Professor says climate change poses 'existential crisis'

For Boston College sociology professor Charles Derber, Earth Day carries a stark, urgent meaning this year: The future of the world is at stake, and time is running out to act.

"The global climate crisis is the greatest crisis the world has ever faced, and we're under unbelievable time pressure. The modestly conservative estimates of this now are that we have two or three years to really make a decisive difference," Derber told about 25 people assembled in the lobby of the Dedham Community Theatre for Earth Day last night.

The Dedham resident and social critic referred to NASA scientist James Hansen, a global warming authority, who he said is telling us "that we're on the cusp of either saving the world or losing it."

"We're facing a truly existential crisis," Derber said.

That was the bad news Derber gave. But he also had good news: "We've elected a new president who has made climate change central to his vision of how to reconstruct the country - the first time we've ever had a president who's made this issue front and center."

The gathering of nations in Copenhagen this December to create a successor environmental agreement to the 1992 Kyoto Protocol is crucial to Earth's future, Derber said.

"These are the meetings where either the world is going to take decisive action to come to some sort of agreement about really enforcing a serious global cap and timing to reduce carbon and other greenhouse gases rapidly, or we're going to lose it," he said.

While China now puts out more carbon emissions than the U.S., our country's leadership will be "absolutely crucial," Derber said, arguing that "civilization as we understand it is going to depend on what people in the United States, in my judgment, do over the next 6 to 8 months."

The issue requires dramatic action in the form of global agreements and by individuals, said Derber, who is an at-large member of the Dedham Sustainability Advisory Committee. Hailing the town's "eco-heroes," he said dramatic "community action" that resonates throughout the world is needed.

He also suggested that Dedham endorse "the most robust Copenhagen position for the U.S.," and that it go on the record supporting the comprehensive climate change law being debated in Congress. The bill's co-sponsor is Bay State U.S. Rep. Edward Markey, D-7th.

The event last night was both a celebration of Earth Day and a follow-up to the Carbon Cafe held in January at which residents learned how they can improve the environment. After Derber's speech, the crowd filed into the theater to watch "Kilowatt Ours," a film that shows how people can make a difference with their energy usage.

Afterward, the town was going to honor six "eco teams" that lowered their carbon emissions following the Carbon Cafe, said Dedham Environmental Coordinator Virginia LeClair. The groups used the Low Carbon Diet, a team program through which people make lifestyle changes to significantly reduce their carbon emissions, thus moderating the effects of global warming.

Derber's team was the "Clothesline Gang."

"They hang all their clothes out to dry, so they're saving energy that way," LeClair explained.

Also on Earth Day yesterday, Dedham Town Administrator William Keegan went to the State House for a ceremony with Ian Bowles, state secretary of energy and environmental affairs. Bowles' invitation to Dedham signified that the town is one of 12 Massachusetts communities considered to be at the forefront of the effort to adopt sound environmental practices, LeClair said.

Dedham also celebrated Earth Day by planting a tree at each of its four elementary schools and day lilies at the Early Childhood Education Center. The trees were donated and planted by the Department of Public Works.

Just over a dozen kids, joined by parents, went to the Greenlodge School to mark the planting of that school's tree, and to paint rocks that will be placed in a circle around the tree. For a video of that event, see www.dailynewstranscript.com.

Daily News staff writer Edward B. Colby can be reached at 781-433-8336 or ecolby@cnc.com.