Friday, February 29, 2008

Environmental Discussions

The environment moved to the forefront of discussions on campus this week. On Saturday, we hosted a reception for Lester Brown from the Earth Policy Institute. Lester is the author of Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilation. The event was a tremendous success as it brought together students, faculty, staff, and members of the community together providing the opportunity for conversations about the environment. We were joined by members of Population Connection as well as members of the Green Decade Coalition Newton. Issues such as wind energy, population growth, and melting glaciers were discussed. Lester outlined his ideas on how we need to mobilize to save civilization which included calls for a massive overhaul of our energy economy.

On Thursday, we were graced with the presence of Janet Larsen on campus. Janet is also from the Earth Policy Institute. She gave an engaging lecture in DeWitt Hall about the state of the planet and identified changes we need to make. Her talk was very motivating and she ended by stating, "Let's get to work!" In addition to giving a formal lecture, Janet joined many classes on campus for further discussion. She engaged in discussionis with students about environmental issues and answered their questions. I loved having her visit my Science for Educators class as students asked what they could do as educators to make a difference.

It has been an exciting week. Awareness and discussions of environmental issues continue to increase on campus. I hope we can keep the momentum going and continue to find ways to engage students in conversations about the environment.