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Dear Cornell on Fire, At Cornell’s 2024 graduation, Cornell on Fire dropped a banner depicting a handshake between Big Oil and Big Red. When current Interim President Michael Kotlikoff passed by, we asked him whose side he was on. He replied, “I’m on the side of education.” While one expects no less from the chief academic officer of the University, this answer begs another question: What should education be like? A bastion of liberal education such as Cornell is expected to embody the view that education should serve the betterment of society. According to philosopher of education John White, “The question: ‘What should our society be like?’ overlaps so much with the question about education that the two cannot sensibly be separated.” A more enlightened take on education — one that resonates strongly with those who believe that a better world is possible and wish to do something about it — has been offered by Judith Suissa, in an essay published in Journal of Philosophy of Education in 2001: “The question ‘what should society be like’ does not merely ‘overlap with’ questions about education, but is logically prior to all such questions.”
In reality, Cornell pays lip service to the ideals of a “better society” while reproducing the power structures and political make-up of the elite society it serves. As such, it embodies an implicit answer to the question “What should society be like?” – namely, that it should be just the way it is: an ecocidal and oppressive system that is driving the world over the brink of climate tipping points in the name of “business as usual.”
A reform of the University is clearly in order. The model of the kind of society it is designed to maintain – and the model of education that this implies – has already been made unsustainable by the presently unfolding and accelerating climate crisis. We no longer have time to ponder abstract questions about societal progress while eschewing or postponing action, because the climate catastrophe endangers the very survival of our species, along with all our dreams of a better world. Education tops the list of challenges posed by climate change. The “business as usual” mindset (so beloved of Big Oil, the fossil fuel financiers and industrialists, and the politicians and academics who abet them) is the bane of all current grassroots attempts to meet the challenges. It is even more pernicious in education, where a double challenge looms: first, to help the general public realize the scope of the threat and come to the side of immediate climate action, and, second, to prepare the younger generation, not for employment in a world that no longer exists, but for the grand task of shaping a livable future with real (and not just pledged) liberty and justice for all. At Cornell, commendable efforts to meet these educational challenges are currently underway. These include the work carried out by pioneering individual instructors who have devised new courses on climate change in their disciplines or have “climatized” existing courses; the especially important contributions of the faculty who focus on Indigenous practices of environmental stewardship and on climate justice; the number of First-year Writing Seminars that deal with climate change; the Center for Teaching Innovation’s inclusion of climate change among its topics; the relevant work sponsored by the Einhorn Center for Community Engagement; the Climate Change minor in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences that encompasses a growing number of courses across many disciplines; and the newly convened Climate Change Curriculum Working Group, which includes representatives from all of Cornell’s colleges and schools. Still, Cornell can and must do much, much more. As always, the path from here to a better future begins with an exercise of the imagination. Since coming together over a year ago, Cornell on Fire has been advocating for a university-wide declaration of climate emergency. Imagine the cascading effects that this action on part of the university leadership would have, specifically on how Cornell’s educational mission is reinterpreted and implemented! Quoting from our list of demands, here is what should be happening next: Cornell must expand climate-related curriculum, establish requirements for climate coursework for all undergraduates, and restructure the disciplines to train students for the future they will actually face. Cornell must incentivize the work society needs scientists to do by changing tenure and promotion structures to value policy design and implementation, climate activism, public communication, and tangible broader impacts. Faculty must speak honestly about the scale of the crisis. Faculty, staff, and students must become engaged in intensive public service to the local region. Climate expertise and climate advocacy must be brought onto Cornell’s Board of Trustees; a Trustees climate change committee must be formed and charged with addressing the existential issue of our time.
It should, but will not, go without saying that these measures on the curriculum front must be accompanied by coordinated action across the board, or the University will fail to practice what it preaches and teaches. Operations, procurement, construction, travel, and all other aspects of the university’s functioning must be retooled with climate justice as the overarching consideration. The Cornell community – students, faculty, and staff – are well prepared for this vital undertaking. The University leadership should recognize this, rise to the challenge of the times — and lead. To truthful and just education, Cornell on Fire
Breaking News: Ithaca City Planning Board Approves Unbuildable Project on the basis of Cornell’s Unverified Promises
In the same week that California filed a lawsuit accusing Exxon Mobil of lying about the efficacy of plastic recycling, and new research reported toxic PFAS chemicals in the human body from the same plastics used in turf, the City of Ithaca Planning Board approved Cornell's proposal to install fake plastic grass fields on the premise that they will be "recycled" and “will not contain or be treated with PFAS.” Their decision to approve fields made of petrochemicals and named for a fossil fuel baron arrived as the US death toll rose from climate-change induced Hurricane Helene. It was condemned by environmentalists for neglecting due process and ignoring strong local and scientific opposition. Read our Press Statement and check out the press coverage here. Get involved with Cornell on Fire nowRead our reports. What you need to know to demand the change we need. Sign Our Demands. Ask Cornell to lead the way with a climate response that is adequate in ambition, credibility, and urgency. Join our Working Group: Support us with participation, research, or consultation by reaching out to connect@cornellonfire.org. Advise our Working Group: Our Movement Advisors include experts consulting on everything from Indigenous restorative justice to fossil free research and local activism history. Join our Alliance Partners: Advance climate justice and your organization’s mission by endorsing our movement. Ask how to get started at connect@cornellonfire.org. Spread the word: Forward this newsletter to others.
Engage the Wider Movement:Oppose Tompkins County’s 2025 Budget Plan to subsidize the failing airport with hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money, in an outrageous reversal of now-mainstream economic principles for the social cost of carbon (that wealthy polluters, not ordinary taxpayers, should pay for their luxury carbon pollution). Join the public forum at the Tompkins County Legislature today, September 30, starting at 5:30pm (register via Zoom here), register your virtual statement, and continue commenting at committee meetings taking place over the next month. Join concerned citizens and scientists in opposing Cornell’s proposal for artificial turf, and the Ithaca City Planning Board’s approval of this Project on the basis of faulty process and Cornell’s unverified promises of “recyclable” and “PFAS-free” turf. Write to Cornell on Fire (connect@cornellonfire.org) to get involved with next steps. Extinction Rebellion Climate Vigils 11am every Saturday at Chase Bank - the worst bank on Earth - at the East end of the Ithaca Commons. Follow one of the closest races in the state as Democratic Senator Lea Webb runs for reelection against Republican Mike Sigler in New York's 52nd Senate District. Lea earned a perfect score on the NYLCV’s annual State Environmental scorecard, and we need to keep her in office! Remember to register to vote if you’re new to the area.
Opportunities:Love investigative research and a habitable planet? Join one of our ongoing research projects or suggest your own. Do you have creative skills? We are looking for people to contribute their talents with music, video, or webpage editing. Have expertise in law, energy, or policy? We seek expert contributors to review and inform our work.
Thank you for reading this far and engaging in the number-one frontline for climate action: your attention. You are receiving this monthly newsletter because you are subscribed to our listserv. Newsletter #9 originally published on September 30, 2024. Opt out of Cornell on Fire Newsletters: write “unsubscribe” to connect@cornellonfire.org or click “unsubscribe” below.
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