Student Advocacy Groups Unite to Create Nation's Largest Youth-Based Action Alert Network

San Francisco, CA; New York, NY - A new coalition of student environmental and social justice groups have joined forces to form the nation’s largest youth-based online activism partnership, called the Student Action Network (SAN). The goal of SAN is to use the Internet to make social awareness and activism a part of mainstream youth culture. Visit SAN’s website at www.StudentActionNetwork.com.

“National polls show that young people consider the destruction of the environment to be one of the biggest problems facing their generation,” said Severn Williams, Communications Director for the Student Action Network. “Student Action Network gives young people the tools to become educated on critical environmental and social justice issues, and provides them the tools to contribute to positive social change.”

Organizations participating in the Student Action Network include the Sierra Student Coalition, Student Environmental Action Coalition, Youth for Environmental Sanity (YES!), Global Youth Connect, Earthnet, POPsustainability, Students for a Free Tibet, and Youthlink. Environmental Defense is the primary sponsor of the Student Action Network.

“Encouraging young people to become active in environmental and social issues is the key to a sustainable future,” said Benjamin Smith, director of the Environmental Defense Action Network. “Environmental Defense recognizes the importance of educating and inspiring young people to take action. The Student Action Network is doing just that.”

The Student Action Network equips participating organizations with sophisticated multimedia-based online activism tools, allowing them to instantly contact their membership and generate thousands of emails and faxes to top decision-makers. In addition to featuring streaming video, audio, and interactive action alerts, the Student Action Network’s web site features animated virtual newscasters that present the latest action news and guide people through the process of taking action.

The Student Action Network celebrated their first victory when thousands of emails were sent to the CEO of Pabst Blue Ribbon requesting that the company remove a billboard placed in Tibet that read, “Pabst Blue Ribbon celebrates the 50^th Anniversary of the peaceful liberation of Tibet.” Shortly after the email campaign, Pabst Blue Ribbon removed the billboard, citing the influx of email messages. In their messages, activists claim that China’s 1949 invasion and ensuing occupation of Tibet has lead to over 1.2 million Tibetan deaths, the destruction of more than 6,000 monasteries.

Pabst’s CEO Brian Kovalchuk was quoted in a San Antonio paper last week saying “I’m staring at folders full of printouts of the emails right now, and the stack is at least 6 to 8 inches thick. We’re taking this very seriously.”

For more information please call (415) 387-7789, or visit www.StudentActionNetwork.com.