US Secretary of Energy Steven Chu spoke at Stanford University last week on  clean energy , climate change science, innovation and education. It’s a science and solutions oriented talk so it’s valuable for everyone. Secretary Chu met with students before the talk for a student round table discussion on energy. The event was followed in the evening by a panel called “Educating the Energy Generation,” focused on how the U.S. can build a competitive clean energy workforce as quickly as possible. See here for an article about Secretary Chu’s visit to Stanford, “The Biggest Speaker of the Year,” and why his perspective is important. On the DoE website, Chu asks,

What are the steps we must take as a nation to create new, clean energy jobs and ensure America’s long-term competitiveness? What are the consequences for our climate of inaction? How can science and technology offer us new and better choices – and how can America’s young people make a difference?

I recently returned to Stanford University, where I spent many years as a professor, to discuss these and many other issues with a great group of students. I’d like to invite you to watch a replay of my speech here, and then share your thoughts afterward on my personal Facebook page (www.facebook.com/stevenchu) to continue the conversation.

During the speech he said something to take notice of: “Humans are altering the destiny of the planet. . . . [but] it’s not too late.”  He also repeated the quote Obama has used frequently on the “fierce urgency of now” and repeated that there is such a thing as being “too late”.

The message was clear — the U.S. has to act on the climate crisis as soon as possible.  Not next year, this year.

Chu  used the phrase climate crisis, which is strong language coming from the Secretary of Energy.

Download/listen to the Climate Files podcast here. (link to video is below)

More info from Stanford

“The Green Alliance for Innovative Action (GAIA), an initiative of the ASSU Executive (http://assu.stanford.edu), hosted U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu on March 8, 2010 on the Stanford Campus (live webcast at http://gaia.stanford.edu). Dr. Steven Chu, distinguished scientist and co-winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics (1997), was appointed by President Obama as the 12th Secretary of Energy and sworn into office on January 21, 2009. Dr. Chu’s speech was titled “Meeting the Energy and Climate Challenge.” ASSU President David Gobaud noted that he “expected Dr. Chu’s talk to raise awareness on campus about the global energy and climate challenge and inspire students to work on solving the world’s biggest problems in the area.” Dr. Chu’s talk was followed by a panel titled “Educating the Energy Generation: How Universities Can Empower Future Energy Leaders” hosted by Energy Crossroads (http://ecstanford.org).”

(Thanks for the video info. from which I got the audio to It’s Getting Hot in Here)

To watch a video of this event, see the Department of Energy homepage