“You are the leaders we have been waiting for,” said Bob Musil at his lecture “Hope for a Heated Planet: Can Students Stop Global Warming?” this past Tuesday.
Musil is currently Chairman of the Board and Senior Policy Advisor of 2020 Vision: Energy, Environment and Security Solutions, as well as the CEO of the Nobel winning company Physicians for Social Responsibility.
His messages were simple: the youth has the power to act, and the best way to get movements going is having the youth work at the local level. To support his stance on being proactive, Musil believed that having a gloom–and-doom attitude is “not a useful organizing tool.” He could not reiterate more how impressed he was with the Connecticut College campus as being green and with the school’s recent high ranking in Recylemania.
Musil’s talk specifically addressed New London and the relevance of motivating, educating and becoming involved in local elections. He applied this to New London’s having signed onto the Cool Cities Campaign, which is primarily run by youth. He also related his opposition toward nuclear power and suggested that Connecticut work on increasing renewables on a state and local level.
Musil’s idea of working on a local level is not something new, but what is somewhat novel is his faith and compassion for the youth activism on a local level. The idea of grassroots and local activism has already bloomed at Conn, and has been a major topic of discussion in the Environmental Policy and Activism class this semester with Professor Dawson.
The day following Musil’s talk, this class discussed its implications. Professor Dawson stressed the importance of the youth’s voice on campus being heard and responded to more than the faculty. She stressed the significance of student activism and ensuring that the college follows through on the Presidents’ Climate Commitment, which President Higdon recently signed.
The commitment entails eliminating the campuses’ greenhouse gas emissions over time.
As of Friday, 662 college and university presidents across American have signed the document.
