now I'm with the Sierra Club in Denver, Colorado, a place I always dreamed of being with an organization I always wished to work for. I may not be playing basketball on my elementary school's blacktop, but things have worked out great.

Sometimes I get too focused in what I am doing I forget the journey of where I've come from. The challenges I've overcome and still am dealing with-- my Dad passing earlier this year, for instance, or finding out I have Graves' Disease and deciding to have my thyroid surgically removed in 2009. When I begin to imagine where I might be in the next ten years, I realize anything can happen and the potential is limitless. But I know everything I've listed here, everything I've done, every step has been a challenge to overcome for me.

It is videos like what Jonah made that remind me of the path I've found myself on, and where I came from. This is a path that is not uncommon. There are a lot of Bryces and Jonahs out there, lost in the darkness and oppressed by people and shadows. Some of us don't make it out. Stepping out from under the oppression we find ourselves in is never easy. But you can learn more about it, why it happens and how you can personally manage it and then extend a hand to others because we are all on this journey together.

My boss for a Buddhist environmental non-profit I worked for once told me that we all must cross the same river but we get to choose the vessel we go in to get to the other shore. The waters can be turbulent, but we ride the same waves together.

Life is still far from perfect for me, but that's how life is. While I've made strides, I'm still not where I want to be in fully appreciating the day-to-day beauty of existence that is out there. But I'm working on it. One step at a time. And I have amazing friends across the country and beyond who are there for me.

Good luck on your journey, Jonah. You're going to do great and are already strides ahead of the game.

Embracing Videography

noreply@blogger.com (Bryce Carter) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 20:12:47 PST

Long, long ago I got into animation. I really liked being able to create an experience or story someone else can have and share. Animation was long and tedious, you have to literally create a scene from a blank canvass, piece it together and then mold it frame by frame. Then I found videography. The hardest part is over, it's already created. Now you just have to piece it together. If I ever find myself pursuing another profession, it would be related to film.

Anyway, I've been stretching out as I settle down out here in Denver and have spent a bit of time working on a couple quick spots involving my travels.

Enjoy!

Eye Contact

noreply@blogger.com (Bryce Carter) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 20:46:27 PDT

This evening has been one of those evenings in which you drink too much caffeine earlier in the day and late into the evening you have too much to think about. You think about the weight of the world around you, of the systems and metrics that over-simplify the infinite complexities of life and existence. Your thoughts drift from your own health to that of others, of those that have passed and of those yet to be born. You think about the imaginary power institutions have and utilize, how information is developed and manipulated. How endless bureaucracy endlessly loops around the roads and highways of the world.

You wonder how can we ever even begin to redress these challenges and pursue the goodness that humanity can possess. Kindness and stewardship. Fresh air and water. A lush world environment, nurtured by our ability to care for it and each other. All of our lives are under the dark impassable weights of the world's systems that we've developed. Subject to work within its endless forbidding corridors to ends unknown, wondering who or what could have created this path we blindly follow.

As the evening sky is eaten by outstretched light posts, nestlings wildly reaching into the night for a morsel of the last visible star, you feel lost and confused and alone. How can we fight the world that is forcing us into lives so unnatural, unripe; simply waiting for an unattainable self-enlightenment? What can you believe in if all is part of this tangled circular growth?

The city around you is breathing, rasping into the still-warm night air. The homeless line the streets in their sleeping bags like cocoons waiting for first light to emerge as butterflies never to be delivered. The lights stare at you indifferently and you sigh as you quietly walk your way home, lost in thought as you bear the weight of the world.

Out of the darkness emerges a passing face in close view. Your eyes lock and with a smile a man kindly, softly, asks "How are you doing?" with a tone so knowing of exactly where you are that the moment has already passed where you hastily replied "Good, how are you?" with automatic, systematic perfection to realize: you are not alone.

Colonel Robert James Carter, Rest In Peace

noreply@blogger.com (Bryce Carter) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 21:10:39 PDT

Just the beginning

noreply@blogger.com (Bryce Carter) — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 01:47:25 PDT

About two years ago I heard the group Beyond Coal was coming onto Virginia Tech's campus, whose mission was and still is to shut down the Virginia Tech coal-fired power plant which distributes steam for heating in the majority of the buildings on campus. I immediately dismissed this idea and group as ridiculous and radical. The only way change will happen is if we go through the systems established.

Virginia Tech, as an institution, has a lot of bureaucracy, strict professional standards and expectations, various hoops, unspoken tests, and a lesser level of classism to deal with in order to get something that radical to actually happen. A bunch of kids without any resources or finances or training or experience will only be a public spectacle and laughingstock for the rest of the relatively conservative university community. After spending my entire collegiate career, including nearly every break in those years, investing myself in building up an amazing professional organization who was committed to working with our university in bringing resources together to "Invent the Future," I felt cut down to see this new radical mentality take over and erase what I and many others worked so hard on.

That was two years ago.

Today, though, I proudly call myself a radical and am in fact leading Beyond Coal for Colorado. Today I proudly see our campus organization was not cut down, but instead transitioned. A radical movement cannot be stagnant, which is exactly what happened and why things needed to change. We live in a world demanding radical change and it is only the few that will deliver. The Arab Spring was just the beginning, now the American Autumn will follow with so many different and evolving elements that it will adapt to the whims of producers loyal to national media owned by, indeed, corporations.

