Kennedy Urges Stronger Democracy Needed to Clean Up Environment
More Than 1600 Attend Historic Presentation Hosted by Trent University
- Click here to visit Trent's Robert F. Kennedy Jr. web site.
Renowned environmental advocate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. delivered an impassioned 90-minute speech last night illustrating the intrinsic connection between the health of our environment and the democratic process as part of the David Sheperd Lecture Series for Trent University.
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“Whenever you see environmental injury, you see a subversion of democracy,” explained Mr. Kennedy to a rapt audience of more than 1,600 people in the Peterborough Memorial Centre. He went on to describe numerous historic examples of how the dismantling of democratic principles leads directly to impoverishment of the masses and greater pollution. “The first effort of tyranny is to privatize resources. The best measure of how effectively a democracy is functioning, is by how well it distributes the bounty of the land. You can’t have a clean environment without a functioning democracy.”
Mr. Kennedy rebuked the argument that the costs associated today with cleaning up the environment will diminish economic prosperity, calling it “a false choice.” “An investment in the environment is an investment in infrastructure, same as telecommunications and roads.” He reminded the audience how the abolition of slavery due to moral pressure instigated the industrial revolution, one of the most economically successful periods in global history. “Good environmental policy is identical to good economic policy,” asserted Mr. Kennedy.
Mr. Kennedy warned Canadians that U.S. politicians are banking on being able to access Canadian fresh water when American supplies run dry. “If I were you, I’d pass a law right now that prohibits inter-basin water transfers.”
His address, entitled “Our Environmental Destiny” was presented as part of the 2008 annual conference of the International Association for Great Lakes Research taking place at Trent University this week.
The purpose of the David Sheperd Family Lecture Series is to introduce Trent students to leading speakers on environmental global issues and significantly build on the University’s reputation for its Environmental Science/Studies Centre of Knowledge.
The Lectureship Series will provide students, faculty and members of the Peterborough community with exceptional access to leading scholars and people engaged in policy and practical work in the field of environmental science. The goal of the donors is to use the Lectureship Series to provide a focal point for discussing the critical issues of our time.