People need to look at global warming from both an economic and political view, according to Bracken Hendricks, co-author of "Apollo's Fire," a book about creating a clean-energy economy.
"Things that weren't political are becoming political," he said at a panel discussion Thursday night as part of a three-day teach-in on climate change called "Focus the Nation." The Student Government and Eco-Sense sponsored the event at AU, just one of more than 1,000 participating campuses, according to "Focus the Nation's" Web site.
The program began Wednesday night with a Web cast in the School of International Service Lounge. It continued on Thursday with 20 speakers throughout the day speaking on a variety of green issues. It also included a keynote address on political solutions and green democracy on Thursday night and a panel discussing the role of faith in environmental policy on Friday.
"Global warming is about choosing the future we want to build," Hendricks said.
A carbon limit and trade policy, also called a cap and trade system, would require companies producing carbon dioxide to pay to pollute. This kind of program could put $50 billion to $300 billion back into the nation's economy, potentially jump-starting it, he said.
Washington College of Law professor David Hunter, who has worked on climate change issues for the past 18 years, discussed the positive steps made in the past six to eight months at Thursday night's panel. These steps included the Massachusetts lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Energy Standards Bill to increase fuel efficiency standards by 40 percent. Hunter said he also taught students different key points to look for in good environmental legislation.
AU President Neil Kerwin emphasized the importance of politics in environmental policies at the panel.
"You haven't spent a significant part of your life thinking about rule-making, but it's something you will need to," Kerwin said.
Anjali Bean, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, attended four panels. She said the panels had interesting information and ideas.
"They had very different perspectives on what and how our policy in the United States needs to change," she said.
