Think about this for a second: one dedicated, passionate individual filling up a room with energy, inspiring everyone within ear shot. Now think about almost 12,000 of those indviduals gathered in one particular place at one particular time. Welcome to Powershift 2009.

Power Shift 2009 took place from Friday, February 27th through Monday, March 2nd at the D.C. Conference Center in the heart of downtown Washington, within walking distance to the White House, Capitol Building, Washington Monument and all of the symbols of freedom in our country.

The League of Young Voters Education Fund brought over 150 people to the conference, and we're going to feature their voices, thoughts, pictures, video, and testimonials right here. 

To kick off our Power Shift coverage, we could think of no better leader than Marshall Ganz.  Ganz was the only speaker scheduled last Friday, and one look at this interview, conducted by LYVEF's Heather Box, shows why.

It's easy to go online, see the advertising, the pictures, the colors of our modern pop culture and see the non profit movement as just one more outlet for young energy, no bigger or smaller than the rest. Easily, the youth movement - as well as this pivotal moment in our time - gets lost in the chaos.

But to do that is to devalue the sacrifice and commitment of the young organizers, the up and coming Marshall Ganz's who came to Power Shift to gain knowledge they can take back to all of us, to their families and friends and neighbors. If we choose to passively ignore the energy and spirit of young organizers, their message is eternally lost.

This modern New Deal movement is a beautiful thing, because we, the young people of America, can unite around the most imminent threat to our existence: global warming and the destruction of our environment.

We do not have to question each other; no race, gender, orientation or occupation is excluded from our fight, because this is a fight for LIFE.