Build A Kinder Earth

It takes a lot for me to truly respect someone in the public eye, especially someone involved in the often shady area of politics. The other day, however, I stumbled across a man whose environmental policies are admirable, intelligent and applicable to daily American life: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. RFK, Jr., nephew of former president JFK visited Georgia State University on April 9^th to address environmental concerns and to propose solutions in his speech “Our Environmental Destiny.” In his speech, Kennedy discussed the challenges the Obama administration is currently facing such as energy issues, dependency on foreign oil, wind farming, solar energy benefits, etc. Kennedy’s stance on the matter was one that could satisfy both an environmentalist and a business man. He advocates free-market environmentalism. This view can be best demonstrated in his plan to reform energy infrastructure. He asserts that, “We need to create a national marketplace, where every American can hook into, if you have a solar array on your roof during some part of the day, you can sell [unused energy] back to the grid and get market rates for it.” By understanding the economic as well as the environmental side of the issue, Kennedy has devised a strategy that will not only benefit the Eco-system, but America’s economy as well. It is his philosophy that those who choose to do the right thing, such as taking measures to be more energy efficient, should not be punished financially, but rather rewarded. It is a philosophy many of us hope our country will eventually embrace.