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In an attempt to influence national politicians to support clean and renewable energy, UCLA students from ecologically-minded groups participated in a national day of action for a better energy policy.

A national coalition of student groups, including UCLA’s California Student Sustainability Coalition, circulated petitions on which the signers were asked to declare “Independence from dirty energy.”

The California Student Sustainability Coalition is a statewide student organization dedicated to improving quality of life on the individual, interpersonal and community level.

On the national day of action – which was organized by Energy Action, a coalition of student and youth groups for clean energy in North America – students gathered signatures and made phone calls to President Bush and his Democratic challenger, Sen. John Kerry.

The signatures will be sent to the winner of the 2004 presidential election.

“Young voters are making the connections between U.S. reliance on dirty energy and the issues we care about most: war, job loss and global warming,” says Billy Parish, the coordinator of Energy Action, in a statement.

“Our energy policy is dangerously misguided. A rapid shift to clean energy must be a priority in this election,” Parish said.

Energy Action posted the petition on their Web site in an attempt to gain more youth support.

The sustainability coalition also attempted to raise awareness at UCLA about reliance on dirty energy such as oil and coal.

“Our dependence on dirty energy has led us into a dirty war and is unsustainable for the 21st century,” says Dorothy Le, sustainability coalition’s campus coordinator for the National Clean Energy Campaign.

“Moving to an economic system based on clean energy is a necessary step in slowing global warming, ensuring national security, and creating a peaceful world for our generation and future generations,” Le said.

The group recently collaborated with the UC Board of Regents and UC Office of the President to pass a system-wide Green Building/Renewable Energy policy in July of 2003.

The “Green Building Policy and Clean Energy Standard” calls for the UC to adopt principles of energy efficiency and sustainability in its capital projects to the fullest extent possible, taking into account budgetary constraints, and regulatory and programmatic requirements.

According to a press release by UCOP, the policy also calls for the university to minimize its impact on the environment and reduce non-renewable energy use by purchasing green power from the electrical grid, promoting energy efficiency, and creating local renewable power sources.