Eban Goodstein, director of the Bard College Center for Environmental Policy, spoke to a room full of University students and faculty Tuesday night. Goodstein lectured on sustainability, global warming and how students can secure jobs that can potentially change the future.
"I want to talk about the next 10 years of your life," Goodstein said. "The work that you are going to do over the next 10 years is going to have a profound impact on every human being that will walk the face of the planet for the rest of time."
Goodstein's lecture presented scientific studies and evidence of the steady increase of the planet's temperature over the past three decades. Some scientists believe the most devastating natural disasters of 2010 can been blamed on global warming.
Goodstein said in order to survive the inevitable effects of global warming, sustainable decisions must be made by today's "twenty-somethings."
"They have to wake up one day and save the world," Goodstein said. "This is you. This is now. You've got to rewire the entire world with clean energy, redesign every city on Earth, reimagine the global food system, reinvent transportation."
He encouraged young people to take initiative in a variety of ways, such as continuing education in sustainability through graduate programs, starting "green" businesses and even running for Congress as young as 25 years old.
"We need to get some young voices in there," Goodstein said.
Bard College offers a new MBA program in sustainability which is directed by Goodstein. Also, Bard College will host C2C Fellows, a career workshop Feb. 10-12 at the University of Georgia. Registration is $30 and includes food and lodging for the entire trip.
More information can be found at www.bard.edu/cep/c2c.
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