tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51225422208620865122011-04-29T23:07:59.072-07:00A Virtual Dutch Graduation Speech to the Leiden University Class of 2099 in the Netherlandsdannoreply@blogger.comBlogger11100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122542220862086512.post-82433379444302168582009-03-06T04:35:00.000-08:002009-03-06T04:40:32.631-08:00A Virtual Dutch Graduation Speech to the Leiden University Class of 2099<br /><br /><br /><br />[Editor's note: The following text is a virtual graduation speech<br />intended for the eyes and ears of college graduates in Holland the year 2099,<br />and in 2009 and 2010 as well.]<br /><br />Good afternoon, Class of 2099, at Leiden University here in the Netherlands,<br /><br />I can't be here in person to address you, since I passed into oblivion<br />long ago. But as a member of the graduating class of 1971 at my own<br />beloved alma mater in Boston in America, far across the seas, I wanted to leave you with a brief<br />message -- from the past to the future -- about global warming and<br />climate change.<br /><br />As the class of 2099, you are about to enter the 22nd Century in a few<br />more months, and you will bring with you not only your university<br />experience but also your career expectations and personal anxieties as<br />citizens living on a planet in the midst of a climate crisis. I'm sure<br />you've heard this term a lot in the past four years -- "climate<br />crisis" -- but you should know that in my days as a student, we never<br />used the phrase. Back then, we had not even heard of the term yet!<br /><br />Back then, of course, we were focused on terms such as Cold War,<br />nuclear winter, war on poverty, racism, the oil shock, the Middle East<br />situation, and later on, towards of our "three score and ten" on<br />Earth, newer terms such as terrorism and global warming.<br /><br />I'm not around now, but I hope you can read my message online and<br />perhaps view it on a digital recording in a public library somewhere here in Holland. <br /><br />Before I<br />continue, I just want to take a few moments here to wish you all the<br />best of luck in your future life and the best of health to enjoy the<br />luck that I am wishing for you. May all your dreams come true, and<br />then some!<br /><br />Members of the Class of 2099 at Leiden University, you are living in a very crucial time in<br />the history of humankind. You know this. Your world stands at the threshold of a<br />period of human history when very important decisions will have to be<br />made about the use of fossil fuels and the "consume! slash! burn!"<br />lifestyle that you have come to expect.<br /><br />I wonder: do the names James Lovelock or James Hansen or Al Gore still<br />ring a bell in your generation now, or have new faces and names<br />replaced these far-seeing men? Is that book by the British writer Mark Lynas, titled "Six<br />Degrees", still in print, or has a new besteller on climate change<br />become the must-read of your generation? <br /><br />Is that documentary from<br />2006, "An Inconvenient Truth", still in circulation here in Holland? And what about<br />the late Hollywood movie star Leonardo DiCaprio's "The 11th Hour"? Have you ever heard of the movie,<br />or has it been all but forgotten in your day and age?<br /><br />By the way, have you men and women of the Class of 2099 heard by now<br />about such global warming adaptation strategies as "sustainable<br />population retreats" in northern regions, once referred to as "polar<br />cities"? The terms were coined back in 2006 and some people blogged<br />them for a couple of years before mainstream scientists and engineers<br />went even deeper into the concepts involved.<br /><br />Class of 2099, I want to leave you with seven words: "We must tighten<br />the noose around coal".<br /><br />Dr. Jesse Ausubel of Rockefeller University in the U.S. wrote those<br />words more than 100 years ago, and they were prophetic. Has your world<br />tightened the noose around coal? Has your world started to tackle the<br />vexing problems of overpopulation, climate change and the creation of<br />a sustainable economy? Is global warming something that will shape<br />your future, or are the denialists out there still complaining that it<br />is a hoax?<br /><br />Whatever your own personal views are about global warming, pro or con,<br />or just sitting on the fence in the middle of the debate, you should<br />know this: there is not much time left. I hope your generation finds a<br />way to stop the burning of fossil fuels and also finds ways to<br />mitigate the impact of climate change on your future world. I just<br />said that "there is not much time left". Maybe I should have said<br />"time is running out". Or maybe I should have said: "Time has run<br />out."<br /><br />Class of 2099, go out and help create your world here in Holland and wherever you<br /><br /><br />-- Danny Bloom, 1949-2032<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5122542220862086512-8243337944430216858?l=194countries.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>dannoreply@blogger.com0