Making a stop at Memorial Union to promote the release of his book, \Crimes Against Nature,"" Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s head hung concerned after the defeat of fellow Democrat John Kerry. Kennedy expressed fear for the future of environmental issues stemming from almost 20 years of dedication to such causes.
By downsizing environmentally focused laws, Kennedy said, President Bush has been the worst environmentally minded president in the history of the country.
""Mercury has poisoned all the fish in 19 states in the nation,"" Kennedy said.
He attributes this to the contributions of coal-burning power plants to the president's campaign. With sulfur dioxide emissions, a major pollutant from these plants, increasing 4 percent during Bush's first term, acid rain has become another major concern, Kennedy said.
""Nature is the infrastructure of the community,"" Kennedy said.
This feeling was echoed by many of those in attendance.
""[The environment] was one of the main issues I was voting for and I'm really worried for the state of this country,"" UW-Madison junior Lauren Hauser said.
Kennedy's main fear concerning the direction of the nation is big business' involvement in politics.
""I am more frightened of big corporate integrators than of Osama bin Laden,"" he said.
As a prosecutor on the side of many family farmers, Kennedy has seen the turnover of the small farm to corporate farming machines.
""I grew up in a small town in Wisconsin and [farming] is what everyone did,"" UW-Madison junior Colin Brock said. ""A lot of my friends are living right at the poverty line.""
Many attending the lecture expressed concerns with the lack of emphasis on the environment in this election.
""[John Kerry] was working with the environment, but it was not getting published. ... We cannot get the press to publish this stuff,"" Kennedy said.
In this election, Kennedy felt that the press had neglected to concern themselves with environmental issues.
""In the debates, not one question was asked in reference to the environment by the media,"" Kennedy said.
Reflecting on Kerry's concession speech Wednesday, Kennedy has one major disagreement with the former candidate.
""He asked us to bury the hatchet on our differences ... I will continue to fight for the environment and the issues will live on,"" Kennedy said.
Holding democracy and the morals that the nation was founded on are strongly rooted in environmentalism, Kennedy said he only foresees the demise of these ideas under the leadership of Bush.
