The Legacy of Our Generation

As you probably know by now if you read your email and received your free water bottle, Jehuda has decided to ask Aramark to “discontinue the use of bottled water at catered events on campus”. In addition there is going to be a committee to investigate the advantages and disadvantages of having bottled water on campus. I think Jehuda’s decision is a good one, and it represents the strength of SEA, who has been lobbying the administration for a ban of bottled water on campus since at least last semester. Although SEA hasn’t yet achieved its full goal, I think this is a good start and probably the best they could hope for as a first step from the administration.

Hopefully the committee will do a good job, unlike the committee to investigate whether or not BranPo officers should have guns. That committee made a terrible recommendation to the administration and they unfortunately, but predictably, took it. Personally, I am very suspicious of the quality of the research that committee did, although I have hope for this committee because the question they are confronting doesn’t seem as complicated. At least to me.

Although I’m excited about the idea that Brandeis might ban bottled water on campus, that’s not what excited me most about Jehuda’s email. Every time I read an article that talks about the future of the world in the face of global warming, and I will continue using the term global warming because ‘climate change’ is a term that was created by Republicans in order to make global warming sound less bad (it’s all explained in this extremely informative movie), I am confused as to why more isn’t being done. When Reinharz asserts that “Brandeis has an opportunity to take a leadership role on the issue of bottled water and other environmental issues” it reminded me that we hold the future in our own hands. I don’t think that the Democrats have done a good job at using the global warming crisis to motivate Americans, or as a chance to create green jobs. Even Barack Obama hasn’t used the issue well to build on his lead over John Sidney McCain III. But as Reinharz points out, we don’t have to wait for any politicians to solve global warming.

The fight against global warming, could be the legacy of our generation. But for that to be the case we need to make history with our own hands. That may sound like a tall order but based on all the accomplishments of Brandeis alumni (like those who started the Millenium Student Initiative at mymsi.org), we are clearly capable. Many people in this country are far from being motivated about coming together to end the problem of global warming, but our generation could be the one to change all that. Someone will have to start the movement that motivates our generation to solve global warming, and even if you never thought that’s what you wanted to do, any one of us could end up playing a pivotal role in an unexpected way.

What will you do to start a national movement to end global warming?