01:00 AM EST on Wednesday, February 16, 2005

MIDDLEBURY, Vt.

THE WORLD has recently been reminded yet again of the gravity of the climate crisis. The International Climate Change Task Force, co-chaired by Sen. Olympia Snowe (R.-Maine), declared that "climate change is a serious and growing threat, leaving no country, however wealthy, immune from the extreme weather events and rising sea levels that scientists predict will occur unless action is taken."

And a new study published in Nature (documented at www.climateprediction.net) concludes that global warming could be even more extreme than previously thought.

Yet while politicians and scientists usher in such grim diagnoses, ordinary citizens are spreading hope about a clean-energy future.

Last month, we witnessed this hope here at Middlebury College as we were host to more than 100 leaders of the new climate movement for a three-day conference: "What Works? New Strategies for a Melting Planet."

Who are the new climate activists? Well, they are not tree huggers. Sure, a number of shaggy-haired young folks were among us -- this is a college in Vermont, after all! But it's short-sighted and politically unwise to think that the thoughtful, engaged citizens who are building this new movement are just the usual environmentalist suspects.

In fact, they are strikingly diverse. They are Democrats and Republicans. They are leaders in nonprofits and businesses; in churches, other religious organizations, and Native American tribes; and in colleges and universities. They are rural grandparents, urban parents and schoolchildren everywhere.

A sampling of the presentations at the conference illustrates this movement's diversity:

Mary Lou Finley, formerly on the staff of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., taught us about updating the lessons of the civil-rights movement in the age of globalization and the Internet.

Billy Parish, the founder and director of Energy Action, and Jihan Gearon, the coordinator of the Climate Justice Corps, shared their successes in planting the seeds of the new climate movement on college campuses and in communities of color.

Peyton Fleming, communications director of CERES, detailed how this Boston-based national coalition of investors is encouraging pension and retirement-fund managers to pressure companies to examine the financial risks and opportunities of global warming.

Peter Senge, a senior lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management, offered his vision of a clean-energy future that would create millions of new jobs.

What unites these Americans? They understand the incontrovertible evidence of the climate crisis -- a grave new form of injustice that cuts across current and future generations -- and are committed to doing their part to stop it.

For at some not unimaginable point within this century, we will have discarded the internal-combustion engine and the coal-burning power plant. We will have created millions of new jobs in a globalized economy powered by renewable energy.

The big question, really, is: When?

Can we do this soon enough? Well, if "we, the people" care enough, appreciate the urgency enough, flex our civic muscle enough -- remember Dr. King's boycotts? The answer is: Very soon.

Here in the United States, we lack political will at the national level. But, as is so often the case, this emerging social movement is being led from the grassroots.

At the same time, our conference portends a new kind of movement, tailored to the challenges and opportunities of this new century. Yes, climate activists will do their share of marching, boycotting, and petition signing. But they are also embracing new tools.

For example, three Middlebury students, in collaboration with the citizen-based Green House Network (www.greenhousenet.org), have announced The Flat Earth Award (www.flatearthaward.org): "a humorous effort to highlight the denial of global warming by prominent public figures." By holding to the light the preposterous naysaying of this year's nominees -- including Rush Limbaugh and Michael Crichton -- this online resource helps to spread the word: The climate crisis is real, and we have the clean-energy solutions to stop it.

A second, even more promising, tool: A coalition of campus-based climate groups (www.energyaction.net) has joined with leading business consultants to launch an Internet-facilitated business-savvy campaign that will pressure Detroit's automakers to build new fleets of climate-friendly cars.

In the words of one economics major at the conference: "Our generation is about to buy millions of new cars. We plan to help Detroit figure out how to build the clean cars that we want to drive!"

A year ago in March, The Economist magazine asked: "Could the next grassroots revolution in America be over climate change?"

Around the country, climate activists are declaring, with strength and passion: "Yes!"

Jonathan Isham Jr. is a member of the Middlebury College economics department and the college's program in environmental studies.