The room is packed thanks to an 8am text message from the Powershift Team, even after a large group, late night hike to the White House following a musical performance by the Roots. Students are clapping in anticipation. Ralph Nader enters the room and people stand and cheer. These activists are ready for him. Dave Shukla gives him a standard introduction, listing all of his green accomplishments.

 

 

Nader began by describing the first Earth Day, which, according to Nader, put environmental issues on the map. The main focus was on air pollution, nothing yet on global warming or acid rain – that was yet to come. And yet, we did have a sense of a global disaster coming, and we knew we needed to fight for humanity's place on earth by fighting for the protection of our planet. We saw that air pollution can cause lung disease. The Cuyahoga River caught on fire because so much oil had been spilt in it. The student movement shook up the whole country at this time, says Nader. "We could never have gotten those laws (meaning the laws within the Clean Air Act) through ten years later;" we had to get them through at that time.

You have to seize the moment, says Nader. "We need to get to a higher level of urgency. ..You have to have a sense of time and not waste it."
 

"Your twenties are when you're most creative. You have better wisdom and experience later on. You want to break that paradigm [with your creativity.]"

Mr. Nader then shifted the topic of his discussion to corporations. He compared the rights of citizens to the rights of corporations. "We all grew up corporate," he says, thanks to the rights our congress has given them. He made the point that everyone in the room has been to a Walmart and a McDonald's, but only about half of the people in the room have observed court room activities first hand.

 

Nader then went on to describe how students and the rest of society can reduce corporate power, namely through subordination and displacement. Expanding local food reduces the amount of food the larger corporation can sell, and every time we purchase renewable energy locally, "we cut the power of Exxon, and we cut the power of nuclear," he says.
 

Perhaps it's because I'm at Powershift, and being radical is normal and applauded, but Nader's speech didn't start out as far-reaching as I thought it would. He appealed to the student activist and to the student who works with the system. We can create change by creating a sense of urgency – at least that's the message that I got out of the first part of his speech. The second section, however, took a different tone, attacking corporations. We can't argue that corporations have definitely taken a lead role in society, but we also can't argue (or maybe we can?) that we have to find a place for those giant companies in the new economy. We have to work with them to create the change that we want to make. You have to understand their point of view and recognize it. You don't have to accept it, but like President Lincoln, remember to keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.