The Green Glance | Focus the Nation sparks new progressivism

Nathan Zucker Opinions Editor

Scientists have confidently concluded that 2007 was the second warmest year ever recorded, lending even more evidence to the theory that humans are destabilizing the Earth’s climate.
Although this news may seem bleak, there is ample reason to be optimistic about the future of the planet’s ecosystems and the progressive movement in general. Focus the Nation, a national day of activism taking place on Jan. 31, promises to educate our generation about global warming and potential solutions to the climate crisis.

Here at Vassar and around the country, a consensus is finally forming that we must quickly change our ways in order to avert disaster. Focus the Nation has been enthusiastically supported by Illinois Senator Barack Obama and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenneger; it is also receiving widespread press coverage. The preponderance of such environmentalist ideas in mainstream America will mobilize our generation, hopefully leading to the formation of a new progressive movement in the United States.

Focus the Nation is billed as a “national teach-in on global warming solutions for America.” Many see the day as similar to teach-ins during the Vietnam War, in which students discovered the conflict’s atrocities and then took to the streets to protest. In those days, most demonstrations were relegated to college campuses ; Focus the Nation will also be observed in high schools and businesses. The initiative should succeessfully ignite the new protest movement as it combines a global sense of outrage with a moral imperative to take individual action.

Students can make changes in their own lives to prevent global warming,giving the movement a definite sense of purpose that a war thousands of miles away could not generate as easily. Everyone can help prevent climate change by driving less, eating fewer animal products and using more efficient appliances. Thus, the battle for a cooler Earth can begin right at home; it is not a faraway political issue.

Additionally, the initiative’s success may be boosted by the fact that it highlights how climate change affects the local area and encourages a community-wide response to the issue. At Vassar, there will be two panel discussions on climate change issues and solutions for the Hudson Valley. These events will teach students how to recognize the effects of global warming in the region as well as how to fight these changes. Most importantly, the panels will encourage students to get involved in and around Poughkeepsie, from working at Greenway’s composting center to doing field work on a local organic farm such as Four Winds Farm in Gardiner, N.Y.

The threat of climate change may finally allow Vassar to engage fully with the local community, improving relations with Poughkeepsie and giving students a chance to explore their interests off campus through volunteer work.

However, one-time events such as Focus the Nation have some drawbacks. It is simply naïve to hope that a discussion of global warming will reverse the desperate situation in which we find ourselves. Students must use the event as a springboard for futher action; every day must become in essence a battle to mitigate climate change. Although Vassar should be commended for having so many Focus the Nation events, this is just a start. The next step should be to pressure the administration into making Vassar carbon-neutral.

Moreover, global warming must grow into the basis of a broader progressive movement that includes other issues such as social justice, poverty and human rights. The environmental crisis is connected to many of the world’s other problems; it is the responsibility of progressives to draw connections between these issues. If global warming becomes an isolated issue, it will not be solved. On the other hand, if it becomes the cornerstone of a new progressive movement, there is indeed hope for a cleaner, cooler future.

Although Focus the Nation is just slightly more than a single day in length, it will hopefully be the start of a new wave of progressivism, both here at Vassar and around the country. Global warming is, without a doubt, the challenge of our generation; it also may be a crucial issue in igniting widespread resistance to the current culture of consumption, materialism and corporate control. Vassar students must show their support by getting involved in Focus the Nation, one of the best events to come to campus in a long, long time.

—Nathan Zucker ’10, a Latin American Studies major, is writing about environmental issues that affect both the Vassar community and the world at large.