Spring Break
Drexel University's Climate Challenge
Corinne Bell
Issue date: 10/12/07 Section: Ed-Op
- Page 1 of 1
New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman recently called young people "Generation Q", the quiet generation, for being "too quiet, too online, for its own good, and for the country's own good." He is of the impression that all we do is click our way through online petitions rather than "speak truth to power."
Well, Mr. Friedman, I can tell you conclusively that you're wrong. Our generation is one of the most active generations in history with efforts such as the Campus Climate Challenge where last year almost 10,000 students were involved in campaigns across the country challenging their administrations and local governments to reduce emissions immediately and dramatically.
We're organizing and we're savvy. We use the internet, but are also building strong, people-powered movements on campus.
You'll see us in D.C. in a few weeks at PowerShift, the first national youth climate conference where upwards of 3,000 students from all 50 states will gather to demand our leaders take action now to curb global warming.
Here at Drexel, students are rising to the challenge and asking the administration to sign the Presidents' Climate Commitment, pledging to reduce Drexel's emissions to zero through energy conservation and purchasing more renewable energy.
Right now, Drexel purchases just 8 percent of our electricity from wind, and while this was heralded as a big step years ago, it just won't cut it with reports that the Arctic is melting far faster than scientists predicted and coal extraction and emissions causing the injury, illness and death of far too many people every year.
Our leaders at all levels have proven to be disappointingly slow at understanding what young people have already realized: that global warming is real, it's scary and we must act now to solve it.
Drexel prides itself in being at the forefront of science, technology and engineering, but building a single "living wall" and turning off computer screens is not enough.
Over 400 schools have already signed the Presidents' Climate Commitment and taken steps to tackle the challenge of our generation, but where's Drexel?
We need big changes, we need leadership and we need President Papadakis to stand up and take action with us because when we leave Drexel we're not just looking for jobs, but a healthy, prosperous and just world for all people.
I don't know of an issue that better fits into Drexel's "Students First" initiative.
We know what it takes; reducing the energy we use with efficient technologies and replacing dirty fossil fuels with renewable energy, such as wind and solar power (and in the process creating millions of new jobs).
Drexel can do this, and the first step is for Papadakis to sign the Presidents' Climate Commitment and make a plan to reduce our school's emissions to zero.
Well, Mr. Friedman, I can tell you conclusively that you're wrong. Our generation is one of the most active generations in history with efforts such as the Campus Climate Challenge where last year almost 10,000 students were involved in campaigns across the country challenging their administrations and local governments to reduce emissions immediately and dramatically.
We're organizing and we're savvy. We use the internet, but are also building strong, people-powered movements on campus.
You'll see us in D.C. in a few weeks at PowerShift, the first national youth climate conference where upwards of 3,000 students from all 50 states will gather to demand our leaders take action now to curb global warming.
Here at Drexel, students are rising to the challenge and asking the administration to sign the Presidents' Climate Commitment, pledging to reduce Drexel's emissions to zero through energy conservation and purchasing more renewable energy.
Right now, Drexel purchases just 8 percent of our electricity from wind, and while this was heralded as a big step years ago, it just won't cut it with reports that the Arctic is melting far faster than scientists predicted and coal extraction and emissions causing the injury, illness and death of far too many people every year.
Our leaders at all levels have proven to be disappointingly slow at understanding what young people have already realized: that global warming is real, it's scary and we must act now to solve it.
Drexel prides itself in being at the forefront of science, technology and engineering, but building a single "living wall" and turning off computer screens is not enough.
Over 400 schools have already signed the Presidents' Climate Commitment and taken steps to tackle the challenge of our generation, but where's Drexel?
We need big changes, we need leadership and we need President Papadakis to stand up and take action with us because when we leave Drexel we're not just looking for jobs, but a healthy, prosperous and just world for all people.
I don't know of an issue that better fits into Drexel's "Students First" initiative.
We know what it takes; reducing the energy we use with efficient technologies and replacing dirty fossil fuels with renewable energy, such as wind and solar power (and in the process creating millions of new jobs).
Drexel can do this, and the first step is for Papadakis to sign the Presidents' Climate Commitment and make a plan to reduce our school's emissions to zero.
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