The Rowan Environmental Action League (REAL) welcomed guest speaker Ben Dziobek, a 25-year-old political and environmental organizer who works as the executive director for the Climate Revolution Action Network (CRAN), a community-based organization that focuses on addressing environmental issues and fighting for climate justice.
During the workshop, which was hosted in Discovery Hall this past Tuesday night and saw about 25 people attend, Dziobek discussed New Jersey’s environmental policy and the ongoing fight against climate change.
“There’s no youth voices around the state, and when we’re talking about legislation and policy and whatnot, none of our opinions are included. So our whole thing is to uplift you all into these spaces, whether it be local town councils, accomplishing resolutions, or working on the ground with preserving land or something like that, coordinating,” Dziobek said.
This event was organized as part of a broader effort to bring more organizations, especially colleges, to CRAN. The group hopes to build a coalition of New Jersey organizations and college clubs to combat climate change, according to Dziobek.
According to Kyle Mains, the president of REAL and a senior computer science major, the workshop aimed to educate people in a more experiential or engaging way.
“A workshop was a catch-all term. As opposed to a lecture, it’s more of a teaching experience,” Mains said.
The workshop began with a recap of future events, including a kayaking trip to Scotland Run Park on Oct. 16. Soon after, Dziobek started his presentation.
Dziobek singled out three ongoing priorities during his presentation: “Save Black Run Preserve,” an effort to save a nature reserve from a property developer; “Save Watchung Mountain,” an effort to keep property developers from blowing up the top of Watchung Mountain; and finally, “Make Polluters Pay,” an effort to force major polluters to pay significant fines for environmental damages.
Most of the presentation revolved around “Make Polluters Pay,” which refers to the New Jersey Climate Superfund Act, an act requiring polluters to fund climate change mitigation. Ideally, it will hold contributors directly accountable instead of the taxpayer, and by regulating companies, it will slow climate change. Dziobek claims it can save taxpayers up to $50 billion.
“We have new legislation that maybe we’ll get past next year, but the superfund’s the really important piece. And the super fund is a national issue. If we do this here, it, quite literally, triggers the rest of the states to be like, ‘These three states got it at this point, this makes sense, right?’” Dziobek said.
Dziobek continued, discussing ongoing organizing efforts and the hurdles faced by both activists and environmental protection as a whole under the Trump administration.
“We can do this. Young people can make this happen,” Dziobek said.
The club proceeded outside to the Discovery Hall lawn, where a picture was taken, and Dziobek answered any further questions attendees had.
“I think it was really informative and entertaining at the same time,” said Conor Flaherty, a junior geographic information sciences major.
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