Tue, April 22 2008 - Focus the Nation and CLIF MOJO ™ Award Three Innovative Young Leaders $10,000 Grants to Propel Creative Global Warming Solutions into Action: “Project Slingshot” Winners of Nationwide Competition Announced on Earth Day

PORTLAND, OR and BERKELEY, CA, April 22, 2008—This summer Project Slingshot, a partnership between Focus the Nation and CLIF MOJO, the sweet and salty trail mix bar, will propel three youth-driven global warming solution projects into action.

The winners, who were selected in a nationwide competition of 18 to 25 year olds, will use their funding to help create a prototype community-based thermal energy system in Portland, a roof-top community garden in San Francisco and video news segments highlighting the youth climate movement across the nation.

Focus the Nation events in January sparked dialogue and engagement on global warming solutions at campuses across the country. “Project Slingshot is building on that momentum, empowering young climate activists to develop the solutions that will address the challenge of their generation,” said Denis Hayes, organizer of the first Earth Day in 1970, president and CEO of the Bullitt Foundation in Seattle and a Project Slingshot judge.

Project Slingshot is one of many efforts Clif Bar is making to address global climate change. “Business has to be part of the solution to global warming. For us that starts with using organic ingredients in the foods we make,” said Clif Bar Owner/Founder Gary Erickson. “We’re proud that Project Slingshot opens the door for young people to develop creative solutions to an enormous challenge facing the world today.”

“This is exactly what the climate movement needs,” said Eban Goodstein, project director for Focus the Nation. “With CLIF MOJO’s support, these young people are transforming their education on solutions into action and tackling a problem unlike any in history. America needs this generation’s leadership to bring us into the clean energy economy of the 21st century and to protect this Earth for all generations to come.”

Six other judges joined Hayes in selecting the winners from a wide array of outstanding applications. The other judges included Rocky Anderson, former mayor of Salt Lake City and a national leader in the effort to fight global warming; Adam Gardner, guitarist/vocalist for Guster and founder of REVERB, a non-profit organization promoting environmental sustainability among musicians and their fans; Judith Helfand, an award-winning filmmaker, educator and activist whose films often address environmental issues; Jeremy Jones, one of the world’s top professional snowboarders and founder of Protect Our Winters, which inspires winter sports enthusiasts to address climate change; Eric Larsen, a modern day explorer who uses expeditions to promote global warming solutions; and Billy Parish, co-founder and coordinator of the Energy Action Coalition and a full-time organizer in the youth climate movement.

The Winners
Jesse Hough, Sunnyside Neighborhood Energy Project, Portland, OR, will run a summer “think-and-do tank” institute that will engage students to help advance an innovative, community-owned, thermal district energy system utilizing low carbon energy supplies to provide space heating and cooling and domestic hot water to a mixed residential/commercial neighborhood of Portland, Oregon. In partnership with Portland State University, Midtech Energy and the Cascade Climate Network, the project will identify and tackle obstacles to implementing a sustainable neighborhood energy system.

Richard Graves, Fired Up Youth Action TV, Washington, D.C., will produce five minute news segments covering youth issues ranging from education, to politics, to jobs and the economy, to entertainment and culture – all through the lens of the most important challenges facing young people: the impact of global warming and the construction of a cleaner, more just economy and society. With contributors from around the country and traditional and new media distribution, Fired Up Youth Action TV will reach a broad audience of youth with stories they relate to, building the climate movement.

Maya Donelson, Graze the Roof, San Francisco, CA, will integrate local organic food production and the efficiency gains of a green roof with an edible green roof at Glide, a diverse San Francisco church and nonprofit located in the Tenderloin District serving low income and marginalized people. Students from Glide’s Training and Employment Services Youth Build Program will construct and maintain the garden. In addition to producing 1,440 lbs. of food in its first year, the rooftop will provide a natural sanctuary and a space to relax, inspire, educate and empower 200 homeless and low-income children between the ages of 5 and 18.

Focus The Nation’s inaugural educational initiative on global warming solutions for America occurred at more than 1,900 universities, civic and faith organizations and in all 50 states on Jan. 31, 2008, and reached 1 million people. Focus the Nation 2009 plans to engage 5 million Americans in dialogs with a majority of their representatives in each house of Congress. As the largest teach-in in U.S. history, Focus The Nation is preparing millions of students to become leaders in the largest civilizational challenge any generation has faced.

Clif Bar & Company is a leading maker of all-natural and organic energy and nutrition foods and drinks, including CLIF MOJO, the sweet and salty trail mix bar; CLIF® BAR energy bar, delivering nutrition for sustained energy; and LUNA®, The Whole Nutrition Bar for Women®. Committed to sustainability, Clif Bar works diligently to reduce its footprint on the planet from the field to the final product. Visit http://www.clifbar.com to learn more.