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Thinking Globally: Student activists protest Cornell's greenhouse gas emissions (ithaca barf alert)
©Ithaca Times 2001 ^ | November 19, 2001 | By:M. Tye Wolfe

Posted on 11/25/2001 12:49:33 PM PST by Behind Liberal Lines

Cornell student activists believe acting locally is the best way to address a problem as global as, er, global warming.

Kyoto Now!, a subset of the Cornell Greens, is putting pressure on Cornell to follow up on a commitment to reduce greenhouse gases to seven percent below 1990 levels, in accordance with the Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol, the namesake of the student organization, is a treaty signed by 180 nations to collectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The United States has refused to sign the document, arguing the cost to the country would be excessive and disproportionate.

But activists say the U.S. produces the most greenhouse gases - nearly a quarter of the annual emissions - even though the U.S. comprises only five percent of the world's population.

In the spring, Cornell "said they would form a project team in a month or so to determine how the university would meet that goal," said Cornell Green Moss Templeton. "They haven't done it."

On Friday, organizers held a rally outside Day Hall demanding that a project team be assembled to reduce emissions. The students believe putting pressure on Cornell can help their larger goal of changing environmental policy at a national level. About 20 people assembled with pins and banners to voice their discontent through a shared megaphone, shouting "Kyoto when? Kyoto now!"

Much of the students ire was directed at Dr. Harold D. Craft Jr., Cornell's vice president for administration and chief financial officer who, in April, stated the university's commitment to the emission goals. He also noted the goals would be very difficult to achieve.

"Hal, its been seven months, where is the project team?" said first-year graduate student Doug Krisch. "The time for leadership is now!" "Global warming is a real and urgent threat to ecologies, agricultural production and coastal civilizations in all parts of the globe," said Kyoto Now! member Christopher Adams.

Cornell's vice president of public relations, Henrik Dullea responded that energy conservation "is a major priority here." "Our Lake Source Cooling project has already made an enormous difference in the energy consumed by the university, and other institutions are looking at our example," Dullea said via email. Dullea added that Kyoto Now! students were scheduled to meet with Lanny Joyce, the university's manager of engineering, planning and energy management on Friday afternoon. Joyce heads the technical team working with the students to decrease emissions. Dullea added that Craft will soon be in a position to name all the members of the project's oversight team.

The Times asked Krisch if he believes Cornell typically drags its feet on environmental issues. "Cornell is doing more than most places, however, we have started a movement here that is spreading across the nation," Krisch said. "We have goals of 200 to 300 universities all in Kyoto Now! So what happens at Cornell is an example for everyone. If they delay a few months it sets a bad precedent, so we have to keep the pressure on."

"I see Kyoto Now! as opportunity to change the future of the planet because the United States is a big barrier to global climate issues," Krisch continued. "If we get the United States to change their policies, we can change the world ... We change [policy] by putting pressure on the universities."

Krisch also cited the Lake Source Cooling Project as one example of the university's leadership, even though many environmental activists have said it is harmful to Cayuga Lake. "Lake source cooling localizes our impact instead of sending pollutants into the air," Krisch said.

But Moss Templeton acknowledged there were mixed feelings about this particular method of carbon dioxide reduction. "That's a touchy issue for a lot of people," Templeton said.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
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About 20 people assembled...

One thing about Ithaca (the City of Evil): its collective social conscience waxes and wanes with the weather. Had this been spring there would have been closer to 200 freaks out there.

