Wow, what a week it has been, so far, with still more left to go. It's been light on the blog for the last couple of days, but as a result, this is going to be a rare look into some of the things I've been doing. It's been fun.

On Tuesday Consequence flew in the winners of the Organize to be Heard challenge. Those who generated the most calls, wrote the most letters, held a rally, etc., and racked up points based on these tasks, were invited to Washington. In all, there are 13 of them, five from Michigan, but the rest stretching all over the country. Four made cross-country flights from the west coast.

When the Michigan delegation arrived, they were able to walk right into a little protest being staged at Senator Lisa Murkowski's office, ranking member of the Energy and Natural Resources (ENR) committee and author of what the environmental community calls the "Dirty Air Act."

The Murkowski amendment is actually a "Disapproval Resolution" which states that the science of climate change is still in question and therefore the EPA should not be able to regulate greenhouse gases. There's an important point of distinction here that no one I have ever talked to thinks the EPA should be doing this. This is the job of Congress because regulating GHG's without any consumer protections or investments in manufacturing or clean energy could hurt the economy. But the EPA doesn't have a choice. It is a bound by a Supreme Court ruling back in 2007 to regulate GHG's, as they are considered a public health hazard.

The problem is that Murkowski's amendment doesn't tell the EPA no, it denies climate change. One Senate staffer said yesterday in a meeting that they would support her resolution if it didn't deny climate change. Many probably would.

So, the group got to check out this protest, but when all were turned away by a staffer they headed to the building next door, where the ENR committee is housed. There they got a pretty cool opportunity to meet with the head Republican staffer of the committee. He talked to the group for about 45 minutes on everything going on with the resolution and comprehensive legislation.

Following the meeting the group had some free time, which led to me making my first visit to a museum since I moved here. I know, I know, I've been meaning to go, but it just hadn't happened. Now I've been to the botanical gardens and the Air & Space Museum. I was pretty fired up to see the National McDonalds.

It wasn't an accident that the fly-in coincided with the end of the Hip Hop Caucus Clean Energy Now! Bus Tour. Tuesday night before dinner everyone got to hang outside the Verizon Center with the bus and some of the people on the tour, while the Black Eyed Peas rocked the house inside. There was an after party up at the 930 club that led to some rather interesting comments by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson the next day. All was good though. The things that happened on Tuesday were a bonus.

Wednesday was the big day. We started at 8 am, brainstorming about what youth can do back at home to help build the moment. Interesting, most of the group is 19 or younger and most did not vote in 2008. Yet, here they are, with the same enthusiasm we saw then.

From there we headed to the Hill for a meeting with John Kerry. Sadly, I don't have a picture of myself actually meeting him, but there's a group picture. Kerry, as you might expect, is a very passionate, but also very direct. He said there are many challenges. He said no bill will pass the U.S. Senate without nuclear and coal provisions. But he also addressed every question with incredibly detailed answers. He then left because he had to go vote to pass the Senate jobs bill.

What followed was a walk to a the Capitol Reflecting Pool, where the Hip Hop Caucus was setting up for a rally with a live DJ. If you've been following my Twitter feed or Facebook updates, you already know it was DJ Biz Markie. For any of you who don't know, think the original version of "Just a Friend". You know, from the '80's.

Howard University was well represented, which was part of the point, as Hip Hop Caucus is trying to expand support for the movement to non-traditional groups. There was a lot of talk about New Orleans, urban air quality, medical bills, the future. One girl said to current lawmakers, "please don't plan my funeral for me." The man who's led this charge for the Hip Hop Caucus, Rev. Lennox Yearwood, saying this is an issue of Humanity. He said if, 100 years from now, we can live anywhere near the lives we live now, than we will have succeeded somewhere along the way.

I actually had to sprint out of the event early, for a meeting with Florida Sen. George LeMieux's staff, which was very cordial, but mostly just so the two students from Florida could do it. LeMieux is probably a no. For the next four hours the students all got to meet with senate staffers from their states, while I dropped in on some with Sen. Barbara Boxer, Sen. Debbie Stabenow and Sen. John Tester. Some of the Michigan kids actually ran into Stabenow in the hall and she stopped to talk for a couple of minutes.

That meeting also had the most interesting comment from a staffer I heard. Just because I wanted the students to realize the sheer volume of stuff a Senator's office receives, which includes much of the work they are doing, I asked the staffer if he could venture a guess as to how much of it was climate related. He said they actually did a breakdown not long ago and climate and health care, while prominent, make up about three percent of the mail, email and calls they receive, out of more than 60,000 per week.

It was not meant to show that it is impossible to put a dent into it, just that it is hard to get the attention of a U.S. Senator. The staffer said as much. The work is hard.

After the Tester meeting we headed back to the office, which is right above a restaurant that our staff frequents. Apparently Murkowski was having a fundraiser, and let's just say some visitors may have pulled out the Dirty Air Act surgical masks and stood outside. I was in the bar.

We're back at it this morning, so I have to head out. Probably this weekend I want to break down some of the wonky policy stuff we talked about, and some of the students' ideas as well.

For now, have a great day. Stay classy. And do your research: don't hold a fundraiser in the same building as your biggest enemy's office.

Some awesome links from the College GameDay visit to Seattle last weekend.

Jay Bilas says he was mistaken, "U-Dub was incredible."

The Dawg Pack got GameDay host Rece Davis into a Husky snuggie.