Taken from an article by Joan Oleck

The movement on college campuses continues to be in the direction of greener energy sources.

Commitments to transform campuses to largely or completely coal-free are coming from high-profile institutions, among them the University of North Carolina (UNC), the University of Illinois, Western Kentucky University, and Case Western Reserve in Cleveland.

Ball State University in Indiana plans to construct the largest closed geothermal system in the nation by 2017. And the University of Illinois has pledged to stop using coal within seven years as part of its plan to reduce energy use and cut carbon emissions. 

Meanwhile, an independent project, the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, claims to have signed 676 academic institutions to a pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent.

Read the whole article here.

As the polls close in most of the state (Eastern Timezone), the Bowling Green Chapter (Central Timezone) is continuing to make calls to mobilize voters.

We had a good conversation with a gentleman William Moore of Bowling Green that was very thankful to hear that KFTC was doing voter empowerment work in Warren County!  Despite the outcome projected there's a buzz out here!

We have volunteers texting, calling and making sure that folks know where to vote in the last hour.

KFTC members in Bowling Green have worked hard over the last week and a half with an impressive set of phonebanking, plus a great candidate forum last week that 90 people came out to (pictures below). 

Today, members are finishing up their voter mobilization call lists, mostly from their homes.  One of our members really talked up voting on her radio show this morning. 

To get as close as we can to our goal of 50,000 personal voter mobilization contacts leading up to Election Day, phone banks – coming together to make phone calls – remain our most important strategy.

And night after night, we've made calls from KFTC offices, and local businesses, and homes of our members in places like Whitesburg, Northern Kentucky, Lexington, Georgetown, Louisville, Berea, Floyd County, and Bowling Green.

Here are a few pictures to give you a feel for some of the phone banks in just the past 48 hours.

Bowling Green

Northern Kentucky

Lexington

"I volunteer to make calls with KFTC because I think it's important for people to have an opportunity to be a part of the democratic process and be aware of who is making decisions on their behalf."

                      - Eli Kleinsmith, WKU student, Bowling Green Chapter

And of course, there are a lot of calls to make yet between now and Election Day, so there's still time for you to set aside a couple of hours and pitch in.

Our organizing in Bowling Green is kicking into high-gear with several good, recent field events and community tabling and is about to launch into an intense program of Voter Mobilization phonebanks, plus a candidate forum next Thursday.

If you'd like to volunteer, please contact our Bowling Green Voter Empowerment Organizer Patty Tarquino at 1-606-335-0806 or patty@kftc.org.

Most phonebanks don't have set locations yet, but please call today to volunteer. 

- Fri, Oct 22nd 10am-4pm
- Sat, Oct 23rd 12noon-7pm
- Sun, Oct 24th 2pm-8pm
- Mon, Oct 25th 10am - 12 noon and 1pm-9pm
- Tue, Oct 26th 10am-5pm
- Wed, Oct 27th 6pm-8pm
- Thur, Oct 28th 1pm-4pm
- Fri, Oct 29th 10am-9pm
- Sat, Oct 30th 12 noon-9pm
- Sun, Oct 31st 2pm-8pm
- Mon, Nov 1st 10am-9pm

The Bowling Green Fair Housing Coalition organized a Fair Housing Unity Fair on Saturday that offered a fun time, good food, information about local resources, opportunities to organize, and inflated bouncies.

The event was the first big coalition event, and was part-kick off, part welcome party, and part invitation to get involved and to come to a candidate forum next week.

The Bowling Green Fair Housing Coalition is made up of local service, housing, and community organizations including KFTC.  Here are the coalition's guiding principles.

• Everyone should have equal access to housing, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, national origin, sexual orientation, or age.
• Residents should have adequate access to affordable housing programs that will move people toward owning their homes.
• Renters should have access to housing that is decent, safe, and sanitary, with affordable energy efficiency options.
• Renters and landlords should have clarity about their rights and obligations.
• Renters should have protections against unfair practices.

