{"id":7726,"date":"2014-02-13T11:53:01","date_gmt":"2014-02-13T16:53:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=7726"},"modified":"2014-02-13T11:56:57","modified_gmt":"2014-02-13T16:56:57","slug":"humans-are-the-cause-and-its-time-for-people-to-become-the-solution-danielle-jordan-for-save","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2014\/02\/humans-are-the-cause-and-its-time-for-people-to-become-the-solution-danielle-jordan-for-save.html","title":{"rendered":"Humans are the cause, and it’s time for people to become the solution –Danielle Jordan for SAVE"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nLTE in the VSU newspaper, The Spectator<\/a>, today. -jsq\r\n

\r\n

\r\nTo the Editor,\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\nClimate change is the defining issue of our time.\r\n\r\nNinety-seven percent of scientists agree<\/a> that\r\nhumans are the cause. S.A.V.E.\r\nbelieves that it’s time for people to become the solution.\r\n Globally,\r\nwe are feeling the impacts of record-setting temperatures, most\r\nnotably in the extreme weather patterns and rising sea levels.\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nRecent\r\n\r\nchemical (W.VA)<\/a> and\r\n\r\ncoal ash spills (N.C.)<\/a> add to the urgency\r\nof moving beyond fossil fuel. Yet here on our campus there’s a\r\nremarkable disconnect between the classroom and the board room.\r\nShockingly, the VSU Board of Trustees includes science deniers,\r\noblivious to the threat of climate change—and to the academic\r\nintegrity of this institution of higher learning.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nRecently,\r\n\r\nthe Board dismissed<\/a> S.A.V.E.’s\r\n\r\nrequest that VSU rid its portfolio<\/a> of fossil fuel holdings.\r\nBoard Chairman,\r\nWayne Edwards,\r\n\r\na financial analyst<\/a>, cast doubt on\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\n\r\nthe study that accompanied our request<\/a>.\r\nBut we ask you, who knows more about climate, a team of\r\n2,000 scientists from 154 countries who have compiled data from more\r\nthan 9,000 studies, or a stock broker? Our point is that serious\r\ndecisions at this institution are being taken by people who lack the\r\nproper credentials.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nChairman Edwards\r\n\r\ndismissed socially responsible investing as nothing\r\nmore than a marketing ploy<\/a>, observing that “Years ago, it was\r\nall about alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and apartheid. Now it’s about\r\nanthropogenic climate change.” That he regards these issues as\r\nlittle more than slogans demonstrates his contempt for higher\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nlearning and critical thinking. After all, it is\r\n\r\nfrom VSU’s very own professors<\/a>—who,\r\nby the way, must conduct and publish valid\r\nresearch in order to retain their jobs—that we have learned\r\nabout the damaging effects of fossil fuels.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nFor someone supposedly concerned with market ploys, Mr. Edwards\r\nfails to recognize the fact that millions of dollars are poured into\r\nthe “climate denial industry” every yeal.\r\n\r\nKoch Industries alone has poured $67 million dollars<\/a> into think tanks and\r\norganizations that actively work to propagate a false global warming\r\ncounter-narrative. That the Koch’s marketing ploy is effective is\r\nreflected in the fact that only 57% of Americans recognize that\r\nglobal warming is caused by human activity, a 40% difference from\r\nthe scientific community.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\nAs many readers know, VSU has begun to utilize solar power to meet\r\nits energy needs. Our school is also\r\n\r\none of 679 signatories<\/a> of the\r\n\r\nAmerican College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment<\/a> which\r\nreads in part,\r\n

\r\n<\/a>\r\n“We recognize the scientific consensus that\r\nglobal warming is real and is largely being caused by humans.”\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nBut this commitment does not align with the position held by Wayne\r\nEdwards and the Board of Trustees. Divesting from fossil fuel\r\ncompanies is the next step in the institution’s pursuit of its\r\nstated values.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nDanielle Jordan\r\n
\r\nPresident,\r\n\r\nS.A.V.E.<\/a>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LTE in the VSU newspaper, The Spectator, today. -jsq To the Editor, Climate change is the defining issue of our time. Ninety-seven percent of scientists agree that humans are the cause. S.A.V.E. believes that it’s time for people to become the solution. Globally, we are feeling the impacts of record-setting temperatures, most notably in the […]","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[47,141,216,14,15,6124,559,23,4468,24,134,3454],"tags":[7440,8719,8745,8753,6978,1003,8704,8705,8701,7441,7,562,8782,8713,8883,8714,6,8743,8874,7185],"class_list":["post-7726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-climate-change","category-co2","category-coal","category-economy","category-education","category-natural-gas-2","category-oil","category-renewable-energy","category-save","category-solar","category-vsu","category-vsu-spectator","tag-american-college-and-university-presidents-climate-commitment","tag-climate-change","tag-co2","tag-coal","tag-danielle-jordan","tag-divestment","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-georgia","tag-koch-industries","tag-lowndes-county","tag-natural-gas","tag-oil","tag-renewable-energy","tag-save","tag-solar","tag-valdosta","tag-vsu","tag-vsu-spectator","tag-wayne-edwards"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-20C","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7726"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7733,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7726\/revisions\/7733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}