This is a guest post by Shreya and Daniela, representatives on ACE’s Youth Advisory Board, founders of SmartPowerEd, and seniors at Upper Harker School in San Joes, CA

Helllloooooo, ACE readers! Daniela and Shreya here! We’re on a plane from NYC and heading home over an idyllic layer of white, fluffy clouds… how did this happen?!

Well, ACE’s founder Michael Haas invited us to speak with him at the Clinton Global Initiative today. It’s an annual meeting since 2001, held in New York City, where world leaders and powerful people make solid commitments for change. Walking the walk, going full-steam ahead, hitting a home run. And so on.

Last year, Mike went there and made the commitment of “Activating High School Students to Stop Climate Change.” Now, he announced that ACE has booked 1 MILLION students for its awesome assemblies. What a report!

We were there just to give the real-life student perspective on the story – that ACE has truly changed our lives and inspired us to start our own energy-saving organization for local high schools. We were nervous getting up on stage, but the audience and other speakers at our panel were really supportive.

We even saw Barbara Streisand in the crowd! Not to mention all of the climate leaders, like moderator Van Jones.

Other speakers blew us away. Solazyme makes oil out of plants (super cool!), while Waka Waka Light makes a cheap, solar-powered lamp to replace kerosene lamps in Africa. Lumni thinks you don’t have to be rich to go to college, and… did you know the US Navy is really, really interested in alternative energy? In fact, it would literally save lives.

Anyways, while that lunch panel was great, it was also incredible to hear a whole stage of world leaders call for a binding, international climate pact… plus, it never hurts to be in the same (huge) room as Bill Clinton (we have to admit to being a little bit star-struck). He was incredibly inspirational. One quote by President Clinton really stuck with us: “It’s okay for young people to not run for office but they shouldn’t run away from politics.” While it’s possible to start grassroots movements, we shouldn’t forget that government still has the power to make a lot of change in communities.

Even though CGI is not necessarily climate specific, a lot of events on the schedule included the words “energy” or “environment.” It just goes to show that the issue is and will be hugely impacting the global community – including President Obama, who’s attending and speaking on Wednesday!

Outside of CGI, we had a ton of fun seeing Central Park, speed-walking with Maria, eating 4 times a day, seeing a Glee actor on the street, and meeting with Bryan Walsh of Time Magazine. We even got the chance to see a night of classical music by DJ Spooky, who called it an “acoustic portrait of ice” inspired by his time in Antarctica. Unique, huh?

While the world leaders were asking for something so big as an international pact after CGI, it was inspiring to see so many people making commitments and reporting back on their achievements.

We have managed to save a few schools some thousands of dollars on their energy bills, but every event like this reminds me and Shreya that we “ain’t done yet”. While we’ll rejoice when a perfect environmental situation puts us out of a job, for now, it’s really exciting to be witnesses to this growing movement that is making the history books.

Join us & join ACE by taking action today!!