Several years ago I would have put my hand up, shook my head and walked away from myself if I had begun to go into a passionate rant about how corporate power is destroying lives and our hindering our way of life.

Today I literally found myself joining a passing anti-corporate march (#occupywallstreet) to the state capitol and spoke to the hundreds gathered about my experiences in the last year and why we must fight without a moment's hesitation.

Over four years ago there was a mass shooting at my school that left 33 dead and dozens more injured. The media frenzy that followed was overwhelming to our community and quite often abusive from reporters dressing up as clergy to Bill O'Reilly's Fox News staff rewriting and re-contextualizing an e-mail I sent that they put on air.

Now I see more than ever how the media are free to manipulate and shift stories to their leanings, or not tell them at all. Only now are the #occupywallstreet protests becoming front page news as the blockade of Brooklyn Bridge can't be easily ignored.

A year ago I was reluctant to embrace my first Green Corps campaign because it was anti-corporate (and ironically funded by a corporation), but what unfolded made me realize that the power corporations have is daunting....

[to be continued]

Transitions

noreply@blogger.com (Bryce Carter) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 22:12:37 PDT

It has been over a year since my last blog post. Yesterday, I graduated Green Corps in what has surely concluded one of if not the most difficult year of my life. The challenges I've faced on a professional and personal level have pushed me more than I thought possible. I am a new person, someone who I am not ashamed to admit to having dreamed about becoming. I am skilled, confident and ready to take on whatever challenge lays out before me. I am sociable, outgoing, adventurous and a shameless romantic. I am political, engaging, and yes, even radical. I am not ashamed to say I am a progressive who wants to work with others to solve the entangled web of interconnected issues we are facing and have a lot of fun while doing it. This is said with it being noted that none of the aforementioned would I have been willing to confidently identify with just a year ago.

I'm about to transition into a new chapter of my life-- I have been hired to be the Associate Organizing Representative for the Sierra Club Beyond Coal campaign in Denver, Colorado. I am so thrilled to be able to go out there and fully invest myself into a community and work directly in developing the leaders that will take us to a sustainable future.

The next few weeks to months are going to be a hard transition. A metaphor I found myself explaining the way I have felt the last few weeks is like that of a mirror-- in the last several months it has cracked in several places--- cracked by the challenges I faced with working on Green Corps campaigns, cracked by the growing disconnect from high school and college friends, cracked from life challenges of friends and family and finding a balance to be there for them while keeping up my needs, and the final, major crack, was the death of my father in June which has left me, as many who lose a parent, in a small existential crisis. It was all I could do to hold the mirror together for the last few months bearing the weight of these coming-of-age challenges to finally have it shatter altogether, completing a challenging chapter of my life. Now, though, comes the exciting and terrifying time to piece together the remaining shards into a new frame, a blank canvass. Through the reflection of these shards I will start to write out my thoughts of the last 13 months of my life in a series of postings over the next several weeks.

But before I start reflecting on this past chapter, I must head to sleep as the winds of a fading tropical storm Irene tussle the trees outside the screen door in the darkness of night. At last, though, I am at a place I can blog.

Headed to the Golden Coast

noreply@blogger.com (Bryce Carter) — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 23:15:27 PDT

I’m writing this blog in the house of a Green Corps alum within Salt Lake City, Utah. I’ve embarked on my second cross-country road trip for the year, hitting up two more states (Iowa and Nebraska) that I haven’t been to before. This puts my total count to 42 states ever visited, with having been in 40 of them in the last two months.

The last several weeks have been filled with rotations of emotion between shock, anxiety and excitement. I'm still shocked that I am in such an amazing program, with such amazing people whose network is perhaps the best in the environmental movement. I'm also shocked that I got such an amazing campaign, of which I'll get to in a second. I'm anxious about my skill sets and diving into this heavy level of organizing that includes everything from training, leadership development, phone banking, petitioning, rallying, and so on. Finally it is hard not to be excited! To be involved at this level, working on campaigns across the nation creating substantive change is the most empowering idea I've ever experienced.

I’m now headed to Berkeley, California for a few days and then will settle into Santa Monica to rally up the residents for opposing Proposition 23. This proposed proposition will essential kill the previous progressive global warming legislation that was passed in the state several years ago by nullifying it until unemployment in the state gets below 5.5%, something that won’t happen for a long, long time. This is time we don’t have regarding the WORLD’S most advanced climate policy. That’s right, California isn’t just leading the United States but actual the world with this act. If this proposition passes it could significantly impede efforts across the planet to fight climate change at a time in which we are already drastically behind on action. This makes the stakes at an all time high. This campaign, if we are successful, will help save the world as we know it. Really-- it is not a far exaggeration to say that I’m directly working to save the world.

I couldn’t have asked for a better campaign.

This campaign, of course, gets even better. You see, two Texas oil companies are providing the funding for prop 23. Considering all that is happening with the gulf oil disaster there is no wonder in my mind that out-of-state oil interests will see their actions backfire with the public. This makes things very black-and-white and Valero has made itself the perfect villain for this story. I can’t speak on any of our organizing strategies… yet. Stay tuned.

