Speaker: get serious about environment

Former Environmental Protection Agency Head Bill Ruckelshaus said he thinks we need to change the way we live. \n"How do you convince (people) that we all need to live somewhat differently?" he asked. "You've got to convince them that it's their idea." \nIn honor of the 35th anniversary of the EPA, Ruckelshaus spoke to the audience-packed Wells-Metz Theater Wednesday afternoon. \nThe lecture, sponsored by the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, was entitled "Sustaining Environmental Protection in the Face of Population and Economic Growth: Can We Do It?" \nIndiana Governor Mitch Daniels introduced Ruckelshaus after returning from Iraq.\n"I would travel halfway around the world to hear Bill Ruckelshaus speak," he said. "And in fact, I did." \nRuckelshaus started out the lecture lightheartedly, tossing out several jokes before getting to the heart of the matter. \nHe began by describing how Americans are losing trust in the government, resulting in a downward spiral. He discussed issues regarding how to restore that trust. \n"Hopefully we may observe an upward spiral that creates greater trust and makes government actions less necessary or easier to accomplish." \nSenior SPEA student Jennifer Campbell-Allison said in an e-mail, "Bill Ruckelshaus stressed the need for a government that citizens can and do trust," said senior SPEA student Jennifer Campbell-Allison in an e-mail. "During his tenure at EPA, the integrity of policy-makers was in question. Today the climate is different: the motives and mechanisms driving policies, not really the policy-makers, are most in question."\nIn addition, Ruckelshaus made the audience question habits in their own lives.\n"The most present threats seem not to lie with industrial sites but habits of ordinary Americans," Ruckelshaus said. "We like to generate a lot of waste, eat cheap food and live in big homes." \nHe pointed out that simply pushing environmental issues from the federal to state level was not a solution. \n"The game will not play in a smaller arena," he said. \nRuckelshaus discussed collaborative decision and problem-solving processes as well. At a media discussion prior to the lecture, he emphasized that fighting over the validity of certain issues, such as global warming, was harmful to solving them. \n"It's time to get serious about it and stop arguing about whether it's real or not," he said. "It is real."\nSPEA Dean Astrid E. Merget gave closing remarks. \n"What a wake up call to us citizens who care about the environment," she said. \nAt the discussion prior to the lecture, Ruckelshaus discussed some environmental concerns facing citizens, especially concerning global warming and the need for reducing carbon.\n"We're five to six percent of the population and generate about 25 percent of the energy," Ruckelshaus said. "If we don't take steps to reduce that impact it's unlikely that the rest of the world will either."\nRuckelshaus said in order to engage citizens, President Bush needs to put environmental issues higher on his agenda.\n"If he says it's important and we out to focus our attention on it, people do," he said. "(People) say they're concerned about it and then you ask them to change their habits and it's very hard to get them to do it. You really have to get people to focus on what their doing and their collective impact on the environment." \nCampbell-Allison said that "we live in a throw-away society," and citizens hold the responsibility for these environmental problems.\n"Can we fault the government?" she said. "It reflects the interests and priorities of America; it just so happens that the majority aren't willing to pay the extra $.20/gallon for cleaner petroleum." \nRuckelshaus, who has served as the first and fifth Agency Administrator of the EPA, was born in Indianapolis and is a former member of the Indiana House of Representatives. He has also served as Acting FBI Director and Assistant Attorney General.