Friday, December 11, 2009

Crain at Climate Change meeting

By Lauralee Crain

Senior at Transylvania University

21 years old

Daughter of Eugene and Sandy Crain.

“We do note inherit the Earth from our grandparents, we borrow it from out grandchildren.”

In October, I received a phone call with the long awaited news that I had been chosen to be a United Nations delegate for the Sierra Student Coalition (the student branch of the Sierra Club) at the UN Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen. All at once, I realized that I would be a part of the world negotiations to formulate a bold and just climate treaty.

I found all of this out only a couple months ago, but my roots in being a steward of God for the Earth began long before. My father, a sure tree lover, planted nearly all of the trees you can see on the fence line on the bypass when he was a teenager. My mother, who learned from her father, still picks up every stray and starving pet she comes across. From both sets of my grandparents, I learned the importance, beauty and deliciousness of cultivation done right by growing gardens and orchards.

It was not until I was 19 that I began applying my duty to take care of my environment, when I joined the Transylvania Environmental Rights and Responsibilities Alliance. Since then I have been involved with environmental activism and lobbying on the state and national level, and now with my attendance to the United Nations Conference on Climate Change I am involved on the global level.

I imagine by now that most people from home have heard something about the climate talks going on in Copenhagen, but the issues are complex and often hard to delve into. The first global recognition and conference about climate change began in the 1970s. The climate change issue has continued since then, but the debate is over. The science has spoken for itself. This last week, the US Environmental Protection Agency finally announced that carbon dioxide is a pollutant, is harmful to human health, and must be regulated. Unless an international climate treaty can be produced, our lives as we know it will begin to change. Unfortunately, the developing countries, generally the third world countries, are feeling the initial brunt of climate change in events such as floods, droughts, and pollution.

In this movement, we are calling for equity. In the United States, people suffer from the use of fossil-fuels everyday. Unfortunately, it is the minorities and low-income areas that are affected the most by this, as we can see in our very near neighboring coal fields. The coal areas of the state are also the poorest regions. At one time, America was leading the world in science and technology developments. My generation has seen America in a recession for half of our lives. However, the recession is our great opportunity to create economic and job opportunity while simultaneously solving our energy crisis. It is not a question of environment versus economy, but resourcefulness versus business as usual.

What can you do? There are a number of really simple things you can do to begin living greener. On the local level, you can be a good neighbor. Eat from your own garden or buy vegetables from our local farmers. Compost your organic waste to use in your gardens as fertilizer. On the state and national level, call your representative and senators and tell them to keep sustainability and green economy in mind when voting. It is important that Kentucky is not left behind in green economy initiatives because of our dependence on a nonrenewable resource. A diversity of energy and economic sources is crucial. Further, we cannot move forward with a global climate treaty without ratification of the treaty by Congress.

My time here in Copenhagen at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change will include a visit from President Obama, meeting with United States delegates and Cabinet Secretaries, connecting with international youth organizations (including China), and writing up personal accounts of my own experience here. You can follow my work and my 18-person delegation at sscinternational.org. I appreciate all of the support I have received from home and was delighted to see the article about elementary students from Hillsboro starting a community garden. Efforts like this are essential to the bigger goals in achieving a more sustainable world.

Lucas Cannon comes home! A stop at the high school allowed friends to greet the courageous young man whose story has captivated Fleming County.

lucas