For information on the campaign, click here.

Alas it is midnight (or 2:00am EST, which was just two days ago). I should sleep as we have our final 14 hour driving leg ahead.

Best,
Bryce

Green Corps 2011 - Day 3 of Training

noreply@blogger.com (Bryce Carter) — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 06:05:38 PDT

I’m now in day three of Green Corps training, the ‘school for environmental organizing.’ They have likened it to a master’s degree in environmental organizing and honestly it is hard not to see the success of the program. With around 275 alumni since the early nineties, members have become executive directors across the board in some of the top environmental organizations in America. Just in the last few days we’ve had speakers such as Phil Radford, the executive director of Greenpeace USA. While I’ve always been skeptical of their tactics, Phil seemed to me to have a solid head on his shoulders. He discussed the ‘million dollar megaphone’ we’re up against with corporations willing to spend whatever they can to keep things easy for them. In terms of his organization having a radical public perception, he emphasized that ‘we should be radical and effective.’

Yesterday we had John Rogers, the senior analyst from the Union of Concerned Scientists talk about their report, Climate 2030: A National Footprint for a Clean Energy Economy. This report goes into if a cap-and-trade carbon program in conjunction with implementing local polices toward a clean energy future could not only save the country hundreds of billions of dollars but also can create millions of jobs and save tens of thousands of square miles of space in our country (mining efforts may take upwards of 80,000 square miles). Solutions like this make sense, but unfortunately the steps we need to take to have a just transition to a sustainable economy are blocked by strong corporate interests, that million dollar microphone. This is one of the main reasons why the cap-and-trade bill just fell in the senate.

I must run, but this has been an amazing experience already, meeting a great diversity of organizers (there are 21 of us in the class of 2011) from all over the country. We face extraordinary challenges ahead and we must put forth a tremendous effort to bring about a just and clean future for all.

Of course with the hard deadline of 80% reductions of carbon emissions by 2050 only having a 50/50 chance of being enough to stabilize climate change, we must always continue to push in this movement.

“50/50 shot for our kids’ future? I don’t think so!” said Phil Radford.

Returned Home, Green Corps in two weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Bryce Carter) — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 17:16:31 PDT

I'll admit, I'm not the best blogger. I have my spurts of blogging energy and then find myself too engaged with life to take a moment to sit down and reflect (something I should be doing more of nowadays). I am always shocked to see that it has been a month or more since my last post!

We concluded our wonderful road trip adventure a few weeks ago in Blacksburg and as of last week I moved out of town back to my parents in Northern Virginia. I'm definitely going to miss all Blacksburg had to offer, but there are definitely exciting opportunities coming down the pipe.

Here are the pictures from the rest of our trip!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2521270&id=6232754&l=bc9a65b814
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2522629&id=6232754&l=c4a72da1a2

I spent a good 28 hours on a really awesome ~30 minute video putting the entire trip together. Unfortunately there are several copyrighted songs in it so I cannot upload it to sites like Vimeo or YouTube. I threw a version of it on my website (don’t sue me!), but expect it to take a long while to load at 2.2 GB. The quality is regretfully lower than I would have liked, but I ran out of time to compress it appropriately.

A new chapter in my life will start in two weeks with the bound-to-be-quite-crazy adventures of Green Corps, a national non-profit environmental organizing training school. Out of thousands applying across the nation, only 25-30 get accepted... I guess running for town council didn't hurt my chances.

My training starts August 1st up in Boston. Halfway through training I’ll find out where in the nation I’ll end up for my first of several 3-month assignments. I’ve been pushing for Hawaii but I don’t think that’s likely, so I’ll settle (if I can) for something on the west coast. Either way after experiencing the U.S. through our road trip I’m pretty excited to be anyplace new!

Another exciting tidbit- our guest trainers for August include the Executive Directors / Presidents of the Center for Health, Environment, and Justice, Greenpeace, Environment America, and the Union of Concerned Scientists. Quite a lineup!

My goal is to blog a bit more regularly over the next year, so keep your fingers crossed and / or yell at me!

Facebook Woes

noreply@blogger.com (Bryce Carter) — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 23:41:16 PDT

Unfortunately the privacy settings with Facebook won't let me share videos unless you are an account holder. Once I get a chance I'll upload the videos I have on YouTube (likely after the roadtrip).

In the mean time you can check out the third album I've put up. If you really want to stay up-to-date with the roadtrip, follow me on Twitter.

We're headed to Yosemite tomorrow, then Vegas, Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon and eventually Austin, Texas.

That's all for now!

From San Francisco,

Bryce

Pictures and a Bear Story

noreply@blogger.com (Bryce Carter) — Mon, 31 May 2010 01:50:24 PDT

It has been brought to my attention that the privacy settings on Facebook haven't allowed for everyone to view my photos. I believe I fixed the problem now and anyone should be able to see my photos from the trip.

