Issue date: 10/9/07 Section: News

Washington Post's Juliet Eilperin spoke with communication professor Jeff McCall '76 Saturday morning as the last speaker of DePauw Discourse 2007. Eilperin's lecture, in the Walden Inn & Social Center, focused on journalism ethics and accountability and her experiences as the Post's only environment reporter. A Washington native who has worked the environmental beat for three years, Eilperin said she disagreed with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s views about the media. "[We] are all engaged in an exercise of accountability," she said. She said she does her work because of the resonance it has to all Americans and humans, and despite cutbacks in the industry, solid coverage exists in some media outlets, specifically the Post and the New York Times. Taking questions from an audience that was mostly alumni, she also said she no longer quotes global warning dissenters in articles. "It's just not worth anybody's time," Eilperin said. She added that the Internet both helps and hurts journalism because it increases reader input, but also provides a venue for misguided opinions. "People go on the Web and they see lots of different sites and lots of different blogs," she said. "[But also] there's an amazing amount of dialogue between rank-and-file, front-line reporters and readers that wasn't there five years ago."
- Matt Welch

Glenn T. Prickett, executive director of the Center for Environmental Leadership in Business and senior vice president for Conservation International, speaks on business and government solutions to global environmental problems. The discussion took place Friday morning in Thompson Recital Hall and was moderated by economics professor Kerry E. Pannell. Prickett spoke of the work of both organizations. "We council companies to make sure they want to get on the treadmill of environmentalism because of the scrutiny they face if they don't meet their goal," Prickett said.
- Meredith Mcgrady

In his presentation, "A Brave New Ocean or an Ocean Revolution," Wallace J. Nichols '89 explained his life's work with the study of conserving sea turtles and the ocean. Nichols spoke to students Friday morning in Thompson Recital Hall and urged the audience to act and care about the ocean. "I bet we all do something which can be considered unsustainable," Nichols said. "We know what we need to do, but we have a hard time doing it. Humans are really good at rationalizing beyond a tolerable level." He said 71 percent of the earth is covered by the ocean, with 80 percent of the planet's biodiversity also in the ocean, but the ocean only gets 1 percent of the economic dollars to protect it. "If the ocean is polluted, life on this planet will change," Nichols said.
- Robin Lamkin

Cristina Goettsch Mittermeier, a biodiversity conservation consultant, shows how she uses photography to promote conservation of destroyed and endangered areas of the Amazon. Mittermeir spoke in the Union Building ballroom Friday, Oct. 5 about the progressive movements being made toward integrating communication with conservation. As executive director of the International League of Conservation Photography, she has been working to build relationships with outside organizations to elevate awareness of the conservation initiative worldwide. "Images go a lot farther than white papers," Mittermeier said. By giving indigenous people cameras, the organizations can obtain valuable photographs of ecosystems in the Amazon that need conservation attention. Mittermeier said she wanted her discussion to shed light on the power of a good picture. Without the images of the people and the endangered areas, she said, the argument for conservation would lack strength.
- Christine Digangi

Geology professor Tim Cope moderated Friday's discussion "Coming Clean: The Case for Innovation and Renewable Energy" between Greg Watson and Kay E. Pashos '81. During the discussion, which took place in Thompson Recital Hall of the Green Center, both Watson and Pashos talked about the advantages and disadvantages of different energy options. Clean-coal, wind, solar, hydro and nuclear power were all discussed as possible options for renewable energy. Both Pashos and Watson agreed that the best answer would come through the combination of refining existing processes and perfecting new technologies. "There is no silver bullet," Watson said. "There is no one-size fits all."
- Courtney Hime

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