Thailand RPCV Julia Marton-Lefevre is expert on drought
Drought remains a hot topic
By Shannon Brennan / Lynchburg News and Advance
March 17, 2003
Though a light rain fell throughout Central Virginia on Sunday, drought was on the minds of about 20 people who gathered at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College.
Now that monthly rainfall levels are almost normal and rivers look full, "should we be worried about water?" Daniel Bowman asked those who gathered.
Gil Cobbs likened the drought to spiraling gas prices: Americans don’t think long term. They won’t give up their SUVs until they can’t afford the gas.
"We only react in a crisis mode," he said.
Wayne Dahlgren agreed: "If we don’t hear about it, we don’t think about it."
The conversation about the environment and development in Central Virginia was sponsored by R-MWC’s environmental studies department and the Greater Lynchburg Environmental Network.
But it became an international discussion because of guests from India, England and Canada.
Kirtida Oza is the William F. Quillian Jr. Visiting International Professor at R-MWC this year. She is also a fellow of Leadership for Environment and Development (LEAD), a program started in 1991 by the Rockefeller Foundation to foster leadership among people ages 28 to 40 in 70 countries.
Because of Oza’s work at the college, the program’s international director, Julia Marton-Lefevre, accepted the invitation to visit Lynchburg.
Marton-Lefevre, who is based in London, was born in Hungary and moved to the United States at age 11, becoming a U.S. citizen, and later, a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand. She ended up in Paris and was director of the International Council for Science before assuming her role with LEAD.
Marton-Lefevre said her organization promotes "sustainable development," which means we need to look after the planet so we leave something behind for future generations. The hitch is that it means we might have to give up some of the luxuries that we take for granted.
"All this comes down to changing lifestyle, and that’s not so easy," she said.
The drought served as a perfect example. Dahlgren, who chairs Lynchburg’s Planning Commission, noted that the message during the drought was: "Here in Lynchburg, we don’t have a problem."
Bowman, who, along with Cobbs, serves on the Robert E. Lee Soil and Water Conservation District board, noted that city leaders, including a member of City Council, spread that message.
"It’s an astonishing attitude," he said.
People in nearby counties understood the drought a bit better. Diana Duckworth, who teaches environmental science at Rustburg High School, noted that some of her students didn’t bathe as much as they would have liked in late summer and early fall.
"Many of their families had to dig new wells," she said, and even then, some didn’t strike water.
She noted that if water levels return to normal, development will proceed as if nothing happened.
"Next time we get our cyclic drought, it will be worse," Duckworth said.
Oza said the concept of drought is so different in other parts of the world. In her region of India, which has been in drought for four years, thousands of villagers have no potable water.
"It is really a life-and-death situation in many places," she said.
Bowman noted that consumption issues in this country have to be addressed in a meaningful way.
"We are a country that believes it’s OK to wash our cars and water our lawns with potable water," he said. "I would guess most of the rest of the world would think we’re crazy."
Jane Dougan, a LEAD fellow from Ontario, Canada, gave an example of that thinking. She said a woman from South America asked her what a garage was for, and she couldn’t believe Americans built houses for their cars.
With only 5 percent of the world’s population, the United States consumes 25 percent of its resources.
Marton-Lefevre said there is a tremendous anti-American feeling throughout the world, not only because of U.S. consumption, but also because of the threat of war in Iraq. As a citizen of both the United States and the world at large, Marton-Lefevre said Americans must show true leadership in the world to salvage its reputation.
Leadership requires listening, dialogue and building consensus, she said, qualities the United States is not exhibiting at the moment.
The group expressed dismay about changing people’s attitudes about managing the earth’s resources before we’re in crisis mode.
"I was a child of the ’60s and I look around and say, ‘What happened?’" Dougan said.
With 1,500 fellows, LEAD hopes to reach more people around the world, Marton-Lefevre said.
"We want to find like-minded people, who together, can change the world," she said.
ä Contact Shannon Brennan at sbrennan@newsadvance.com or (434) 385-5561.
