Crimes against kids

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., author of 'Crimes Against Nature' and father of six, says abuse of the environment ends up hurting children

 
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. talks about his children, three of which have asthma, during the final lecture of the Dillon Lecture Series Wednesday morning at the Sports Arena. Kennedy, an environmental attorney, spoke about his fight to protect the environment and his new book 'Crimes Against Nature.' Photo by Sandra Milburn

By Kathy Hanks

The Hutchinson News

khanks@hutchnews.com

Depending on the day, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is an environmental attorney, clinical professor or public speaker.

But every day, he's a worried father of six children.

He's anxious on bad air days because three of his sons with asthma struggle to breathe. He's angry because all U.S. children are living in "a bad science fiction scenario" where they can't eat the fish they catch because it's tainted with mercury.

Tantamount to that is his fear that "the current administration is threatening not only the nation's livelihood, but its values and sense of community and the sense of what it means to be an American."

Kennedy, 51, spoke Wednesday at the Sports Arena for the final lecture of the 2005 Dillon Lecture Series.

His talk focused on his recent book "Crimes Against Nature," which he described as a critique of the Bush administration.

"It's hard to find anything he has done well," Kennedy said of President George W. Bush.

Former lobbyists for the nation's biggest polluters now are in top positions at the regulatory agencies that oversee the companies they previously represented, Kennedy said.

Describing his beliefs as non-partisan, Kennedy said environmental issues are not about a Democrat attacking a Republican administration.

"I don't believe there are Democrat or Republican children," he said.

As president of the Water Keeper Alliance and attorney for the Hudson Riverkeepers, he pointed to "miraculous resurrection of waterways," not only cleaning up the Hudson but forming 125 Water Keeper organizations around the world that patrol rivers, reporting any spills or pollution.

Kennedy was met with applause throughout his hour-long lecture that included no notes or cue cards. The audience, filling the bleachers of the Sports Arena, applauded when he said, "a good environmental policy is identical to a good economic policy."

Kennedy also placed blame on the "negligent press that has let down our public."

"The biggest lie there is that the media is liberal," Kennedy said, contending that 24-hour talk radio doesn't tell both sides of the story. He, too, has a weekly radio show, "Ring of Fire," Saturdays on Air America Radio.

Kennedy said equal time on both sides of the issue, which defined the Fairness Doctrine, went out the door in 1988, abolished by President Ronald Reagan as a favor to studio heads who contributed to his election. It also was in 1988 when radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh got his start, Kennedy said.

"Gone are the investigative reporters writing about kids gasping for air," Kennedy said. "Instead, the public is entertained with sex and gossip."

The son of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, he shared several personal family insights with members of the local media prior to his lecture.

His father, who would have turned 80 on Sunday, will be remembered by his family at a special gathering in Washington this weekend, he said.

"When I was 7, I told my dad I was going to write a book about the environment," Kennedy said.

He described a childhood raised outdoors, encouraged by his father to spend time in the wilderness, camping, kayaking and skiing.

"My father believed that was part of our legacy - America came from the forest and the wilderness," he said.

Sadly, he said, that same type of lifestyle he is offering to his children today in the Adirondack Mountains near his home has been "rendered sterile by acid rain."