Storming the green scene

I wish I could harness the energy of the deafening crowd that stormed the court after Boston College's victory over Duke and carry it over into "BCisGreen Week." Its opening event, the Barack Obama Environmental Policy Panel, was arguably a much more significant event in the course of BC's history. Because in 100 years, whether or not we beat Duke won't matter. Instead, the future will be dictated by how we manage the pressing issue of climate change and environmental sustainability.

The event, highlighted by professor Charles Derber's caveat regarding climate change "human history is in jeopardy," should spark a wave of energy among BC students. In the face of climate change and the future environmental crises our world faces, the BC community must be willing to storm the court and implement a comprehensive sustainability plan that goes beyond just recycling and handing out T-shirts. We must be reminded over and over that the future of our nation requires a group of ambitious young leaders willing to tackle climate change through an unprecedented grass roots environmental movement.

Working within this context, the Policy Panel outlined the obstacles and necessary action we must take to meet this challenge. First, the panel addressed President Obama's proposed policies to reduce carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050 and to put one million plug-in electric hybrids on the road by 2015. However, in the U.S. where there are 250 million cars, 1 million electric cars will make little difference in reducing carbon emissions. This example clearly illustrates that no matter how progressive government policy is in dealing with climate change, solving the problem will not come from the top down but must emerge from the will of the people to embrace an ethic of sustainability.

Historically, there has been little government action to aid the creation of this necessary grassroots movement. Despite the scientific community's warnings about climate change, beginning with Dr. James Hansen's testimony before Congress in the 1970s, the government has largely ignored the issue. For the concerned citizen, this fact presents a vexing discrepancy between the alarming case the scientific community has made to address climate change and the U.S. government's willingness to ignore science during the critical eight years of the Bush Administration. It was not until 2007 that the Supreme Court finally classified carbon dioxide as a pollutant that should be regulated by the EPA.

While this past paints a dismal picture about our ability to combat climate change, there is hope in the post-Katrina and Inconvenient Truth world. The political salience of climate change has increased to a point where the government must act upon it. This will happen and it must happen soon because as a country, we are in a period of transition in which the old school of thought that pitted environmental sustainability against economic growth is losing traction. We are now beginning to experience a paradigm shift that combines the idea of long-term economic growth with an environmentally sustainable economic model. The country saw the first instances of this shift in Obama's inclusion of green measures in the stimulus bill.

In the future if we are to truly address climate change, we must create systemic changes in our society that professor Herman Karl described as a "more adaptive collaborative" form of government to quickly address issues such as climate change. As a country, we must revaluate our national budget, half of which is spent on defense, to invest in the new notion of security: environmental sustainability. These changes will not all come from the top down. The movement must also happen from the ground up. While this is a conversation and process that is just beginning, it will not soon go away and must remain a priority on our national agenda.

This was witnessed on Monday, when Luke Russert, NBC news correspondent and BC '08, interviewed former President Bill Clinton at his Global Initiative conference in Austin, Tex. and asked, "Over time, what do you see as the most pressing issue facing the millennial generation?" Clinton responded by stating, "Long term, it's climate change, because it's, it's a game breaker. It has the capacity to alter the very existence on Earth and of your grandchildren if not your children."

Kevin Swanson is a Heights staff columnist. He welcomes comments at kswanson@bcheights.com