From the vice-president of PGM: "The mission of Pi Gamma Mu is to encourage and promote excellence in the social sciences and to uphold the ideals of scholarship and service." The ceremony begins in about two hours and I haven't decided what to say. I have 10 minutes.
How about this?
- I begin by saying I had asked the vice-president to introduce me as usual but then say "and it looks like he has lost weight" (I did tell ask her to say this but I don't think she will.) Then I'll say "but I guess she thought that was inappropriate" or "maybe I don't look like I've lost weight."
- When #1 doesn't generate a laugh I'll explain to the audience that it was intended to and I can't start the speech without a laugh so maybe I'll resort to the sight gag that the rodeo clown used to make my 5-year old daughter laugh loudly Saturday night and every day since then (he dropped his pants to reveal big, baggy multi-colored underwear).
- When all of the parents are disappointed with the speaker (I'll mention this as well) I'll begin the real thing. I'll explain that I teach an environmental economics course that draws many different social science majors.
- I'll explain the main point of the course: the optimal amount of pollution is not zero (and why).
- I'll try to joke around about how the anthropologists, sociologists, political scientists, historians, philosphers, and geographers don't readily agree with #4.
- To soak up most of the rest of the time I'll tell env-econ climate change blog stories (e.g., the recent SCOTUS decison [i.e., my name in the WSJ energy blog], how serious people know that the best way to change behavior is with incentives [Leonhardt's recent piece], some climate change research in North Carolina [forthcoming])
- Then I'll congratulate the inductees and explain that (a) these are the future leaders who will be making important climate change policy decisions affecting my kids, (b) how important it is that all the social science disciplines understand and respect the different points of view, (c) how this is how these big decisions are made and (d) how an honorary like PGM facilitates this understanding.
- Then we'll all hug (and hopefully tap a keg ... or am I misunderstanding the purpose of these greeks?)
What do you think?
