We are writing in regard to the Feb. 28 article on Bill Nye’s lecture in Strong Auditorium. It was reported that “Nye ended his speech with the suggestion that each person present reduce his or her greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050.”
While it is certainly true that every person should try to reduce his or her environmental footprint as much as possible, we assume that Nye was referring to governmental action.
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent of 1990 levels by 2050 is a popular demand from climate scientists who say such a cut is needed to avoid the worst effects of climate change.
This is an issue that needs to be seriously addressed by our legislature on the national as well as local level. Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both call for comprehensive legislation to reduce U.S. emissions by 80 percent by 2050, and many states, including New York, have bills in the works for such a reduction.
While individuals should do everything they can to live in a more sustainable way, some of the change will inevitably have to come “from the top down,” as Mr. Nye pointed out, and we believe the Campus Times article was misleading in this regard.
This was written in collaboration with Andrew Spink, Lubaba Hasan, Bridget O’Connor, Jenna Miller and members of Grassroots.
-Anna CoughlanClass of 2011
