More than 200 Texans came to the UT campus over the weekend to participate in the Re-Energize Texas Summit, the largest statewide youth conference concerning global warming.
The summit, which consisted of lectures and workshops, sought to "empower, engage and inspire young people in Texas to take action to address global warming" and to position the global warming debate as an opportunity to fortify the Texas economy, according to the summit's Web site.
Speakers included professors, leaders from religious and business sectors and Austin Mayor Will Wynn.
Journalism sophomore Catherine Clemons helped organize the summit and said Austin was the best choice of locations.
"UT is a very forward-thinking university," Clemons said. "We knew we would have support here."
The summit's workshops and training sessions focused on practical solutions to fight global warming. Topics involved recruiting, organizing for elections and informing companies of the advantages of addressing climate change.
"No more excuses. It's time to act," said summit organizer Trevor Lovell. "No amount of pessimism is going to stop us."
Gary Hirshberg of Stonyfield Farm, the world's largest organic yogurt company, spoke about how to make money and save the world. He encouraged those in attendance to take action on behalf of the environment.
"We need to reverse 1,000 years of pollution, quickly," Hirshberg said. "You are in charge. You determine what Congress will do. If you tell them, they'll listen."
Other workshops addressed fighting against the use of coal power and nuclear energy.
But Dave Knox, a spokesman for NRG Energy - which owns part of a nuclear plant in Bay City, Texas - said he disagrees with the group's tough stance against nuclear energy.
"It's an obvious answer to climate change," Knox said. "We truly believe that if you are serious about global warming, nuclear power has to be one of the tools to lower emissions - not the only tool, but one of them."
Nuclear power plants, which do not emit many of the pollutants associated with burning fossil fuels, are capable of producing the large volume of energy necessary to meet Texas' needs, he said.
"Wind and solar energy are great, and they are on their way," he said. "But they only work when the wind is blowing and the sun is shining. We need energy right now, and nuclear energy is the cleanest option."
Praween Dayananda, National Wildlife Federation campus field coordinator and summit co-organizer, said nuclear energy is not necessary.
"We don't need to consider nuclear power yet," Dayananda said. "If we're more energy efficient, we won't need to take those
measures."
Dayananda said that while there is no greenhouse gas associated with nuclear energy, there is nowhere to deposit the waste, which remains for thousands of years.
"We need to start asking ourselves," Dayanada said. "'Do we want a world that is just carbon-free or a world that is healthy?'"
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