Dear Clinton is a collection of photographs and letters explaining what public service bridge our students are building. This special collection was produced in partnership with Dear World, an innovative photography venture for social good.
Dear President Clinton,
Finding renewable sources of energy is inevitable. We are rapidly coming to realize that we are staring at the bottom of the fossil fuel bucket and that the era of cheap, easily accessible carbon-based energy is coming to an end.
Unfortunately, we do not have time to wait for the inevitable. The climate change clock is ticking and each minute powered by non-renewable sources is a minute closer to serious environmental and humanitarian crises. I came to the Clinton School to explore pathways to our renewable energy future and I could not have asked for a better experience. This search through the Clinton School brought me to the doors of the Arkansas Public Policy Panel, where I was able to work on energy efficiency and distributed generation legislation. It brought me into close contact with the Little Rock Accord, the climate funding mechanism formed at the Club de Madrid in Little Rock this past year. The Clinton School gave me the opportunity to ask Vice President Gore about the possibility of “leap-frogging” the centralized electrical grid in developing countries and to convince Mayor Mark Stodola to consider installing solar panel canopies over the numerous surface parking lots in Little Rock.
Currently, this journey with renewable energy is bringing me around the world. I am sitting at an internet café watching humpback whales breach off the coast of Tonga, where I have worked with the highly lauded Tonga Energy Road Map (TERM) and a community-born-and-raised climate resiliency NGO. Next, I will travel to India to visit Barefoot College, an inspirational organization that trains illiterate and semi-literate mothers and grandmothers from the developing world to become solar energy technicians. I will then spend seven months in Zanzibar, Tanzania as a Boren Fellow working with a group of women trained at the Barefoot College to encourage the local government to incentivize distributed generation.
As you know, many people describe natural gas and clean coal as “bridge” fuels to a clean energy future. While I believe that we need to explore all possibilities for avoiding climate change, I am growing increasingly concerned with this mentality. These fuels do not build a bridge; they just give us a few more inches on the pier we are all driving down. A bridge to a renewable energy future would involve recognizing the potential for distributed energy technologies to democratize energy, thereby changing the way we produce and consume energy. I may not have the scientific background to develop new energy technologies, but thanks to the Clinton School I have the communicative and administrative skillsets needed to bring this technology to where it is needed most. This is the bridge I am currently building – a bridge to a renewable energy future.
Thank you for helping me – and countless others – build this bridge.
Thank you,
John