Re “Farragut Hosts the Ultimate Power-Point Presentation”
[Editor’s Note: The president of Culver City High School delivered this address yesterday morning when the School District’s photovoltaic system was activated at Farragut Elementary.]
[img]2452|right|Nick Guthman||no_popup[/img]Yesterday, students from Culver City High School and Middle School came to assemblies hosted by the Alliance for Climate Education.
There, we learned about greenhouse gases and their sources, how human-caused emissions are altering the world’s climate on an unprecedented scale, that carbon, which comes from power plants, factories and cars, is pouring into our atmosphere faster than at any time in most of earth’s history.
We learned that carbon is weighed in parts per million or ppm. And we learned that the average over time has been 275 ppm in the atmosphere.
Now scientists say that the outer limit of safety is 350 parts per million but today… today we are at 400 ppm.
We are close to a tipping point of no return. Sea levels are rising. We are seeing more and more extreme weather. The glaciers all around earth are melting. Our oceans are filling with acid, which is dangerous to our marine habitats. This is insane behavior, and it is sad that we are destroying our ability to survive on this planet.
It’s my generation which is inheriting this planet in crisis.
We learned yesterday that it is imperative for us to reverse the trend of increased carbon in our atmosphere.
We learned that we can do this but we’ll need to work together to change our personal habits and the behaviors of our government and our industries.
We are the future. In order for our students to address the threat of climate change, we will need to understand the threat and the solutions.
Assemblies like the ones we attended yesterday were meaningful and powerful to my fellow students. They provided us the tools we need to turn ideas into action.
In the days to come, the younger students at the elementary schools will be given tours of the solar arrays, by trained sixth graders who are now themselves studying climate change and its effects.
I’m proud to be here today for the unveiling of CCUSD’s new solar power generation system.
And as President Obama noted last week in the State of the Union,
“The debate is settled. Climate change is a fact. And when future generations look us in the eye and ask if we did all we could to leave them a safer, more stable world, with new sources of energy, I want us to be able to say yes, we did.”
So from one President to the next, I am proud to say the Culver City community is moving forward and doing our part to reduce climate change.
Mr. Guthman may be contacted at nick.guthman@gmail.com
