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Dear Cornell on Fire, Welcome to a new academic year! This summer brought the Northern Hemisphere yet more news of unprecedented floods, wildfires and heat records. On July 21, Earth reached its highest ever recorded temperature. Still, as climate reporters noted for yet another year running, it was ‘the coolest summer of the rest of your life’. We’re not taking it sitting down. We are here to ask: How are our institutions responding to the climate emergency? Here at Cornell, a well-resourced, world-renowned Ivy League university, what is the administration doing to lead the rapid transformation to our systems, values, and ways of life that our gold standard research shows we need to keep this planet livable? One year ago this month, we got together and decided the stakes were too high to wait and see if Cornell would step up on mitigating climate change. We saw this as a matter of justice, vital to all our futures, especially those of young people. Knowing we among the global elite were disproportionately responsible, we saw it as unconscionable to continue business as usual while frontline communities were already losing livelihoods and lives to climate change. We also understood that the climate cause is closely entwined with that of justice for Indigenous communities, subjected to genocidal attacks and forced to abandon traditional ways of life that respected all life, for the sake of nation states and the capitalist drive for profit at all cost. What did we do? With you, we started a movement: Cornell on Fire. We created a list of demands to Cornell, beginning with the demand to formally declare a climate emergency. We researched and reported on what Cornell was and was not doing to systemically reduce its hefty and growing toll of environmental harm. We took our evidence to you, Cornellians and community-members, and to the administration, through targeted actions. As we grew in number and strength, we asked the administration repeatedly to change their act. We were met with a mixed response: silence, derision, and an increase in PR-savvy greenwashing. Cornell released a new Sustainability update (but not a quantified report on progress)! And contrast those claims of climate leadership with the words of Cornell’s interim president Mike Kotlikoff in a meeting with Arts & Sciences faculty just last week, when asked why Cornell refuses to declare a climate emergency: “I am not going to take an institutional decision on a matter that many many faculty may disagree with…and somehow presume the authority to speak for the university.” We are left wondering which faculty Kotlikoff has in mind, given the consensus among climate scientists about the state of affairs. Has he spoken to his own Energy and Sustainability team, which declared at a recent presentation to the Tompkins County Climate Protection Initiative that “there is a climate emergency?” If nothing else, perhaps he would be interested to read a handy UN Environment Program webpage titled ‘Facts about the climate emergency’. The leaders of other universities have declared a climate emergency. When will Cornell catch up to reality? As we write, the administration’s moral priorities are being called into question by Cornell members of UAW 2300, whose demands for fair pay and conditions for Cornell staff required multiple rounds of negotiations. On its treatment of workers, just as on the climate crisis, the words and actions coming from the Cornell administration betray the claimed ambition “to do the greatest good”. To take stock of one year of Cornell on Fire’s work and open debate on the path ahead, we are proud to announce our film premiere coming soon to a screen near you! Introducing: Cornell Commits to Confronting Climate Activists. When climate activists call on Cornell to confront the climate emergency, Cornell University leadership invites them into a strange and precarious discussion. Based on true events.
Join us for a special event titled Beyond Comedy: Getting Cornell to Step Up on Climate Justice, including screenings of the satire as well as our demands, followed by panel discussion and Q&A with members of the film crew and prominent local activists from multiple movements. We hope to see you there! If you miss the premiere or want to share the films far and wide, stay tuned for their online launch on Youtube. One year in, we are stronger and no less determined. We are taking stock and moving forward, armed with new intelligence and creative plans. The light of reason shows that Cornell can do better, and until it does, we will continue to help its administration put things in the proper perspective. If you’re ready to stand up and strike back, now’s the time! One year stronger,
Cornell on Fire Gratitude:Cornell on Fire is one year old, and we couldn’t have made it without you. We thank each one of you for being part of our movement. We warmly thank our Movement Advisors, who have generously made themselves available to provide expertise to our movement’s research, organization, and actions while helping to pull institutional levers. We acknowledge the many faculty and staff at Cornell who have reached out to us for coffee, shared tips and campaign ideas, invited us into their classrooms or event schedules, and collaborated on data requests, research reports, creative projects, and strategies. We thank the courageous students at Climate Justice Cornell, Sunrise Movement Ithaca, Campus Climate Network, Fossil Free Research, Society for Natural Resources Conservation, the Environmental Law Society, and ECO, without whom our efforts would be much thinner. We are strengthened by the continual stream of support and encouragement from community members ready to demand climate accountability from Cornell. We are honored to collaborate with our Alliance Partners, whose work inspires us and advances climate justice. We are also grateful for funding from the Sustainable Finger Lakes Tompkins Sustainability Mini-Grant, and from the many hard-working activists whose contributions of time, money, and life energy make our work possible. Opportunities:Love investigative research and working for the public interest? 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 are in need of expert contributors to review and inform our work.
Get involved with Cornell on Fire nowDon’t miss Cornell on Fire’s film screenings and panels this September 7 and 13th! Read 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:Join concerned citizens and scientists in opposing Cornell’s proposal for massive new construction with artificial turf at the Ithaca City Planning Board meeting next Tuesday, September 3. 5pm: Zero Waste Ithaca-led rally on City Hall Steps. 6:00pm: Meeting begins, with opportunities to public comment virtually or in-person. How We Win! with Climate Action Now: Learn from great speakers about where your contributions can make the most difference. Share the link with friends and we hope you will consider attending! 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. On Thursday, September 5th, join the NYSERDA “Future Energy Economy” summit in Syracuse to protect the clean AND safe energy future everyone deserves.
Thank you for reading this far and engaging in the number-one frontline for climate action: your attention. Newsletter #8 originally published on August 31, 2024. Opt out of Cornell on Fire Newsletters: write “unsubscribe” to connect@cornellonfire.org or click “unsubscribe” below.
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