Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. spoke to about 600 people at Cahn Auditorium on Wednesday about America’s environmental outlook in a speech titled “The Green Gold Rush: A Vision of Energy Independence, Jobs and National Wealth.” Kennedy connected the goals of economic expansion and green initiatives with freedom of information.

“Americans are the most entertained and least informed people in the world,” he said. Kennedy encouraged students in the audience to “re-establish a real democracy” by becoming more informed through political involvement.

Kennedy was the fall speaker for Students for Ecological and Environmental Development. He is the president of Waterkeeper Alliance, a professor of environmental law at Pace Law School, co-director of the Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic, the chief prosecuting attorney for the Hudson Riverkeeper and a co-host of “Ring of Fire,” a program on Air America Radio. Time magazine named Kennedy one of its “Heroes for the Planet.”