1 posted on 11/25/2001 12:49:33 PM PST by Behind Liberal Lines
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To: Behind Liberal Lines
Lower the room temperature to 50 degrees. Added benefit is the college would have to be closed.
2 posted on 11/25/2001 12:54:21 PM PST by Voltage
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To: Behind Liberal Lines
I wish these people would move to Kyoto. Now.
3 posted on 11/25/2001 12:55:05 PM PST by Hugin
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To: Behind Liberal Lines
These Kyoto Now! students should have a goal of reducing the trash talk of environmental wackos to 10% below 1990 levels.
4 posted on 11/25/2001 12:58:50 PM PST by Tai_Chung
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To: Behind Liberal Lines
My current professor is a graduate of Cornell, and we never hear the end of it. Needless to say, she is a flaming Lib who hates the Constitution especially the 2nd amendment, is a racist/colonialist America-hater, and demands your 'credit' for everything she does on a scale more akin to Hitler than Clinton.
5 posted on 11/25/2001 1:45:50 PM PST by Darheel
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To: Tai_Chung
The REAL joke is that "environmental activists" managed to shut down their nuclear reactor...so Cornell's CO2 emissions have dramatically jumped.

OK...so it was a test reactor, but it could have very easily seen to all of Cornell's energy needs...probably all of Ithaca's as well if they cared to try.
6 posted on 11/25/2001 1:47:28 PM PST by Maelstrom
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To: Behind Liberal Lines
I did my undergrad work at Cornell. A lovely campus and you (at the time) could still get a decent education as long as you stuck to the technical fields.

Now, looking on from sunny California, all I can think is, "Let the Bastards Freeze in the Dark!", an old bumper-sticker slogan from the Jimmy Carter Oil Crisis days.

--Boris

7 posted on 11/25/2001 2:08:24 PM PST by boris
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To: Maelstrom
It was a research reactor, not a "test" reactor...and it is highly unlikely that it could have been used to generate power for external consumption.

A shame. Every major University should have a research reactor.

--Boris

8 posted on 11/25/2001 2:09:53 PM PST by boris
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To: Behind Liberal Lines
Let's see. Lower the temperature to 50? It goes 10 below in Ithaca. Let them stop the heat altogether. Then turn off the lights after dark and cuddle under about ten quilts. And eat cold food. And walk, no cars or buses. No vacuum cleaner. No dish washer. No hot showers. No writing on paper (making paper destroys forests) but no computers either (no electricity). They can learn the good old fashioned way: writing on a blackboard and memorizing by the whole class reciting together.

And, of course, no fur coats (can't kill animals). No down coats (hurts the poor geese) and no polyester (uses petrochemicals).

Of course, they can still use wool, but some PETA people think sheering sheep hurts the sheep, so maybe they can stick with cotton batting in their coats. And since weaving cloth takes electricity, I hope they have some spindles and looms around...

9 posted on 11/25/2001 2:25:48 PM PST by LadyDoc
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To: Behind Liberal Lines
Last spring I attended a number of Bible study classes with the leader and some other members of Cornell's Kyoto Now group. They are mainly a group of lost souls. They claim to be total pacifists. One said that even if Hitler were about to invade, we should do nothing in response, even if he were about to kill us all (remember this predated Sep. 11th but I have no doubt the same folks are out there now demanding that we "give peace a chance.")

The leader of the group describes himself as an anarchist, who is committed to remaining an anarchist even when he is a fully grown adult.

10 posted on 11/25/2001 2:30:55 PM PST by governsleastgovernsbest
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To: Behind Liberal Lines
I lived in Ithaca in 1969-1970 and worked in the Human Ecology Dept. at Cornell. My brother and his wife still live there, and both work at Cornell. Nothing these wacked out liberals come up with suprises me at all. Too bad they have staked a claim to such a beautiful part of the country.
11 posted on 11/25/2001 2:49:33 PM PST by turk99
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To: Behind Liberal Lines
The primary source of carbon for trees, wheat, seaweed, algae, seashells and corals is the carbon that they can glean from C02, commonly called carbon dioxide.

Since the percentage of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere is ONLY 0.03 PERCENT, I am curious if the efforts of the Cornell student activists are actually jeopardizing the woefully inadequate supply of carbon dioxide to plants?

If so, Cornell may be guilty of reducing the amount of food, so needed by the many starving nations in the world.

12 posted on 11/25/2001 3:14:10 PM PST by Graewoulf
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