Thursday marked National Campus Sustainability Day. In order to celebrate, the Iowa State Branch of the Climate Reality Project held an event titled: “Climate Change: What Are We Going to Do?” 

The evening began with Luke Goodman, president of Climate Reality at Iowa State, introducing the night. He discussed how The Climate Reality Project was an organization started by former Vice President Al Gore in 2006.

This project has more than 150 sections across the country and beyond. Their mission is to lead the world into utilizing renewable resources instead of fossil fuels. They hope to have the entire country working on 100% sustainable energy by 2050.

The first portion of the night was a live stream Q & A session with former vice president and founder of Climate Reality Al Gore. 

In the live stream he discussed issues of climate change and sustainability. He answered questions sent in by students from across the nation.

In a response to a question asking about how students can get involved in the issue of climate change, the former vice president said “Use your voice and use your vote.”

He also said that if the issues are brought up, the local governments will know it’s important to their voters, therefore they will be much more likely to listen and take action. He said that is the reason using your vote really matters. 

He finished his question and answer session with a call to action in the fight against climate change. “Please be a part of the solution,” said Al Gore.

After the live stream finished, it was announced that a petition would be passed around the room. The petition is part of The Climate Reality’s main goal here on campus: Have Iowa State run fully on renewable and sustainable energy by 2030.

Then a pre-screening of Al Gore’s new film, “An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power” was shown. His first film “An Inconvenient Truth” was released over 10 years ago, and on Thursday the crowd got to have a first look at the sequel.

The film follows the former vice president on his tour around the world giving presentations and helping educate leaders in climate training. It also shows a more in-depth look at Gore’s journey with other nations to help work towards a more sustainable future. 

Finally, a group of professors and representatives from Ames held a panel to discuss the issue of sustainability further. The panel consisted of Dr. Crystal Lu, assistant professor of ecology, evolution, and organismal biology, Dr. J Gordon Arbuckle, associate professor of sociology, Victoria Szopinksi, current mayoral candidate for the city of Ames, and finally Dr. Ivan Rudik, assistant professor of economics. 

The panel was asked questions from four different categories: Problem, Solution, Urgency and Action.

The group discussed the ways climate change can be tackled on national and local levels. Nationally, Dr.Rudik emphasized the major impact a tax on carbon would be. Rudik said if people would have to pay for the fossil fuels they release into the environment that it would motivate them to use cleaner energy.

Mayoral candidate Szopinksi spoke about how actions are easier to accomplish at the state level. 

“A local level gives us great opportunities to participate. More voices help initiatives work quickly,” said Szopinksi.

Finally, President Luke Goodman concluded with his own thoughts to round out the night.

“In order for us to make change it has to start with the people,” said Luke. He also said that the issue of climate change is not discussed enough, especially on campus. He said the simplest thing to do is start by bringing up the conversation.

“If we can start here at the University, in the city of Ames, there is potential that we can send waves throughout the community, throughout our state, and throughout the country” said Goodman.

CUTLINES:

Twitter: The person behind The Climate Reality Project held a livestream Q and A last night that ISU’s own Climate Reality Corps got to view. Oh, that person is former VP Al Gore. 

Facebook: “If we can start here at the University, in the city of Ames, there is potential that we can send waves throughout the community, throughout our state, and throughout the country” said president of Climate Reality Luke Goodman.