Bobby Kennedy Jr. (Environmental Event II)

Bobby Kennedy Jr.’s lecture can easily be described as inspirational. Prior to taking this class, I never realized that there were discourses that argued the economic importance of protecting resources. The lecture was reassuring in that it showed that there are people in positions of power that know how to communicate environmental issues in a way that I think resonates with a majority of the population. His discussion on the impact of coal mining mentioned the challenge to the integrity of the environment it poses, but stressed the health and economic implications as well. While I whole heartedly believe that the environment holds intrinsic value, I also believe that this is not the best reason to protect it. Economic welfare and quality of human life obviously come first on Kennedy’s list of priorities, something which I think has been lacking in many of the environmentalist opinions I have heard. In the true spirit of being a politician, Kennedy did not hesitate to spout impressive statistics without necessarily backing them up. While this is obviously not something I agree with, it shows that we can’t just rely on scientists to reach people on environmental issues. We need people like Kennedy to reach out to demographics that are not ready to read the IPCC cover to cover, who would respond more to a charming man whose top priority is their livelihood within the context of preserving natural resources.