Dear GEP-ed colleagues,
The full statement is now posted, with many of our colleges and universities
represented: http://wearestillin.com/
There will be a press call tomorrow morning (details at the website) for those
interested.
Thank you to Ron and others for making the initial process much easier, and to
those who coordinated this process at the national level!
Best wishes to all,
Mark
Mark Axelrod
Associate Professor
Michigan State University
James Madison College and
Dept. of Fisheries & Wildlife
http://markaxelrod.weebly.com
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of
Ronald Mitchell
Sent: Friday, June 2, 2017 3:22 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [gep-ed] fwiw - draft letter to a university president
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,
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