Environment: Greener on both sides

During the next couple of months, students on the campus will be approached in and out of class by some of their green-shirted peers. Never fear - they don't want your lunch money, and they aren't trying to sell you car insurance. They're part of a national youth movement called Power Vote.

They want you to support politicians from any party in this election cycle who champion policies that incorporate clean energy, support environmentally friendly technologies and fight climate change. The goal is to build a youth voting bloc of one million people to help elect politicians who espouse green ideals and then hold them accountable once elected.

The Power Vote pledge addresses the greatest challenges facing our country today. Skyrocketing energy prices have strained American pocketbooks, while our dependence on foreign oil causes $700 billion to leave the country each year. Falling competitiveness in the global economy has led to hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs being shipped overseas. For the first time in 125,000 years, the Northeast and Northwest passages are open, making the Arctic ice cap an island ships can sail around.

The solution to all of these problems is to end our dependence on dirty, nonrenewable fuels by investing in a clean-energy economy. Killing multiple birds with one stone might upset the bird lovers, but it'd be great for our country. By investing in wind, solar, geothermal and tidal power; energy efficiency; the next generation of biofuels; and new advanced technology vehicles, we will create millions of jobs that can't be shipped overseas. These sources don't pollute, they're infinitely abundant, they're affordable and they're ours.

Most of us will be voting in the national election for the first or second time, and it will be the most important vote we will ever cast. Before you cast that vote, envision yourself later that night, watching the election results delivered to you by an anchor determined to remain impartial as the fate of the world rolls off his or her tongue. Envision the pundits for the right and the left, for the red and the blue, feverishly counting how many seats they've gained, fretting those they've lost. Do they even know what these numbers count for?

Picture yourself looking at the TV, thinking back to earlier in the day when you decided. Right then, the booth and the ballot come back into focus, and the question that will follow you for the rest of your life arises. When all is said and done, at the end of the day, how will you be keeping score?

Matt Dernoga is a junior government and politics major. He can be reached at mdernoga@umd.edu.