Album 1
Album 2
Twitter

If not, please let me know and I'll work on the settings. Either way, once I get a chance to really sit down (most likely after the trip) I'll upload all the photos and video directly to my website to download. I'll also geotag the real cool ones so you can see exactly where we were (it takes way too much time to upload them when you only have 15-30 minutes of internet every few days).

To keep to blogging I'll say a brief few words (it is now 1am West Coast time where I'm in Portland, Oregon now and I need to get to bed because we have a long day in the city tomorrow!). This trip already has been quite an amazing journey. We've just about crossed the 5,000 mile mark on how far we've traveled. We already slept under the stars in the desert-like landscape of the Badlands, scaled numerous mountains, camped in snowfall, heard wolves howl and coyotes yelp in the distance, seen numerous wildlife numbering aplenty and of those nearly extinct, journeyed to the tops of skyscrapers in Chicago and Seattle, eating delicious cuisine both at the campfire and at mom & pops across the country. On this trip alone I've already camped more than I have ever done before in my life put together.

I haven't found myself able to sleep in the car at all because I've been too excited to see what is around the next bend; afraid that I might miss something. There are similarities across America in the way we live our lives, but there are also subtle differences in design. The green neighborhoods of Portland are vastly different than the sprawling suburbs of Chicago compared to the shanty town in the Indian Reservation we journeyed through-- all of which is in the same country we call home. Often there are McDonalds, Wal-Marts, Safeways, Home Depots, Starbucks, and countless other stores cookie-cut across the landscape-- I was rather startled to see a Safeway layout exactly the same as the one down the street from my house 2,300 miles away in Canada.

There are also differences in how communities find their identity and values and how they want to be known. From tourist destinations such as Wall Drug Store in South Dakota to a rusting 1927 Model-T with a fake skeleton in it parked on the shoulder in a backwoods community in Washington State. This is only a hint of what we've seen.

We're only two weeks into the journey now, and have around 25 days to go. I'm excited to see what else we're going to learn!

-

So far the most interesting story was that we were stalked most likely by a Grizzly Bear in Glacier Park. After going on a 6+ hike up the mountain to Glacier Lake, we noticed huge fresh bear prints over our foot prints that had been following us for at least a mile (you can see the bear prints on the left, I guess grizzly judging by their huge size; bigger than our biggest shoe prints).

Highly nervous by finding this out, we started to hurry down the mountain path only to come face-to-face with another bear:

This is what ensued:
*Note: "Everyone" is supposed to be able to see the videos but apparently Facebook doesn't publicly publish them unless you have an account?

Yellowstone

noreply@blogger.com (Bryce Carter) — Fri, 21 May 2010 14:23:31 PDT

We're just outside Yellowstone National Park in a public library at Cody, Wyoming. You can already smell a hint of sulfur in the air.

Unfortunately time has been drastically short in terms of being able to connect to the internet on the trip. I've been able to continue uploading pictures to facebook, but haven't had the time to fill in details or geotag the photos on Panoramio.

We're going to be juggling where we are in the next couple of days, but we'll be hitting up Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Glacier National Park (U.S.), Glacier National Park (Canada), Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland.

Quick Update!

noreply@blogger.com (Bryce Carter) — Wed, 19 May 2010 05:37:15 PDT

We're just west of Madison, Wisconsin today! We've now gone through Charleston, West Virginia; Frankfort, Kentucky; Louisville, Kentucky; Indianapolis, Indiana; Bloomington, Illinois; Chicago, Illinois within the last two days.

Now we're in a straight stretch for Badlands National Park in South Dakota!

Can't talk long because we have to get on the road, but you can check out the latest pictures on Facebook here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2503702&id=6232754&l=92168990c6

The Fit is Go!

noreply@blogger.com (Bryce Carter) — Sun, 16 May 2010 21:26:28 PDT

Despite the late night rain, we're in high spirits to begin our grand cross-country journey early tomorrow morning! Honda's slogan, "The Fit is Go," is holding true as all of our stuff has been fit in the Fit.

Here Matt and Graham are proud of their packing accomplishment.

Graduation, Wise County Project and Roadtrip

noreply@blogger.com (Bryce Carter) — Sat, 15 May 2010 20:18:34 PDT

I am now officially an alum of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. After four years of devoted work as an organizer and student, I've somehow managed to graduate Cum Laude.

Also after three years of video work, and one month of intensive video editing, I finished the Wise County Project. You can view the 40-minute documentary at www.wisecountyproject.com.

On Monday four of us will be embarking on a nearly 40-day, 10,000 mile long road trip across the country. As shown with the map in my last post, we'll be making a large counter-clockwise circle across the country. We intend to blog regularly and also hopefully utilize a really cool way to show where we've been with GPS enabled photos.

You can see the geotagged photos I've already uploaded, such as those from graduation, here. I hope to have a similar map on the main page of the website but I'm having some issues making it only show my photos.

Stay tuned!

The 2010 Cross-Country Road Trip

noreply@blogger.com (Bryce Carter) — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 09:31:24 PDT

Below is a map of our planned 40 day, ~10,000+ mile cross-country road trip. I just got a new netbook and a GPS-enabled camera, so you'll be able to follow our adventure closely!

