Continuing the conversation...

I received the following email from Grist this morning urging those of us in the academic community to pick up on the "much-needed" conversation on the future of the environment. That certainly needs to happen, though I hope we can have that conversation here and in other less academic settings. Dubya's re-election came as a shock, I think, because for the past 4 years, I've been thinking "this is all temporary." Clearly, that's not the case. At the same time, of course, last week's election was hardly a referendum on environmental policy, as the issue barely surfaced during the campaign, and polls still show that most Americans favor strong environmental protections. I have to wonder if it's now up to those of us pushing for a "sustainable development" agenda (versus a strict governmental regulation strategy) to take the lead in this conversation, and demonstrate how positive environmental positions are healthy, profitable and sustainable -- that is, environmentalism isn't simply a matter of "personal virtue" (to quote Darth Cheney), but is in our interests economically, socially and politically. I'm really interested to hear what you have to say...