The Nexus and the Olive Branch

The Global Studies class I am teaching this semester has not gone quite as I have planned, which is exactly as I planned. But I didn't count on spending all February addressing the nexus - it's a fancy Latin word meaning "knot" - of energy, global climate change, and the environment. Sure, I got the class through some important historical background. We spent some time discussing the mortgage bubble and the world economy. But the "nexus" has made an utter shambles of my syllabus.

I'm glad it has. Our examination of the nexus began with Focus On The Nation's nationwide January 31 teach-in. To ensure balanced coverage of these three highly partisan topics, I selected videocasts and texts approaching the nexus from the widest possible range of viewpoints - from Al Gore to Glenn Beck. I'm pleased to say that my students did a good job of examining the materials carefully, and - regardless of their differences - of discussing their opinions civilly.

The high point of the month was our February 13 visit from Keith E. Hartner, a General Manager of Associated Electric Cooperative, Inc. Keith did a great job of rendering comprehensible the issues, great and small, underlying the production of electric power. He explained how AECI is working to "go green" while still providing its customers with affordable power. Finally, he shared with the class his detailed knowledge of the global forces which make the nexus so difficult to penetrate. Although businessmen are often portrayed as soulless moneygrabbers, it was clear that Keith cares very deeply about preserving the environment.

Because my job keeps me out of civic circulation during the week, I was unable to visit the Ozarks New Energy Conference on February 22-23. Fortunately, local blogger Jason Wert at lifeofjason.com not only attended the conference but covered it in detail, complete with the appearances by prominent fellow attendees Roy Blunt and Claire McCaskill. Reading Jason's reports, I was struck by how much our Republican Representative and our Democratic Senator agreed.

The most striking reading I found, however, came from local blogger Larry Litle, at Simple Thoughts of a Complex Mind. I suppose I could gripe about his use of the term "extreme environmental wacko," but I have to admit that some of the videocasts we watched in the last month can (on both sides of the nexus) did, in fact, get pretty extreme. I was impressed by his ability to reconcile his concerns about climate change with his staunch conservative beliefs.

Clearly, there is an emerging consensus concerning this "nexus" of energy, global climate change, and the environment. People of good will from all sides of these issues are working together to build upon this consensus. If - like me - you are decidedly not a conservative, it's all the more important that you read Litle's essay in its entirety. Before we can tackle the nexus, it is necessary that we grasp the olive branch.