We applaud last week’s issue for its two discussions of climate change, the most important challenge of our time. Climate change, as noted, encompasses issues of the environment, social justice and economic development. However, we would like to modify a conclusion reached in both Richard Horns’ column and Elaine Teng’s interview with Professor Jan Dizard.

Climate change will not be overcome solely by your own energy consciousness, nor by an ambitious Obama budget. Winning this fight requires massive grassroots support for climate legislation, by no later than December. You (and all of your friends) need to join us in pushing Congress to pass a tough climate change bill before the U.N. Conference in Copenhagen, where the international community will craft a successor to the Kyoto Protocol.

Copenhagen may well be our planet’s last chance to curtail climate change. Leading NASA climatologist James Hansen recently identified 350 parts per million (ppm) of atmospheric carbon dioxide as the safety threshold for our planet. Our atmosphere already contains 387 ppm, a figure that continues to rise by 2 ppm annually. Should the Conference result in an inadequate treaty — one that fails to lower carbon dioxide levels to 350 ppm — climate change is likely to spiral beyond our control. Sadly, the worst of the consequences may fall on the world’s poor and historically disadvantaged groups.

It’s imperative, then, that citizens of every nation pressure their governments to support an aggressive policy in Copenhagen. With that in mind, we consider Professor Dizard’s answer to “what the average Amherst student can do” incomplete. A recent interview in The Progressive with environmental journalist Bill McKibben contained a more persuasive answer to the question of what individuals should do to fight climate change.

Said McKibben: “Get involved politically. Often when I’m on TV, they’ll ask what are the three most important things for people to do. I know they want me to say that people should change their light bulbs. I say the number one thing is to organize politically; number two, do some political organizing; number three, get together with your neighbors and organize; and then if you have energy left over from all of that, change the light bulb.”

You, the average Amherst student, need to do more than change your light bulbs or ride PVTA. Governments respond to citizen pressure, and as informed citizens it is our responsibility to apply that pressure. Go forth, students of Amherst, and lobby! Join the Green Amherst Project — Wednesdays at 9:15 p.m. in Chapin 203. Help make this not only a visible public issue in the eyes of our Congress, but a dire one — indeed, the direst one we face. And, when your fingers are calloused from letter-writing, when your voice is hoarse from phoning and when your butt is sore from sitting on the steps outside John Olver’s office, then, and only then, we’ve got a couple CFL bulbs for you.

— Jeff Gang ’09,

Ben Goldfarb ’09,

Terence Lee ’09