Am I allowed to use the same graphic on two different posts in one day? Well, I’m going to anyway
‘Our house is burning’: student climate protesters urge their universities to go carbon neutral
As thousands of Generation Z activists head back to college, they’re pressuring universities to declare a climate emergency, cut emissions and divest from fossil fuels
As West coast wildfires color the skies dystopian red and orange and an aggressive hurricane season batters the US Gulf coast, college students are demanding their schools take bold action to address the climate crisis.
Caitlyn Daas is among them. The senior at Appalachian State University and organizer with the Appalachian Climate Action Collaborative (ClimACT) stands on the frontlines of her school’s grassroots push to go “climate neutralâ€, part of a years-long, national movement that has inspired hundreds of institutional commitments to reduce academia’s carbon footprint.
But as young activists like Daas urge their universities to do their part to avert climate disaster, many are frustrated by tepid responses from administrators whom they feel lack their same sense of urgency and drive. Appalachian State, part of the University of North Carolina system, has committed to reaching net-zero emissions decades down the line, but Daas and her fellow activists fear that’s far too late. She’s baffled that an institution devoted to higher learning is seemingly ignoring the science around the climate emergency.
“If our voices don’t matter, can you please stop telling us that they do?†Daas says.
College activists concerned about the climate crisis have largely focused their efforts on two popular movements that go hand-in-hand: reaching carbon neutrality, and divesting university endowments. Broadly, the term “net carbon neutrality†means that a campus zeroes out all of its carbon emissions, says Timothy Carter, president of Second Nature, a nonprofit focused on climate action in higher education. This can be achieved through modifying campus operations, often with the help of alternatives, such as renewable energy certificates and voluntary carbon offsets (activities that atone for other emissions). In Second Nature’s definition, investment holdings don’t factor in a school’s carbon footprint. Carbon neutrality often falls within a wider umbrella of climate neutrality, which also incorporates justice and other concerns.
Protesting and Demanding isn’t “doing something.” What have these kids done in their own lives? Anything? Do they take a fossil fueled trip in their own vehicle or have mom/dad drive them their? Do they take a fossil fueled airplane trip from out of state? Remember this reply from Oxford’s burser to the little climate cultists demanding divestment?
Professor Parker responded with a provocative offer. “I am not able to arrange any divestment at short notice,” he wrote. “But I can arrange for the gas central heating in college to be switched off with immediate effect. Please let me know if you support this proposal.”
It gets quite a bit colder in Boone, NC, during the winter than it does at Oxford. Would they be OK without central heating from December through February, where the average high is in the mid-40’s? And can be quite windy, being in the mountains?
Meanwhile, in Californi
Protesters Demand Newsom Act On Climate Change, Racial Justice
Protesters rallied at the California State Capitol on Sunday demanding Governor Gavin Newsom take action on climate change and racial justice.
Demonstrators in attendance said time is running out and part of their message was left behind as a piece of street art, which read “Release Prisoners Not Fossil Fuels.â€
Gavin should give them what they want. Turn of the central heating and AC in their dorms, release the felons on campus.
“We thought, since we’re in front of the Capitol building in Sacramento today, that it would be a really good opportunity to show [Newsom], not only by showing up together collectively, but also with a visual mural, that he can really step up and be a climate champion and champion of racial justice,†Delia Ridge Creamer, of the Sunrise Movement Bay Area, said.
Give Delia a participation trophy. Life doesn’t work quite this way, child.
