Global warming is the most important and dangerous problem facing the world today and humans are doing nothing to stop it, according to Mike Tidwell, writer, filmmaker and former Peace Corps volunteer, at "The Future of Africa: Village Life and the Coming Threat of Global Warming" Wednesday in the McDowell Formal Lounge.
"We are plunging not only us, but the entire world, into ecological, economic and social chaos," he said.
Tidwell criticized not only the United States' excessive consumption of carbon dioxide, but the government as well.
"I find our national government's policy on global warming to be criminal," he said.
The United States is not providing answers to the global warming problem, Tidwell said.
"We are no longer the solution nation," he said. "We are the problem nation. ... Something really, really big is coming to us soon because of global warming."
Tidwell cited the Arctic ice caps melting, increased destructiveness of wildfires, intense hurricanes and irregular rainfall as side effects of global warming.
Global warming will severely impact the people of Africa, most of whom do not even emit greenhouse gases, he said. Tidwell added that precipitation changes will worsen the droughts in sub-Saharan Africa, resulting in a devastating effect on a culture that lives "harvest to harvest."
Tidwell spoke about his experience volunteering in a village named Kalambayi, in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Kalambayi had no electricity, running water, roads or hospitals.
Tidwell said he is hopeful for the future of the environment. He said he envisions a grassroots movement, with students at the forefront.
"We need a clean energy revolution," he said. "This is real - it affects you directly."
According to Tidwell, if every car in America were a hybrid, energy use would be halved. He also mentioned that he heats his house with corn, which is half the cost and cuts carbon dioxide emissions by 85 percent.
"We have the technology," Tidwell said. "We just don't have the policy."
Aldo Prosperi, a sophomore in the School of International Service, said global warming in Africa is "always an afterthought."
"We don't always have as much focus on the third world," Prosperi said.
Tidwell ended his speech with encouragement.
"I am optimistic that we can do something about it," he said.
The International Development Program and the International Communication Program cosponsored the event.
