Robert Kennedy Jr. spoke on February 18^th in Emens Auditorium as a part of the Bracken Environmental Speaker Series.  The auditorium held several hundred students, faculty and guests, but I wish the entire country could have heard Kennedy's insightful speech titled, "Our Environmental Destiny."  Personally, I was riveted by every word that came out of the man's mouth.  His simple but very profound message (delivered with plenty of dry sarcasm) kept me wondering, "Why didn't I think of this?" 

Instead of bombarding us with scientific facts and figures designed to prove just how devastating our current behavior is to the health of the earth, Kennedy instead skipped the guilt trip and immediately started brainstorming causes and solutions.  He began with a straightforward question, "Can we use energy in a way that doesn't steal from our children?"  He assured us that the answer is "yes" and that we have to take immediate and extreme action to do this.  Opposing the idea of small, incremental changes in the way we use energy, Kennedy instead called for serious and immediate action.  He compared the current need for energy reform to the abolishment of slavery in Europe.  He explained that, at the time, although most citizens wanted to abolish slavery and saw it as an imperative issue, many believed it should be tackled slowly and incrementally as to not destroy the economy in the process. Today, many hold a similar school of thought concerning energy.  In our already fragile economy, will a major shift in the way we use energy exacerbate the recession?  Kennedy says it will not, and cites the Industrial Revolution resulting from the abolishment of slavery as evidence to the contrary.

Moreover, the technical capabilities to run the country on renewable fuel exist, Kennedy assures us.  The Southwest U.S. could provide 100% of our electrical needs though solar energy and the upper Northwest though wind energy. 

Kennedy believes that the main barrier to the establishment of clean, renewable energy is the $1.3 trillion in subsidies given to oil industries every year.  Renewable forms of energy cannot compete in an unfair market.  Another problem is that we don't have a power grid that is capable of handling the "long haul transportation of electrons" required by these renewable sources.  The grid is also "misaligned" in that it doesn't reach the areas with the greatest potential for solar and wind.  What we need to do, according to Kennedy is invest $150 billion to build "smart grid" to store and deploy energy.   Another barrier is the way that policy and legislature prevent the free market from doing what it is supposed to: encourage good behavior and punish bad behavior.  The take home message?  "The best thing that could happen to the environment is a true free market."

In a brazen moment, Kennedy told us that if we spent an initial $1 Trillion to build the infrastructure for these energy sources, we can have free energy forever.  It's a bold statement, but one in which I completely believe.  If we could take this first step (albeit it a big one) we could stop mountain top removal, stop polluting our children's lungs with smoke, and get out of risky relations with the Middle East. 

In the middle of an economic crisis, it is hard to believe that anyone is suggesting we spend money, but Kennedy believes that the energy industry is the industry that will pull us out of the recession.  There won't be a need for a refund, because the money we will save through lower prices to heat our home and fuel our cars will act as a refund.  "Good environmental policy is identical to good economic policy," says Kennedy. 

Kennedy ended his speech with a nostalgic look at what the natural world means to us as human beings.  Nature isn't just a sum of all the natural resources we can exploit for our own use or profit -  it is the most spiritual and majestic place we know.  Kennedy left this pessimist feeling hopeful that between the changing American mentality, our new administration, and passionate individuals like Kennedy, we will eventually give nature the treatment it deserves.