 "Photo: JESS KEMP, THE VOLANTE, 2010")
USD students gathered in the Muenster University Center Pit Lounge Tuesday to discuss current energy, national security and climate change issues at a press conference conducted by Operation Free.
Leighann Dunn and EricGage, both veterans of the National Guard and USD students, presented the press conference with fellow veterans Matt Victoriano and Patrick Bellon.
The veterans are traveling on a bus tour with Operation Free, holding press conferences at town halls and other locations.
Operation Free is a coalition of veterans, organizations and national security organizations that have come together to tie climate change and national security together, Dunn said.
The press conferences focus on educating veterans and others on how dependence on foreign oil and climate change effects national security, she said.
“It’s been great to travel to so many different places and meet with different veterans and people who are interested in this cause,” said Dunn, whose last stop on the tour is Vermillion.
Victoriano said the current energy policy is leading to the deaths and injuries of soldiers in Afghanistan because close to 60 percent of our oil comes from overseas, directly funding terrorist groups like the Taliban.
“Some of our politicians standing in front of large American flags and proclaiming their patriotism and then driving over to the gas station and filling up their tanks, knowing a good portion of that money goes into hands of terrorists and insurgents across the world,” Victoriano said.
Dunn said Americans need to start investing in a safer future by investing and putting money into diverse energy sources to create more options.
Victoriano said the issues Operation Free is pushing are important to students because students are a part of society and almost everyone has been affected by military action around the world.
Gage said students are the future of America and they need to speak up and do something.
“It’s up to us as constituents to push the issues,” Gage said. “People in Washington want to do the right thing, but need a support system from us.”
Sophomore Tenisha Kessler attended the press conference and said it addressed issues important not only from a military standpoint, but from an environmentalist standpoint.
“It’s up to our generation to see these changes carried through,” Kessler said. “It’s our future that’s at stake.”
The Operation Free bus tour will continue in the next few weeks and will make its way to Missouri to present more press conferences and information sessions, Gage said.
To get involved, contact Gage at his email at Eric.Gage@usd.edu.
Reach reporter Josie Clarey at Josie.Clarey@usd.edu.
1 comments