Climate conference heats up global issue

Author: Katie Flagg

Students, professors and leaders in the environmental movement gathered at Middlebury College at the end of January to discuss strategies for renewing public interest in the global warming crisis. With recent February temperatures hitting an unusual near-record high of 50 degrees, climate change seems an appropriate topic of conversation on campus.

But during the Jan. 25-27 conference, at least, students bundled up in heavy coats to brave sub-zero temperatures as they hurried to lectures and presentations. The conference, titled "What Works? New Strategies for a Melting Planet," strove to identify methods for renewing public concern regarding climate change. The conference, which gained national attention, was designed and organized by Jonathan Isham, assistant professor of Economics at the College, along with help from the 25 students in Isham's Winter Term "Building the Climate Movement" class.

The class and conference have been in the works for about a year, according to Isham, though the inspiration for the class came from a previous Winter Term course Isham conducted. Two years ago he worked with a group of students to look at the College campus's carbon footprint. This year, Isham decided to turn his focus away from the College community and instead work with larger social movements.

Students in Isham's seminar spent the first few weeks of January reading books and articles on climate change and social movements. Students then engaged in six service-learning projects, projects that ranged from building statewide climate campaigns and drumming up political support for federal action to critiquing climate tactics and publicizing the urgency of the climate crisis. Students were also responsible for helping with various logistics of the conference.

"I just want to emphasis that this was an incredible collective achievement," said Isham. "The students worked amazingly hard. They were up night and day - they deserve a lot of kudos."

The conference swung into gear on the evening of Jan. 25 when environmental economist Eban Goodstein of Lewis and Clark College presented a keynote speech on the disastrous effects of global warming.

Several notable leaders in the environmental field were in attendance for the conference. Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger, authors of last fall's highly controversial paper "The Death of Environmentalism," spoke about rethinking the politics of climate.

"The highlight of the conference was Nordhaus and Shellenberger's talk," said John Hanley '05, one of Isham's students. "They showed statistics on the changing values of Americans over the last 12 years. Essentially their talk was about how the environmental movement is not working and it needs to change its tactics."

Also in attendance was John Passacantando, the executive director of Greenpeace USA. "Public attention has moved away from the environment," said Passacantando to assembled students and activists. "It's time to develop new strategies and new skills. We need to reawaken our sense of wonder about the planet ... to become the warriors we need to become."

While speeches and presentations constituted some part of the January conference, the strongest component of the event, according to student participants and others in attendance, were the small-group sessions designed for discussion and

On Wednesday, students working on a service project to publicize the urgency of climate change announced a new award designed to expose prominent figures for denouncing global warming. The Flat Earth Award, designed by Hanley and sophomores Makely Lyon and Minna Brown, will be awarded in April on Earth Day following an online vote that will determine the winner. This year's nominees are novelist Michael Crichton, talk show host Rush Limbaugh and Fred Singer, president and founder of the Science and Environmental Policy Project.

The conference ended on Jan. 27 with an address from Bill McKibben, scholar-in-residence in environmental studies, who acknowledged to participants "we may well lose this fight." McKibben went on to say, "It's not your fault if we don't solve this problem, and that realization can be very useful because it frees you to try anything and everything."

As Isham was quick to point out, the conference occurred only through support from the College and the College community. "Everyone in this community helped to pull this thing off. I got to know everybody on this campus. I had so many people comment to me about the level of excellence at this place."

"It was a bit of a risk for Middlebury to do this," he continued. "It was at some level a conference at activism, and a lot of people told me they wouldn't have been able to do this at their schools." The conference flourished because of the "confidence with which the entire institution approached it," according to Isham.

For Isham, the highlight of the conference came after parting words had been issued. "Right as the conference ended I met with the students for a half hour," he said, "and we talked together about the process we'd all been through and that was extremely meaningful for me. I'll probably remember that the most."

Another high point for Isham occurred during student presentations. "I had many many people tell me how impressed they were with our Middlebury students and the quality of their analysis," he said. "When they presented their work - that was certainly a highlight."

The unique structure and purpose of the class further added to the positive experience that both Isham and his students came away with. "There was a sort of liberated feeling in this class since we had a common goal," Isham said. "We really wanted to contribute to a social movement." Isham was especially proud that his students came away from the class with a "vision of a positive future," despite the fact that discussions on climate change often spark gloomy moods.

Participants largely agree that the conference was a success. "The event hoped to establish a network of people working on climate change and also hoped to think of new ways to advance the climate change movement so we can achieve the reduction in emissions necessary to prevent dramatic climate change," said Hanley. "I think the conference was successful in broadening people's ideas on how to advance the movement."

"It was amazing to have environmental leaders like Bill McKibben and John Passacantando there at the conference, looking to work with us college students," said Lyon. "Their being there gave us tools, knowledge and resources to work with. Global warming is a huge problem and there is not one clear solution, thus the conference and the class could have been a real downer, but I think people came out of them with a sense of hope, a few strategies to test out and feeling excited and empowered to make a difference."

The conference made national headlines and was featured in a front-page story in the Feb. 6 New York Times. The events were also covered in several online magazines and Web logs. Isham, along with students and conference participants, recorded reflections on the conference at the "Blogging the Climate Movement" Web log while McKibben sent dispatches from the conference to the Grist Magazine, an online publication focused on environmental news and commentary.

"For me the most impressive thing was the way that Middlebury students took over the whole process - they brainstormed, moved things along, kept the whole process going forward," said McKibben. "I was impressed by the to my mind unique way that a class turned into a conference and students turned into colleagues. I've never seen anything like that."