The 42nd President of the United States enraptured a capacity crowd at the Aitken Centre at the University of New Brunswick Wednesday afternoon.
Former commander-in-chief Bill Clinton, who was greeted with a wild, standing ovation, talked about the global economy, climate change and current affairs in the Middle East.
“It inspired me. Save the environment, cure the economy,” said UNB law student Justin DeMerchant, referring to the issues Clinton addressed with optimism.
Although optimistic, Clinton also warned of several issues he says need dire attention.
“This is a confusing time,” he said. “There are a lot of bad things going on that we need to address.
“The world is unstable”
The former president suggested the U.S. needs to rethink its economic system in wake of the 2008 economic collapse.
“My country was built on a system, but that system gets old. It served us very well, but America is getting long in the tooth, so we need to change with the times.”
The Arkansas-native spoke passionately about America’s need to establish a framework that is adjustable to the ebb and flow of the global community.
“If you have that framework, one with shared values and shared opportunities…it helps to work through different issues that we are faced with.”
Emulating successful green countries would be a starting point to battling climate change, beginning with renewable energy, Clinton said. But the solution would have to be uniquely American for America and Canadian for Canada.
“Take Brazil for example. They have 90 per cent renewable energy, most of which is hydro power.
“But they are growing, and they need to build more dams. The three that they are looking at building will not only displace an entire culture that is only found in those areas, but take out a large portion of a rain forest that provides the world with 20 per cent of its oxygen that is not from the ocean.
“Everyone has specific problems that are radically different.”
Clinton emphasized that in the year 2011, no country goes through a crisis alone – even those on the other side of the world.
“Not only are the problems radically different, the solutions are radically different depending on rich countries or poor countries.”
Clinton, who has become a global icon since leaving office in 2001, briefly touched on his extensive work in Haiti both before and after the earthquake that rocked the island nation in 2010.
“That was the first time we saw people literally using their cell phones to help solve a problem a world away.
“Technology and science have come such a long way, but they can only do so much on their own. It is up to us to figure out what to do with it”
Well-known for his interest in the sciences and advancing technologies during his time as president, Clinton said he’s eager to see what the future holds for the world.
“I wish I was 40 years younger. Look at the inventions we’ve had” he mused, citing the hubble telescope and human genome project as examples.
“Look at the inventions we’ve had,” citing the Hubble telescope and Human Genome Project as examples.
“It’s an exciting deal.”
Former New Brunswick Premier Frank McKenna welcomed Clinton, who spoke for more than an hour, as a guest in Fredericton. The two former leaders, addressing each other as old friends, shared a hurried question and answer session on current world affairs before closing the talk.
During the session he former U.S. President received loud applause for his response to a question about America’s current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“It is important to remember that it is about actual people’s hearts and minds as it is about bullets and bombs.”
He also commented on the death of Osama bin Laden.
“I feel as if (bin Laden’s death) is a good thing, although it is hard to be happy about it.
“It is fortunate that it happened now…overall, maybe we can view this as time of good change for a lot of different things.”
