Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spoke his concerns about taking away future children’s right to clean air and fresh waterways yesterday evening in Burruss Auditorium as a part of the Dean’s Forum on the Environment.
Kennedy eagerly asserted that the only place people are expressing doubts about global warming is in America, where it is revered as “global warming theory.”
Kennedy talked about how the majority of Americans are exposed to right-winged news. And Kennedy feels “they have torn the ‘conserve’ out of conservatism.”
“I think the worst thing that could happen to the environment is if it becomes a province of a political party,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy said Philip A. Cooney a chief lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute prior to being the chief advisor for President George Bush on environmental issues was caught tampering with government documents regarding environmental issues. Cooney resigned and was hired by Exxon two days later.
“Most Americans are unaware of the connections because we have a negligent press,” Kennedy said. “Journalists think they have done their job by achieving balance … (when) their job is to convey the truth to the American people.”
He had many criticisms of journalism today.
“The decline in the American journalism began in 1988 when Reagan abolished the Fairness Doctrine,” Kennedy said.
Former President Bill Clinton filed lawsuits against coal mining companies who were not following regulations within the clean air act while he was in office.
Because the companies supported Bush in his campaign, Bush lifted the suit according to Kennedy.
Kennedy laments that because of unclean air, 18,000 Americans die yearly, and our public trust rights are taken from our children and us.
Wynne stated that Tech has recently received funding for clean coal technology in our power plants.
Other movements are being considered at Tech, such as more environmentally friendly construction of buildings and the reinstatement of a recycling program, Wynne said.
“All the things we need to do to solve global warming are things we ought to be doing anyway,” Kennedy said.
One student notices the trends in popular media today with climate concerns.
“You see all these trendy independent films … then you come to a speech like this and it comes full circle, bringing clarity to all our issues,” said Erin Olta, sophomore architecture and economics major.
After 23 years of campaigning for a better environment, Kennedy’s main point is that environmentalists are not protecting their world for the fish and the birds, but they are protecting the environment because they recognize that it will enrich our children and us.
Randy Wynne, an associate professor in forestry, and Patrick Miller, an associate dean for graduate studies and outreach, coordinated the Dean’s Forum of the Environment.
Wynne said that the Dean’s Council has funded this forum and the forum during the fall on energy. Wynne said, “There will be two more in the next two semesters.”
