LETTER: Contribute to Mason’s Climate Commitment

By Dann Sklarew, Associate Director, Potomac Environmental Research and Education Center and Associate Professor, Environmental Science and Policy

The paradox of sustainability at George Mason University is a microcosm of what's occurring worldwide: Over 25 years since I first came to the Fairfax campus, the Northern Virginia population explosion has consumed fields and forests while the information-service revolution transformed our region from one absorbed by 1980s material consumption into one perpetually hungry for more energy. On campus, I've witnessed a small colony of buildings in the woods emerge into a veritable city, its vitality fueled by more and more people, buildings, parking spots and dining options. In the early nineties, ex-hippie faculty drove to campus to teach Reagan youth part-timers about IT in Mason’s first "smart classroom." Today, ubiquitous WiFi, electronic classrooms and plugs (lots and lots of plugs) make 24-7 access to information, and by extension, electric power, seem like a universal human right. Even as we consume ever greater natural resources and power, Internet at our fingertips has expanded our consciousness of the adverse effects of our voracious lifestyles.

While we "advance" on campus and beyond, we zoom towards an ecological brink: Ahead lie looming threats of dramatic climate change, genocidal pandemics, irreversible destruction of myriad unique life forms on land and sea, and catastrophic depletion and fouling of irreplaceable natural resources. Any one of these cataclysms would be enormously more disruptive than the global financial crisis now grabbing our immediate attention. In bad times, we hunker down to focus on the current crisis. In good times, we party. Most of us remain more or less oblivious to what hazards lie around the next curve.

But some have dedicated their extra-curricular activities, or even their whole careers to mitigating the adverse side-effects of our increasingly profound use (or abuse) of the life-supporting ecosystems upon which we depend. In recent years, we've started to study, teach and even tentatively practice gradually pressing down on the brakes (regenerative brakes?) before it's "too late." Still, tinkering around the edges of our accelerating transformation of our region and our planet will not avoid any cataclysm, but will merely postpone it (we hope). We have yet to noticeably steer the stampede away from the approaching cliff. And which direction should we turn?

We live in a unique moment when our power to change the world vastly exceeds our understanding of its complexity. A mere half century ago, only a few individuals⎯the United States President, the Soviet Premier and Chairman Mao⎯had the power to destroy our civilization in nuclear war. Now, rogue individuals like A. Q. Khan peddle nuclear weapons technology around the world; a single scientist, Bruce E. Ivens, has injected weaponized anthrax into the arteries of our postal system; and any person could accidentally fly or ship a parasite from one region to another, annihilating a dominant species like the American chestnut tree across an entire continent. On the flip side, global heroes walk amongst us. Like Jonas Salk inventing the polio vaccine 60 years ago, these new heroes are creating new means to protect humanity and other life forms, to adapt to climate variability and natural disasters, to purify our food, water and waste, and to create sustainable and affordable energy infrastructure.

In Thomas Friedman's words, these people are "super-empowered individuals." Multiply their disruptive super-power times a tiny fraction of the almost seven billion people alive today, and it is clear humanity is at an equipotential moment: From this generation forward, our species could either self-immolate or, hopefully, evolve into earth's next planetary keystone. Whether we become a species of self-absorbed eco-tumors or intentional gardeners of the earth, our collective destiny as super-empowered individuals will be made by countless tiny actions, both conscientious and haphazard.

With this awareness, I have signed my name to the Mason Climate Pledge and commit to "help Mason to provide an example of leadership in our region, in our nation and in our world." I invite you to do so too by visiting http://green.gmu.edu/climate.

Would you also like to foster your own super-empowerment on campus? Want to help realize President Alan Merten's commitment to make Mason "climate neutral?" To do so, join Mason students, faculty, administrators and staff collaborating together this semester to develop Mason’s first Climate Action Plan to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. Contact Mason's Office of Sustainability or drop me a line via e-mail (dsklarew@gmu.edu) to contribute.