nicholas school graduation - 2004

2004 Nicholas School Graduation
Meaghan Calcari, student speaker

Thank you for the introduction, Mr. Gelbert. It is truly an honor to be speaking to you, my professional peers, and to our families and friends, the people who have supported us through life’s big decisions, master’s projects or dissertations…and Professor Smith’s economics course.

I want you all to take a minute now, to close your eyes, and to think about how you came to be a freshly stamped Nicholas School graduate. Think about when you began your love and your curiosity for the environment. Think about how you decided on the path that would be your hobby…your career…and your passion. Maybe it was the camping trips you took with your Girl Scout troupe or 4-H club that taught you how to tread lightly on the earth. Maybe it was your amazing 8th grade science teacher who, for the first time in your life, clearly illustrated how all things are connected, from the air and the land to the rivers and the ocean. Maybe it was just the natural beauty you have seen and felt or the sense of peace you have found by being in the mountains or on the coast. Or, maybe you’re here because of that one issue—it could be sea turtle bycatch, habitat fragmentation, or green architecture. Whatever the issue, it’s the one that fires you up, the one that makes you really tick. You can open your eyes now.

I know that for me and for most of us, the sense of connection to the environment began early. Our love for it started with an insatiable childlike curiosity about how things work and how these things called ecosystems function. And later, this awareness gave way to the question of why—why would people do anything to hurt these natural wonders? I think about the creek in my old backyard that was filled with tadpoles, cattails, crayfish, and other critters. In this charming place with soft breezes gently swaying the weeping willows, I spent most of my childhood’s summer afternoons. Here, I learned all about mud and its staining qualities. This place is no longer a running creek. Now, it’s just stagnant, with smelly brown water that only appears after a rainfall. I’m sure we all have stories like this—how quickly we lose something wonderful.

While living in Beaufort this year, I had the opportunity to work with 6th graders who, from time to time, surprised me with their understanding and concern for environmental issues. I asked them what they thought was the greatest threat to the environment is and why. I’d like to share some of their answers with you.

One normally quiet boy spoke right up and said, “I think the greatest threat to the environment is when we make harmful chemicals, because they travel through water, kill the fish, then we eat the fish, and then we die.” That student was our pessimist.

A girl this time, with deep concern in her eyes, remarked, “I think the greatest threat to the environment is when we cut down the rainforest because we lose animals and plants, and we also lose oxygen that we breathe.”

Another boy gruffly commented, “I think the greatest threat to the environment is black, hazy, exhaust fumes from cars and big utility trucks. The utility trucks also cause construction, which is bad, because you have things crashing, digging, and cutting.”

An outspoken girl took a break from chewing on her ponytail and said, “I think the greatest threat to the environment is littering and litterbugs, because for billions and billions of years now, cavemen and other Homo sapiens, or people, have been littering into land fills, roads, and basically all over the ground.” Those cavemen sure were careless.

Finally, and perhaps the most poignant, one of the eleven-year-olds said, “I think the greatest danger to the environment is humans. We think that because we are bigger, we can do anything.” And, isn’t that the definition of a bully?

As graduates of the Nicholas School, our main work lies ahead of us now. According to these 6th graders, we must be in charge of managing human beings and their actions. Yes, I know it’s daunting. And it’s definitely not something we can put off until the night before it’s due. I imagine when you are all off creating heroic environmental solutions, at some point you may feel overwhelmed, even disheartened. If that happens, we can remember—remember our beginnings. Remember how we got here. Maintain our childlike curiosity. Stoke the fires of our passion and our concern for the environment, because that’s what it’s going to take.

We’re the experts now. We’re the problem-solvers. And we’re the decision-makers. As I look at you all, my fellow classmates, I think that there are no better people for the job. Thank you