Environmental concerns related to agriculture, biodiversity, climate change, energy and the oceans afflict every corner of the planet, often inequitably. The challenges of responding to these problems seem overwhelming, but standing on the sidelines is not an option. Choices about environmental measures and citizen initiatives are on the ballot this fall at the local, state and federal levels. They include proposals to preserve wetlands in the Northeast, to stem the depletion of groundwater in the West, and to ramp up the reliance on solar panels and wind turbines across the United States.
As conscientious citizens of our country and our planet, we have a responsibility to understand the environmental choices we make when we cast a ballot this November. We need to inform ourselves not only about national and international environmental policies, but also about smaller initiatives that matter to our own towns, forests and shorelines. Knowledge about threats close at hand can inspire action to help us respond to the environmental challenges that endanger us all.
This fall ClassACT HR73 will offer an online forum focused on the question “How do we take action in this upcoming election and beyond on some of the most pressing environmental issues of our age?” The round table discussion set for Monday, September 16 at 7:00 to 8:30 pm EDT includes the Environmental Committee Chair W. John Kress ’73, Ph.D., Distinguished Scientist and Curator Emeritus, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, who moderated the two previous ClassACT HR73 “Half-Earth” panels. Other participants include Jason Clay ‘73, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, Markets and Food, and Executive Director, Markets Institute for the World Wildlife Fund; Robert Dreher ’73, M.A., J.D., Legal Director of the Potomac Riverkeeper Network who has held senior leadership positions in the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service; James Engell ’73, PhD ’78, Gurney Professor of English Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature, Inaugural Member of the Faculty Advisory Committee for the Salata Institute, and Anne MacKinnon '73, J.D., Ph.D., former editor of the Wyoming’s Casper Star-Tribune and an expert on water issues. Jacquelyn Swearingen ‘73, Ph.D., a retired journalist and historian who has written and taught about environmental issues in the United States and East Asia, will moderate.
