Nancy Sutley ’84 has a passion for the environment honed far above Cayuga’s waters. Now, the current deputy mayor of Los Angeles for energy and the environment is bringing her political acumen and progressive mindset to the executive office as President-elect Barack Obama’s choice for chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

Last night, over 20 Cornell students gathered around a dinner table to participate in a conversation that extended beyond typical dining hall chatter. Art Purcell Ph.D ’66, an environmental policy and sustainability expert, hosted the dialogue “What an Obama Administration Might Mean for Environmental Policy and Sustainability,” provoking many students to think about the importance of the integration of environmental and economic policy.

“We’re in an era where there’s hope again,” Purcell began. He continued to say that it is a matter of “timing and an efficient use of resources” to push the country towards a more sustainable and green future.

It was the summer of ’69. In the midst of free love, hits of LSD and political activism across the U.S., Cornell University hosted a historic exhibit that transformed the perception of art. Curated by Willoughby Sharp at the A.D. White House, Earth Art broke out of museums and galleries and into the rough-and-tumble of the wilderness. The show was the introduction to the Land Art movement, including works like Walter de Maria's “Lightning Farm,” which harnessed the power of nature for aesthetic pleasure.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats have decided to allow a quarter-century ban on drilling for oil off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to expire next week, conceding defeat in a months-long battle with the White House and Republicans set off by $4 a gallon gasoline prices this summer.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, D-Wis., told reporters Tuesday that a provision continuing the moratorium will be dropped this year from a stopgap spending bill to keep the government running after Congress recesses for the election.

Republicans have made lifting the ban a key campaign issue after gasoline prices spiked this summer and public opinion turned in favor of more drilling. President Bush lifted an executive ban on offshore drilling in July.

I am not the eco-friendliest person. I don’t know if me and the environment are friends; I’d say we’re more acquaintances who drunkenly bump into each other at the bars and make plans for lunch — “Like, not this week, because I’m really busy, but maybe next week?” — and then we both forget about it.

But if the biological system I just anthropomorphized as a literary device didn’t like me then, it sure isn’t going to like me after this one. But that’s OK, because while I like the eco-friendly movement — I really do — I just like people more.

Before every socially conscious person gets up in arms, I’m actually only talking about one aspect of our “Go Green!” society: reusable bags.