Guest essay by Eric Worrall
h/t Dr. Willie Soon; According to “Nobel prize co-winner” Michael Mann and other authors, universities should be ranked and staff should be promoted based on how strongly they support climate action.
Why universities need to declare an ecological and climate emergency
Universities have a responsibility to prepare students for an uncertain future, 11 scholars from around the world argue
September 27, 2019By Jean S. Renouf, Michael E. Mann , John Cook , Christopher Wright , Will Steffen , Patrick Nunn, Pauline Dube, Jean Jouzel , Stephan Lewandowsky, Anne Poelina and Katherine Richardson
Twitter: @Drjsrenouf, @MichaelEMann, @johnfocook, @ChristopherWr11, @PatrickNunn3, @STWorg and @KRichardsonC…
Through the voices of Greta Thunberg, the School Strikes for Climate and the Fridays For Future, youth everywhere are loud and clear in calling for societies to change. Placards at protests around the world read: “Why should anyone study for a future when no one is doing enough to save our future?”; “Climate change is worse than homework”; “If you don’t act like adults, we will”; and “The climate is changing, why aren’t we?”.
Universities have a particular role to play when it comes to acting for the planet. As large institutions, universities’ carbon and environmental footprints are significant, and this alone should be a strong enough incentive to act. But, universities also have the responsibility to be honest with their students and prepare them for a changing climate because whatever jobs they seek after graduation will be fundamentally reshaped by an increasingly variable climate and frequent and unprecedented climate extremes.
…
Mainstreaming ecological and climate action across all disciplines. Universities would ensure that all students, regardless of the discipline and level of study, understand specific climate impacts and possible remedial action in their line of work.
This would be reflected in curricula, university rankings, graduate attributes, as well as in staff performance measurements, including those of high executives.
Interdisciplinary teaching and research activities on global environmental challenges, resilience and solutions would be prioritised and invested in. Collective action, community engagement, partnerships, sharing best practices, and open platforms for innovation would be promoted.
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Read more: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/why-universities-need-declare-ecological-and-climate-emergency#survey-answer
The academics who authored this demand are from the following universities;
| Jean S. Renouf | Southern Cross University |
| Michael E. Mann | Penn State Earth System Science Center |
| John Cook | George Mason University |
| Christopher Wright | University of Sydney |
| Will Steffen | Australian National University |
| Patrick Nunn | University of the Sunshine Coast |
| Pauline Dube | University of Botswana |
| Jean Jouzel | Atomic Energy Commission in France |
| Stephan Lewandowsky | University of Bristol |
| Anne Poelina | University of Notre Dame Australia |
| Katherine Richardson | University of Copenhagen |
It is a little disappointing to see Australia so well represented in a demand that promotion opportunities and university rankings be governed by climate zeal rather than academic excellence.
Perhaps the Peter Ridd case is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the apparent ongoing attack on academic freedom in Australian institutions.
If you have any children or grandchildren considering higher education, I suggest you think very carefully about this before sending your kid to an Australian university, or any of the universities on the list.
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The very definition of hubris. In any case, who asked them to ‘act for the planet’? (I’m only surprised that I didn’t see Figueras’s name on the list.
Face it. If some AGW “skeptic” (or “denier” – Nature Science’s term for me, not mine) were found to have as many conflicts of interest, as many debunked studies, and as obvious planned subterfuge as revealed in “climategate” emails as Michael E Mann, PhD
– No journal would touch them
– No blog would give them a forum
– No companies or governments would support them
– No universities would give them a job there
1990 when I started university, the diversity and ethnic studies crap was really ramping up. I foolishly thought at least they will never infect the physical sciences. I’d never heard of Lysenko and had no idea to how anti-science national socialists could be.
Mann has a point. I’ll certainly be ranking any University that declares a climate emergency appropriately. They belong ion the category of “Universities that put politics before truth.
I am quite certain that Mann is the SLEAZIEST and MOST DISREPUTABLE individual in US academia.
I hope he reads this and sues me or some other form of retributive action.
I see the name Mann, Cook, and Lewendowsky and I immediately dismiss it. Moving on….
I see. Mann wants a raise. The love of money has rotted his brain.
“Mann Demands . . . .”
I demand that (not-a-) Mann STFU.
It’s useful that Mann and his fellow travelers are now explicit about how they want to undermine academic institutions. We have been warned. Can they be stopped?
The fact that so few academics signed up for Mann’s stupid and ignorant call is promising. Maybe support for his position is waning. It certainly is among the public who use common sense based on their observation of the lack of climate crises. For instance, New York isn’t under water. I’ve just been there and it was dry! And the sea level at Battery Point is declining. Yet wasn’t the immensely rich Al Gore predicting it would have been flooded by now?
I can understand why Aussie academics are such easy meat for the Mannly fabrications – Australia has such a flaky climate (second in aridity only to Antarctica) that fear mongering is an easy and productive way to gain grant money. Grants are cheaper than building the dams and water conservation mechanisms that Australia really needs.