By HEIDI GASSER
BGSU Student Journalist
On his first presentation slide, Benjamin McKean asked: “why climate and peace?” In the next hour, The Ohio State University political science professor would expand the sentiment to address: how does society escape climate change despair to organize as a community?
“There is nothing we can do on the level of the individual that would be enough. What we really need to do is find a collective solution. So I think getting people out of the habit of not being politically active is the most important thing,” McKean told BG Independent.
Last week, Bowling Green State University hosted the annual Edward Lamb Peace Lecture in the Education Building, a pleasantly air-conditioned lecture hall where McKean reported that Earth would need a global halt on carbon emissions in the next three years for a mere 50% chance to prevent dangerous outcomes.
College of Arts and Sciences dean Ellen Schendel delivered opening remarks to remind an audience of the conference’s historical significance. Conference namesake Edward Lamb was a self-described humanist and career lawyer who supported collaborative politics and truth-seeking, Schendel said.
The annual lecture series continues to this day funded by an endowment from the Edward Lamb Foundation, established in 1987.
Increasing global temperatures could lead to more severe weather, increases in tropical diseases, rising sea levels and an additional 250,000 deaths world-wide between 2030 and 2050, McKean cited from the World Health Organization.
Throughout his presentation, McKean said that it is normal, and even expected, to feel despair when it comes to the future impacts of climate change. Although some activists suggest that “if we have hope, then we can’t despair,” McKean said that both emotions could be critical to mobilizing climate action.
Where unchecked hope can allow visionaries to overstate society’s ability to problem solve, action grounded in reality can start by people asking, according to McKean: “how can a collective political will be organized and exercised?”
In this case, that political will would mean growing a movement great enough to incite global strides in sustainable innovation.
“I think the most important climate-friendly habit is for people not to think of themselves as consumers, but for people to see themselves seriously as political agents,” McKean told BG Independent.
McKean discussed populism, a concept where society is considered divided between a homogeneous, working class majority and a dominant elite, who, by nature, is separated from the people. A pluralist framework suggests that society is composed of differences between people, and that differences are reconciled for the common good.
“An anti-pluralist, populist leader could say ‘I can represent you because I am like you’ … Here’s the problem with [those] politics. We are all different, and we cannot avoid that diversity. We cannot create equality by pretending that we are the same,” McKean said.
When it comes to climate organizing, taking action may not look like leading others with identical ideas or values, but streamlining the most important goals for the collective and making action possible, McKean said.
For example, because fossil fuels are interwoven into individuals’ work commutes, McKean said, how could a community find a solution that gets people to work and mitigates gasoline usage?
McKean acknowledged that taking action often feels daunting, even if “action can be an antidote to anxiety.” However, his final slide advised to start by knowing the value of taking political action today, building community and learning new skills.
Third-year political science major Joseph Lehman said that he regularly attends events hosted by the BGSU Political Science Department, and was inspired by the authentic delivery from McKean Monday evening.
“It’s super important; how do we actually get people to care about things?” Lehman said. “I could tell that he cared about this so much, and if the presenter cares, I care.”
Lehman said he experienced positive and intense feelings while reflecting on the future of the environment.
“Silently, I am feeling that despair, freaking out, like nothing can be done. But it can be both hope and despair, and I feel both emotions. The presentation made me feel both emotions, and he painted [the situation] magnificently,” Lehman said.
A librarian at heart, Bowling Green resident Maria Simon said that she values “facts over fiction,” and that McKean delivered research based material that inspired her to take action.
“This is what we need to be thinking about for our future, our planet, our society,” Simon said. “How are we going to come together, and how are we going to pay attention to facts? … I want to have more conversations with people.”
Posted by: Jan Larson McLaughlin on April 18, 2026.