Our minds were once filled with problems of the world that we fought with every part of our beings to understand and solve. These issues resided in our conversations, aired on televisions and spread through the press.


The global warming crisis. The Chandra Levy scandal. The 2000 presidential election.


Then Sept. 11 happened.


Now these issues have receded into the background, replaced by the War on Terrorism and the chore of rebuilding the economy from its recession.


The Kyoto Now! protocol, for instance, was spearheaded by supporters both in Congress and right here in front of Day Hall. Although the topic is now on the back burner, it hasn't stop developing -- though it's existence is threatened by the Bush administration.


Last Thursday, President George W. Bush announced a collection of tax incentives for businesses, individuals and farmers, on the condition that they reduce pollution. However, these benefits were proposed as an alternative to the Kyoto protocol, which asked 40 industrialized nations to reduce greenhouse emissions within a specific time-frame.


Previously, the Clinton administration had approved the protocol, but the Senate refused to ratify it.


Now, Bush has rejected the protocol outright and claimed it would detrimentally affect the nation's fragile economy.


Cornell has also reacted to the economic downturn, instituting a hiring freeze, which was announced by President Hunter R. Rawlings III last November. But the Kyoto protocol has not shaken airwaves since last April when protesters dismantled "Kyoto village" from outside Day Hall and took the issue into University conference rooms.


Despite promises made by the University to create a project team of students and administrators aimed at working together to reduce campus energy use and pollution levels, some of the student Kyoto organizers felt they had to reassemble and protest last November to make progress.


Since April, the University has released announcements regarding its environmentalism but none related to the Kyoto project team's joint efforts to collectively improve campus pollution. The administration has focused on projects already underway, including the Lake Source Cooling Project and new campus ventilation systems.


But with the country's sharpened focus after the terrorist attacks, Kyoto and other pre-Sept. 11 issues need to be revisited, especially at Cornell.


Now that the Bush administration has opted for more cost-friendly tax benefits at the expense of the Kyoto, the movement's relevance risks being forgotten by many citizens across the country.


Cornell, as an internationally known Ivy League institution, has the opportunity to remind the nation of Kyoto and environmental protectionism by making campus discussions on the subject as prominent on the University's agenda as they were last April. The deterioration of the environment is not a problem that should vanish when the economy isn't doing well.

Archived article by Sun Staff