(click on picture for full resolution)

View Cross Country Road Trip 2010 in a larger map

Free Hugs and Living for 32

noreply@blogger.com (Bryce Carter) — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 07:47:48 PDT

I arrived on the Drillfield just after 9am and watched the thick mist of morning slowly give way to hints of blue above, soon washed away by a tidal wave of radiance with the rising sun. The day showed all the signs of spring with trees budding, birds cheerfully chirping, squirrels searching for their breakfast and students trudging to classes which are regrettably indoors. I walked straight to the crosshair of the Drillfield where thousands of Hokies walk across campus every day. I put down my backpack and took out my sign with “Free Hugs” written in an orange and maroon and stood there for the next six hours.

Three years have passed since our tragedy when 33 lives were lost on our campus and many more were injured. I was an ignorant freshman before it all happened, rowdy and careless. I was then unaware of the hidden beauty of our community, and will always be saddened by the heartbreak it took for us to fully appreciate what we have.

I’ll never forget the emergency vehicles racing across campus, the snipers on the library and officers storming the dorm next to ours with guns drawn. I’ll never forget the endless sirens droning on in my head as I tried to sleep the first night. I’ll never forget the fierce and hurt eyes of the girl who glared at me as I walked by with the MTV News crew, which made me ask them to put their camera away. I’ll never forget the girl who worked in West End and always smiled at me, who lost her life during that horrid day. I’ll never forget seeing each friend before the list was known, the relief each hug brought and the significance of the strong embrace of life and appreciation to be there with each other that very second.

This is why I have stood there, on the Drillfield, for the last three years with a Free Hugs sign every April 15th. Why do we need a tragedy to share the love and spirit of our community? Why can’t we just embrace what makes us special—each other—on day like any other?

I have always had the heart of a community organizer which has blossomed at my time here at Virginia Tech, but nothing has made me appreciate what I work for greater than the tragedy that befell our community. To unite and make better a community such as ours is perhaps the greatest motivation I have. In this spirit, I’ve devoted literally every month of the last four years to the next event or activity for those in our community, whether it was hosting a statewide conference or running for town council with the pillars of community and sustainability (issues I feel are eternally interlinked).

As our class who was just finishing our freshman year in 2007 graduates and leaves our community, our campus will have nothing but new faces fortunate enough not to have experienced what we did. Don’t let that be an excuse to not know what happened here or to fail to appreciate what we do have. We’re all Hokies, forever and always. This is our community and it is up to each of you to make the most of it. To me, this is what we should neVer forgeT and why we must live on for 32.

Logistical Point

noreply@blogger.com (Bryce Carter) — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 16:53:15 PDT

Just a for-your-information posting that the location of this blog needs to be moved due to Blogger no longer being able to provide FTP uploading to my website. After doing some fidgeting on the site, http://blog.brycecarter.com should direct you to it soon.

Expect a couple major updates and more regular updates regarding a cross-country road trip I'll be going on starting May 17th. Stay tuned.

This blog has moved

noreply@blogger.com (Bryce Carter) — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 18:22:46 PDT

This blog is now located at http://blog.brycecarter.com/.
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For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to
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Busy busy

noreply@blogger.com (Bryce Carter) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 06:28:29 PST

Life, as usual, has ended up pretty busy. Since my last post I was accepted into Green Corps and will be starting my 13 month journey in August training and doing campaigns across the country. The shock is just beginning to wear off and I'm tremendously excited for this opportunity.

Since I am on the run, I'll keep it brief with some things to look forward to:

-March 26th: The Issue of Coal Debate (7pm, I think)
Basically it'll be a two sided discussion between members associated with the mining industry and the environmental movement. We're looking at two students, a professor and an expert in the field on each side. It looks like I'll be one of the students. Should prove to be a very engaging debate.

-March 27th: Panel on Solutions for the Future (3pm) & Earth Hour (8:30pm)
The panel is a working title... We'll be inviting Governor McDonnell, Representative Boucher, Dominion Power, Appalachian Voices and many others to sit down and talk about the future of various subjects including solving the climate crisis, the topic of coal, and the future of renewables in Virginia.

I'm currently outreaching to the Town of Blacksburg and Virginia Tech to participate in Earth Hour, this international event where communities turn off their lights to make a statement on climate change. I've talked with Virginia Tech electric and they said that they'll be able to keep track of how much energy we save. Ideally we'll be able to use the Drillfield or Market Square Park in downtown Blacksburg as a community gathering place and turn off the lights at Burruss Hall or Downtown.

-March 28th: Field trip to Larry Gibson's Kayford Mountain
I've met Larry Gibson on several occasions and he is truly a hero in the environmental movement and for standing up for what he believes in. He refused to give up his land to the destructive practice of mountain top removal and uses it to educate others about its process. Logistics are still being figured out, but I hope we can get several administrators and town officials out there to see the process firsthand.

April 15th: Free Hug Day
Purposely the day before the anniversary of the shootings at Virginia Tech, every year since then I've helped host Free Hug Day on campus as a way to show appreciation for our community and each other. In the hours and days after the shooting I can say that a hug from a friend, even strangers I just met, meant everything to me and gave hope in a hopeless situation. We don't need tragedy to have this appreciation for one another, so in utilizing facebook as an outreach tool I hope we can get 1,000,000 signed up by April 15th. If each person hugs 30 other people we would have hugged 10% of the American population in one day. I think we can do even more than that around the world. Stay tuned for this one.

