Posted on 11/03/2013 4:40:45 PM PST by Titus-Maximus
Last Wednesday, Harvard’s local chapter of the national divestment campaign received a sharp and public rejection from university president Drew Faust, who released a public statement that she will not support reinvesting Harvard’s endowment portfolio away from fossil fuels. The letter has been billed as a massive disappointment for divesters, whose path to reshaping how Harvard invests its massive endowment is rapidly narrowing.
This narrative entirely misses the point of divestment. Divesters might have lost an important battle, but they’re winning the much more important war.
If you speak to those involved in divestment campaigns at Harvard or abroad, you quickly begin to understand that their strategy for combatting climate change is much more complex than simply moving a few billion dollars in investment away from fossil fuel companies. The most honest admit even Harvard divesting would not change the amount of CO2 emitted.
Divestment, you learn, is actually far more about the expressive value of Harvard’s investments and the buzz generated by the campaign. By forcing the university to change its investment practices, they argue, divesters can shape a narrative and conversation around fossil fuel companies that will help build a political and societal consensus about the need for action on climate change.
As former Senator and climate action proponent Tim Wirth told the HPR last year, “you talk about divestiture because it gives you a way to talk about the fossil fuel industry and how they’re killing the world. That’s an important thing to do. You start to have a narrative of fossil fuel.”
(Excerpt) Read more at harvardpolitics.com ...
http://www.thenation.com/blog/171380/harvard-students-vote-72-percent-support-fossil-fuel-divestment#
It sounds as though the public schools are doing an outstanding job programming the young skulls of mush prior to them going off to Hahvid for their “advanced” programming.
And, supposedly, these are our "best and brightest"?
Unfortunately, they've got all the intelligence of a box of rocks.
Praise God we have petroleum engineering schools in Tx and Ok.
Last Wednesday, Harvard’s local chapter of the national divestment campaign received a sharp and public rejection from university president Drew Faust, who released a public statement that she will not support reinvesting Harvard’s endowment portfolio away from fossil fuels.H - A - R with a V, V - A - R with a D, Harvard, Harvard, Wheeee!
As former Senator and climate action proponent Tim Wirth told the HPR last year, “you talk about divestiture because it gives you a way to talk about the fossil fuel industry and how they’re killing the world. That’s an important thing to do. You start to have a narrative of fossil fuel.”and from the FRchives:
To say this has an effect on students and what they talk about doesn’t surprise me. After 25 years of university teaching, most students don’t have a clue about what’s going on in the real world. It’s only after they try to get a job and find their favorite major (in Black Studies or many similar majors) has no market value, perhaps then they will see how badly they’ve been duped.
If they really want to make a statement, they could take all the money they made from investing in fossil fuel and give it to all those that are starving because they had their food stamps cut. Or they could just write a check to the Treasury Department and apply to the trillions in outstanding deb. That would really be something to see.
OK!! Everybody pay attention!
Lesson for today:
1. The sun is 1,300,000 times as big as the earth.
2. The sun is a ball of fire that controls our climates.
3. The earth is a rock.
4. The earth is a speck in comparison to the size of the sun.
5. Inhabitants of the earth are less than specks.
Study Question: How do less-than-specks in congress plan to control the sun?
About the size of Mickey Rooney.
We went through this decades ago. Decades ago, the liberals worked for divestment of investments in South Africa. They also worked for divestment of investments in tobacco companies. This is nothing new, the target is different.
I remind my liberal young friends about the Cold War where East Berlin under German Communism stared across a vibrant West Berlin under German Capitalism. Today we have the same situation in US where poor NY farmers in used pickup trucks stare across into PA where farmers who allow fracking have cash in pocket and drive brand new pickup trucks.
Same with green energy. Huddled in CA pockets of subsidized high tech industries that employ only geeks with very little blue collar labor while surrounded by unemployed blue collar communities vs TX with privately funded oil and natural gas industries that hire high tech geeks plus armies of blue collar workers. If the US gov went bankrupt tomorrow, TX fossil fuel industries with no need for Fed subsidies can sell their oil and gas internationally, while CA high tech green energy will implode due to lack of federal subsidies.
As a whole, the nation is struggling with no growth. But red states -- like Tecas -- are experiencing healthy growth. Meanwhile, blue states are in the doldrums...or worse.
I really want them to divest and put the money into “Green Energy.” Then when the fund loses billion$ and Harvard tanks, I’ll have something to laugh about!
—Dane
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