Tom Zeller Jr. speaks on climate change: “I still remain an optimist”

On Feb. 25 New York Times editor and writer Tom Zeller Jr. visited the Ragan Theater to speak about the impact businesses are having on the global climate.

Zeller has spent the last 12 years covering everything from technology to politics, but the last year and a half Zeller has been writing on the issue of climate change. He admitted to knowing very little about the issue and not having a great passion for the environment before this recent undertaking.

“The last year and a half has been an education,” said Zeller. He passed that education on to a crowd of nearly 200 UVU students and faculty.

One of the issues discussed was balancing the importance of our environment with our need for things like heat and light. Zeller illustrated the value we place on nature at the start by having the audience close their eyes and imagine a perfect place.

The global climate change debate has always been passionate, but very slow going. Zeller believes this has a lot to do with businesses’ reluctance to take personal responsibility and action. One willing individual is Ray Anderson of Interface Global who has pledged to not only stop polluting, but to erase their carbon footprint completely by the year 2020. Although progress is small, Zeller’s glass remains half full. He expressed that the subject of global warming’s validity is less important than the subject of pollution itself.

Zeller showed his optimism when he said, “As a species we have solved big problems before.”