Those are just a couple events I'm working on right now. This semester is quite an adventure already!

The Movement and Beyond Coal

noreply@blogger.com (Bryce Carter) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 06:30:43 PST

In an hour I’m going to be on the road to Washington D.C. to have an interview with Green Corps. In the half decade I’ve been an active environmentalist I’ve learned that this essential movement is terribly complicated. You have differences in strategies from direct collaboration with community leaders to aggressive direct action. Within these strategies you have the idea of utilizing a step-by-step approach of outreach and cooperation which, if unyielding, may lead to aggressive direct action protests against leadership. Others idealize a tool-box method in which cooperation and aggressive direct action can be employed at the same time.

Then you have the movement itself producing friction between grassroot approaches and top-down induction of campaigns. Professional organizers, as we’ve been known to call them, come in with regional or national efforts and resources to get people involved locally with their issues. I’ve had experience in which professional organizing has been done what I would consider a right way, and a wrong way.

Last fall Green Corps partnered with the Sierra Club to kick off the Beyond Coal Campaign where dozens of universities across the nation with coal power plants are being asked to commit to transitioning away from coal to cleaner resources. Here at Virginia Tech a Green Corps member came in and helped seed a campaign that we’ve long been interested in. We’ve asked our administration to stop using mountain top removal coal within one year, commission a study of how we can do it (how about we actually start living up to our slogan "Invent the Future" for a change?) and be off coal by the year 2020. Between biofuels and natural gas for short term and as it becomes more feasible wind, solar and geothermal technologies, we aren’t having to reinvent the wheel here.

So far all of my experiences with Green Corps have related to it being done the right way of top-down organizing by empowering a local movement. The two organizers who I have worked with are nothing short of inspirational to me and motivated me to apply to Green Corps. Between my experiences of years of organizing and even a bid for Town Council, I’m cautiously optimistic for this interview.

I’ll leave this conversation here for now. Below is my letter to the editor to the Collegiate Times, with the original article here.

This is OUR challenge

Two years ago I had the opportunity to be a part of a student delegation that met with President Steger that led to the creation and passage of the Virginia Tech Climate Action Commitment and Sustainability Plan (VTCACSP). Since that meeting then, I’ve seen countless community members have a devoted part in the research and planning associated with establishing that commitment, and I am extremely proud of our university taking a step in the right direction towards a sustainable future.

Last week I had the honor to be present at another meeting with members of the university administration with Virginia Tech Beyond Coal; a campus group with a campaign that asks for our university to 1) stop burning coal from mountain top removal sites within one year, 2) begin co-firing as much sustainably sourced biomass without major retooling of our power plant’s boilers by 2015, and 3) to end our use of coal in the central steam plant by 2020, five years ahead of the planned boiler replacement. While administrators acknowledged that “[the university does] want to work towards that ultimate goal”, they said that this plan “aggressively evolves” the VTCACSP and goes against the work of those that were involved with it. Administrators claimed they would only continue this conversation if we, as students, work on changing our behavior regarding energy consumption.

Now, not only do I respectfully disagree with what was said of working against those involved with the planning of the VTCACSP, I also am disappointed with the fact that our administration, with the defined motto of Ut Prosim and slogan “Invent the Future,” have to rely on the students themselves to put forth such a challenge to our university community. Shouldn’t it be the other way around?

We’re currently faced with enormous challenges in the world, and as a leading research institution I feel it is our duty to step up to these challenges and take them head on. West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd, a long advocate for the coal industry, said in a recent speech: “To be part of any solution, one must first acknowledge a problem. To deny the mounting science of climate change is to stick our heads in the sand and say ‘deal me out’… The greatest threats to the future of coal do not come from possible constraints on mountaintop removal mining or other environmental regulations, but rather from rigid mindsets, depleting coal reserves, and the declining demand for coal…”

I have been heavily involved in the environmental movement and have seen it grow exponentially in the last several years. I know solutions aren’t as simple as flicking a switch, but Appalachia has already passed peak coal, meaning regional coal supplies will likely dwindle to nothing in the next few decades as costs continue to skyrocket. As companies begin to abandon already struggling communities, I find it the duty of our university community to advance alternative energies to create new green jobs, preserve the values of our land and work with communities as we pursue a carbon neutral and sustainable future.

President John F. Kennedy challenged our country to reach the moon in a decade, something deemed impossible. We did it. Now we are faced with another challenge with the same deadline, and we don’t have to go to the moon to achieve it. This is our challenge, and as a community let’s have newfound collaboration in our pursuing creative solutions. Let’s Invent the RIGHT Future. Let’s work together and move beyond coal.

