Justin Ross Trauben, July 23rd 2009
Did the King really pop pills to end his own life? Can Khamenei's boys truly count that quickly? How many of those Bruno stunts were staged? Is there really a communal lighter hidden at Doug's coffee stand?
Besides the fact that Detroit will get worse before it ever gets better, what can we truly count on? While the world provides ample reasons to doubt, I wonder if a few are not taking the skepticism binge too far.
Sometimes a consensus can be reached: an answer found. There is, at least for me, a limit, and when enough individuals arrive empirically at the same conclusion I no longer feel the need to remain a skeptic.
Among those that believe the IPCC is a leftist conspiracy, carry at all times Rush Limbaugh's See, I Told You So, and appreciate science funded by Exxon, well, in response I shall quote the psychic from Bruno: "good luck with your life".
I believe the skeptics may have a misplaced faith.
Personally, I do not want to pay for a museum depicting homosapiens and dinosaurs not evolving simultaneously, I've never ordered freedom fries, and yes, I believe global warming is real. (as far as man-bear-pig is concerned, I'm only 60 percent). I believe, beyond merely being real, that the environmental crisis is quite easily the most significant issue of our times.
I tend to have faith in the power of my fellow man. Both the good and the bad: faith that the aggregate of our actions can have devastating consequences; faith that we can find a way out from between the rock and the hard place; and the faith that nothing worth anything will ever be simple.
We have a few clubs here at USD where students can freely embrace their respective faith. I commune at the Environmental Law Society, and urge for a day when San Diego, a city that imports roughly 90% of its water, chooses to no longer waste 60% on lawns. I believe in a day when San Diego municipal vehicles will run on biodiesel, and when all new structures, public or private, will be built by Leed Gold standards.
At USD we have the aesthetic pleasure of an immaculate institution, conceived by the greatest landscaping minds known to mankind. This school, however, can be slow to change. We reside minutes away from UCSD, one of the greenest universities in the nation, and yet see no solar panels near our Renaissance architecture, no CFL lights, and no clean energy.
If you are at law school for more than a piece of paper, and imagine that classes will not be the highlight of your day, fret not, there is a club for you: it's called everyone, and we meet at the bars. But some of us, before we head out to theCasbah, Jack's or Froggy's, some of us meet up in the name of progress (usually during lunch time with a few slices of pizza).
When you see the next chalk announcement for a club that speaks to you, reach out. It just so happens that ELS is the best looking club on campus, but whoever you are, I hope you do not chose skepticism. To quote a different psychic: "be the change you wish to see in the world".
Justin R. Trauben
President Environmental Law Society
post. scripts.
As for those questions supra: look at those record sales; only if they have thirty fingers each or used Diebold machines; something tells me Diesel, the Filipino bouncing ball was in on it; and lastly, you can ask Doug yourself.
And yes, it's possible: one can write an entire article about the environment without using the S word
One last question: Is Eastbound & Down quite possibly the best series on this green planet?
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