Thanks to Ron and Rachael. I am proud to say that I forwarded the info to my university president as soon as Ron made it available and he replied within 20 minutes that he had signed it. I hope you are all as successful.
Best, Jonathan On Fri, Jun 2, 2017 at 2:21 PM, Ronald Mitchell <[email protected]> wrote: > Colleagues, I drafted the below. Perhaps it can serve, edited, as the > basis for others wanting to encourage action at their institution. And, > again, sorry for the Americo-centrism implicit here. > > Although I cannot yet find a list of the institutions that have signed the > statement from yesterday, more than 600 universities and colleges are > already members of Second Nature’s Climate Leadership Network – see: > http://secondnature.org/climate-leadership-network-map/ > > I have all capped (sorry) the text that you should tailor to your > university. > > Ron > > ------------- > > Dear Colleagues at MY UNIVERSITY, > > I saw the piece in the Times ( https://www.nytimes.com/2017/ > 06/01/climate/american-cities-climate-stand... > <https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/01/climate/american-cities-climate-standards.html> > ) about the statement by governors/mayors/university presidents > re-committing to addressing climate change. I thought I would initate an > effort to recommit the [MY UNIVERSITY] to addressing climate change by a) > getting [MY UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT] to join this statement or, and perhaps > better, b) to engage in a longer term commitment to addressing climate > change in the [MY UNIVERSITY] context. Here is my first, quick draft of > an email to him. Honestly, I doubt content matters much – [MY UNIVERSITY > PRESIDENT] either will or will not – but I would appreciate suggested > improvements. I want it to be NON-antagonistic and framed as an issue of > education. > If you have edits send them to me === and if you want to add your name to > the list, please also send an email saying "I support this statement" > ------------- > > Dear [MY UNIVERSITY] President, > As you know, President Trump decided yesterday to have the United States > withdraw from the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change. As you also > know, many faculty and graduate students at the [MY UNIVERSITY] have > conducted excellent research investigating issues related to the natural > science, social science, and humanities of this significant threat to our > planet and all of its present and future inhabitants. Our institution is > a nationally recognized leader in the area of climate change research. We > write to let you know of an opportunity arising from yesterday’s federal > action to restate the [MY UNIVERSITY] commitment to doing what > institutions of higher learning do best – educate the next generation about > the problems that they are likely to face in their lives and provide them > with the tools to understand and respond to them as effectively as > possible. There is an immediate opportunity to join 3 governors, 30 mayors, > and 80 university presidents in signing a joint “Grand Coalition Statement > on Paris Agreement” the main points of which are: > > - In the absence of Federal support, states, cities, colleges and > universities and businesses will pursue ambitious climate goals, to ensure > that the U.S. remains a global leader in reducing emissions. > - In the U.S., the actors that will provide the leadership necessary > to meet our Paris commitment are found in city halls, state capitals, > colleges and universities and businesses. > - We will remain actively engaged with the international community as > part of the global effort to hold warming to under 2°C and to accelerate > the transition to a clean energy economy that will benefit our security, > prosperity, and health. > - The full statement that was initiated by Second Nature is at: > http://secondnature.org/wp-content/uploads/final- > withdraw-sector-stateme... > > <http://secondnature.org/wp-content/uploads/final-withdraw-sector-statement.pdf> > - You may not recall that [MY UNIVERSITY] joined Second Nature’s > Climate Leadership Network in March 2007 with a commitment to “take > action on climate and prepare students through research and education to > solve the challenges of the 21st century.” Details of our commitment are > at: http://secondnature.org/climate-leadership-network-map/ > > We hope that you will consider adding the [MY UNIVERSITY] name to this > list. If you decide to do so, your staff can submit your participation via: > http://secondnature.org/grand-coalition-statement-paris-agreement/ > The long-term nature of both the threat of climate change and our > responses to that threat lead us to also offer to work with you and the [MY > UNIVERSITY] administration more generally to identify the best way for us > to incorporate a serious engagement with the issue of climate change as > part of the [MY UNIVERSITY] major mission of conducting superb research > and educating the next generation of citizens of the US and the world. > Sincerely, > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "gep-ed" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- Jonathan Rosenberg, PhD Professor of Political Science Chair, Department of Social Sciences Illinois Institute of Technology Siegel Hall 116E 3301 S. Dearborn St. Chicago, IL 60616 tel. 312-567-5188 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "gep-ed" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