Bryce Carter
Class of 2010
Humanities, Science, and Environment

Revitalizing the Website

noreply@blogger.com (Bryce Carter) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:26:47 PST

Now that it has been a few months after the election I figure I need to stretch out my blogging skills. As you can see, I’ve been working on redeveloping my website to match my life as a community organizer and keep better track of all the activities I’m involved in. Check out the issues page to get an idea of where I'm headed with the design: http://www.brycecarter.com/issues/

I'll do my best to provide regular updates my final semester, especially with Earth Hour, Virginia Tech Move Beyond Coal campaign and the Wise County Project. This week I presented the Virginia Tech Energy and Sustainability Committee and the Blacksburg Town Council with a letter presenting Earth Hour. I've copied my letter to Town Council below:

To the members of Blacksburg Town Council,

As you know, climate change is happening all around us and its pace is accelerating. From melting glaciers to increasingly intense weather patterns, climate change is already impacting life across the globe.

To make a bold symbolic statement of collective concern for our planet, the World Wildlife Fund sponsored an event in 2007 in which active citizens in Sydney, Australia turned off their lights for one hour—Earth Hour. By 2009, Earth Hour became the largest event of its kind in the world with nearly one billion people from 4,100 cities in 87 countries turned out their lights, as well as international landmarks including the Golden Gate Bridge, Empire State Building, Eiffel Tower and Great Pyramids, and the city skylines of Las Vegas, Hong Kong, and Tel Aviv.

Saturday, March 27, 2010 at 8:30p.m. the world will send a powerful message that climate change is a priority that must be dealt with now. By turning off non-essential lighting during Earth Hour, hundreds of millions of people across the globe will show their support for lasting action to protect Earth’s natural resources, environment and climate, now and into the future. Earth Hour reminds us that by working together, we all have a working role to solve one of the most critical issues of our time. Earth Hour also provides an excellent forum for citizens to hold meaningful conversations about the ways in which all of us can act to be part of the solution.

With the Town of Blacksburg already demonstrating extraordinary leadership by signing the Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement, joining the ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability Program, and establishing the Mayor’s Task Force on Climate Protection and Sustainability, Earth Hour provides a new opportunity for the diverse communities of Blacksburg and Virginia Tech to come together to show support for action to save our planet for future generations. In potential partnership with Virginia Tech, our joint participation will show that we care as a community and send a powerful message to the world that the

United States

is a leader in the movement to address climate change.

As planning continues, it is our hope to utilize either the Drillfield on Virginia Tech’s campus and turn off the lights at Burruss Hall or utilize the newly renovated Market Square Park as a community gathering place for citizens and students to enjoy each others’ company in candlelight. With the assistance of Virginia Tech Electric, our electricity demand both on and off campus will be monitored during Earth Hour and the savings will be shared with the public.

With the assistance of Town Council, we hope that the Town of Blacksburg will choose to partner with the Student Government Association Sustainability Committee and participate in Earth Hour 2010. We look forward to your response.

For more information about Earth Hour, check out www.earthhour.org or watch the video below.

Thank You

noreply@blogger.com (Bryce Carter) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:49:57 PST

Dear Friends and Supporters,

The last seven months have been quite a journey. Last Tuesday we lost the election, but in my eyes it was a tremendous success given the exceptionally high standards that we brought to the race and the Blacksburg community. The Mayor, Councilors, Councilor-elects, and countless community members have shared with me the gratitude they feel for the honor and energy our campaign brought to the table. It is said that we raised the bar for elections in Blacksburg. After the results got in last week, I stood up to speak to the Council-elect and their supporters about how their passion and devotion has inspired me over the course of the campaign. Before I could get a word out, however, they honored me with a standing ovation. I feel truly blessed to have been so recognized and would like to share this ovation with those who contributed to our campaign.

My deepest gratitude goes out to those contributors. Every handshake, every minute volunteered, and every cent donated—from every smile to every word of encouragement—I am indebted to all of you because without this support, our campaign would not have been possible. I would especially like to thank Kyle Gardiner and Graham Owen for their contributions, which considerably enhanced the quality of our campaign. Their devotion, skill sets, and countless hours of hard work allowed our campaign to maintain the high standards to which we held ourselves. They were nothing less than the arm and leg of this campaign.

Ever since making Blacksburg my home, I have aimed to make a positive difference in our town. I am proud to be a community organizer and am greatly appreciative of the incredible feedback I have received in this time, especially in the last few weeks. My friend, Chris Cox, honored me by devoting a column in the Collegiate Times to the campaign and what we strove to accomplish. In his own words, he states that, “The belief that one can make a difference is called efficacy… Bryce Carter deserves my vote because he does not need to be convinced of his own efficacy—he lives it.”

I will continue to devote myself to the Blacksburg community, striving every day to benefit the lives of fellow citizens. Recently I have been placed on a subcommittee of the Mayor’s Task Force on Climate Protection and Sustainability. In addition, I have been working on the Blacksburg Climate Action Plan, in which we’ll be laying out a roadmap towards the reduction of the town’s emissions. By the end of this semester, I intend to finalize the creation of a Student Advisory Committee that will work directly with the Town Council and the Town and Gown Relations Committee. In the first months of 2010, I will lead community events such as a joint effort between Virginia Tech and Blacksburg to participate in Earth Hour. I will also explore the resources necessary to upgrade the town’s website utilizing new interactive technologies that will promote direct democracy from the comfort of your own home.