Bowling Green is a growing city that’s preserved its small town feel, one of the reasons we love it. But small town folks know we can’t depend on handshakes to make sure that we’re all treated fairly. We need tools, a few rules everyone plays by.Most landlords in Bowling Green are fair. But we all know that we have a few bad apples. The impact of these bad apples, on individual families and on our community, is great, and the suffering they cause is substantial. We shouldn’t let these bad apples set the standard. Let’s put standards in place that obligate the bad apples to live up to our expectations.

 Get involved by coming to the Candidate Forum on October 28th!  It'll be held at State Street Baptist Church at 340 State Street from 6:30 to 8:30.

Take just a second to check out this article in the Bowling Green Daily News about yesterday's TVA public hearing.

Tennessee Valley Authority supplies electricity to parts of Tennessee, North Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Virgina, and Kentucky.  The Bowling Green hearing was one of five hearings to gather public comment on TVA's set of options for the next twenty years.  Bowling Green member Dana Beasley Brown learned of the hearing the morning of, from the local paper.   

Members quickly mobilized to read the report, generate talking points in support of Plan E (the plan that introduces the most investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency), and attend the hearing prepared to speak.

And wouldn't you know it, every person who showed up at the hearing was a KFTC member!  It wasn't a large crowd, but it was a well-informed group unanimously supportive of Plan E. Jan Garrett talked about how investments in efficiency would offer local jobs, and how TVA's analysis that relying on coal and nuclear is cheaper fails to account for their true costs.  And Dana talked about how a plan grounded in renewables and efficiency is healthier and more cost effective.

 TVA is slated to make a decision in one year.  From their Kentucky consumers, they heard a clear message that Kentucky is ready for new power!

Late, late last night, we conducted some humble voter registration work at the campground of Mammoth Cave National Park as part of Operation Voter Madness. 

A handful of folks at KFTC member Jennifer Wurts' 30th birthday party took the opportunity to register or update their voting address.

We also passed out some of our voter guides.

It's not much, but a little work like this in communities all across the state really adds up - and we never miss an opportunity to register a few voters during Operation Voter Madness.

So Happy Birthday to Jennifer Wurts - and thanks to everyone who registered last night.

The KFTC Bowling Green Chapter kicked off its Operation Voter Madness Wednesday night September 29th on Western Kentucky University's campus. 

As students gathered to raise awareness for the millions of people who have housing problems in the U.S., KFTC volunteers were ready to register students at the Shanty Town event. 

76 new registration were turned in on Friday afternoon to the Warren County clerk's office and the weekend is just now beginning...

"It's very exciting to meet students how actually "get it" and who are as pumped about strengthening our democracy as we have been here at the Beardy Poe!"                    - Meredith Wadlington

It's been 20 hours since our last Operation Voter Madness update and we've had a lot of robust, fun field work since then.

Here's a quick rundown of activities throughout the state in the last day:

- Scott County Festival of The Horse - We canvassed the crowds this afternoon and registered lots of voters.  We also had some good conversations with people about our campaign to restore voting rights to former felons and got a few stacks of Voter Guides to our volunteers (picture to the right).

- Lexington - Continuous voter registration including 4 hours at Tolly Ho,  4 hours at the Lexington Transit Center, 4 hours on UK Campus, and 4 hours at the Hope Center.  Right now, volunteers are starting their shift at the Kentucky Theater (picture to the right).

- Harlan County - Swappin' Meetin' Festival in Cumberland, KY.

- Northern Kentucky KFTC kicked off their Operation Voter Madness a couple of hours ago with it's Northern Kentucky Loves Mountains Concert, which will run from 4pm to 2am.

- Bowling Green - Lots of voter registration work at WKU.

And there's still tons of events to go! Scroll down on the blog to fin our full Operation Voter Madness schedule and come out and volunteer!

Also, check this blog over the next few days to see more updates as we get them up.

More Scott County Voter Registration Pictures