I learned that being a volunteer is sometimes very useful because your motives are not suspect - particularly important when dealing with government or business. It is also harder to get rid of you. But best of all, I learned that success is easiest when the cause you are working for has enthusiastic grass roots support already and few naysayers to argue that saving trees, saving energy or turning used products into new products is a bad idea. Would that the big environmental challenges we face today were that simple and easy to resolve. Whether the problem is destruction of wildlife habitat, global warming, or cleaning up polluted air and water, we are increasingly aware of how complex it is and yet how urgent the need for a solution.
Every day brings a new problem to our attention.
We need more Rachel Carsons to provide the basic scientific research and analysis, which is absolutely essential in order to make sound environmental decisions. We need more writers to educate, inspire, and activate the public. We need more leaders who can organize and thread through the complicated legislative processes necessary to implement solutions. It is to institutions such as Wells that we look to provide these women. So it is particularly exciting to see Wells is moving to meet that challenge with the construction of the new science building and, especially for me, to see that there will be an increased emphasis on the environmental sciences.