Once again, I would like to thank everyone for their support; we couldn’t have done it without you. I now invite you to join me in working to make Blacksburg a stronger, more cohesive community as we move into the future. Indeed, this is just the beginning.

Warmest regards,

Bryce Carter

In their own words...

noreply@blogger.com (Bryce Carter) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 20:15:56 PST

"The Roanoke Times endorsed four excellent candidates. Four others are now posting information together. One other, Bryce Carter, deserves consideration. I’ve known and worked with Bryce since he arrived in Blacksburg. Bryce has become attached to our community. To those who’ve said “Well, he’ll move in a couple of years”, I say that any us may want or have to move. So, that is not a solid argument. Bryce, more than some candidates, has done his homework. If you’ve attended or viewed any of the candidate events, you would have seen Bryce articulating solid answers to questions without vague responses. If he didn’t know an answer, he didn’t “shovel” it. I’ve been impressed with his intensity and his friendly responsive nature. He truly wants transparency in government. Bryce and his dedicated campaign team have attended nearly every Town Council meeting and work session since last spring. He’s taken it to the streets to meet voters and learn about citizen concerns.

I trust Bryce; and I believe that he will help us grow smart, build our economy, protect our resources, and help reflect the demographic balance of our town. Consider him as fresh eyes and new energy on old issues."

- Mike Rosenzweig, Blacksburg Town Councilor

“Bryce Carter represents a new breed of campus leadership -- mature, engaged; hard-working; and, above all, well informed. He outshines candidates twice his age…”

- Leslie Hager-Smith, Blacksburg Town Councilor

"Bryce Carter displays an impressive level of knowledge in both municipal planning and fiscal management. Bryce has the skills and dedication to make Blacksburg an even more Special Place."

- Don Langrehr, Blacksburg Town Councilor

CT Editorial: Candidate Bryce Carter's efficacy evident in his work

noreply@blogger.com (Bryce Carter) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:14:00 PDT

I am truly honored by my good friend Chris Cox, who I consider a passionate leader of whom I find personal inspiration, use his Collegiate Times column to recognize me for the upcoming election. This was unexpected and what he wrote is very touching.

--

Collegiate Times: Candidate Bryce Carter's efficacy evident in his work

Christopher Cox, regular Collegiate Times columnist

The greater part of my last fall semester consisted of running the Virginia Tech chapter of Students for Barack Obama. My role called me to spur others to political action, which is superficially recognized as bothering a lot of people to vote.

I found the inspiration to bother so many people from the sincere and still-believed truth that I could make a difference among a cacophony of opinions, distractions and individual pursuits.

The belief that one can make a difference is called efficacy. Efficacy, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is the power to produce an effect. It is manifested in the way people spend their time, which, because we’ve created the cultural “work week,” can be measured.

It’s easy and convenient to not believe in your own efficacy. If you don’t believe you have it, you don’t have to feel responsible for the outcomes of your efforts or how you spend your time.

My organization’s efforts last fall — alongside many other politically active groups in Montgomery County — registered more than 6,000 voters. Many of these voters were students, and some were casting ballots for the very first time. We are now in a very unique position as a student body to politically engage with the community in which we spend the majority of our time: Blacksburg. We make up more than 60 percent of the Blacksburg population and have no voice on Blacksburg Town Council.

We have a chance to change this on Nov. 3.

I have a close friend who has a profound and fundamental knowledge of his own efficacy. His efficacy is rooted in years of activism as a student and community organizer, and he is emboldened with unique experiences in regard to addressing issues of equity, community and environment. His name is Bryce Carter, and he’s running for Blacksburg Town Council.

I had the opportunity to listen to all the town council candidates at the SGA-hosted debate last week — and it became clear which of them have a working knowledge of the concepts of “sustainability” and “community.”

With the specter of “urban growth” thrown around among the candidates, I find solace in my knowledge of Bryce’s experience as an advocate for “smart growth” and his commitment to cooperation in producing change. An example of such a commitment has manifested in the Virginia Tech Climate Action Commitment, which he helped draft as a leader of the Environmental Coalition.

What all the candidates did have in common during the debate was a reverence for Bryce’s ideas.

Bringing the town of Blacksburg Web site to Web 2.0-standards and setting up a Student Advisory Committee to provide input in town decision-making are just two of Bryce’s initiatives that have quickly been picked up and espoused by all the candidates.

I know very few other people as committed as Bryce to serving the student community and Blacksburg in the pursuit of our common goals, and if our values can be measured by how we spend our time, the position of town council member wouldn’t even do Bryce justice.

Bryce’s commitment to public service and his willingness to engage with others, no matter how outwardly friendly they may be, or whether their values align with his own, is evidence enough for me to fully support his endeavors in this election.

More importantly, I am thoroughly convinced Bryce Carter deserves my vote because he does not need to be convinced of his own efficacy — he lives it.

Bryce is an example of who we all hope to be within our academic fields and among our communities: respected leaders who spend their time and commit their efforts to serving their friends and families without sacrificing their values.

Perhaps living our efficacy is the only way to learn how to make our envisioned hopes and dreams real. You’ll never know your own power unless you choose to exercise it.

Original Article