{"id":2136,"date":"2020-02-01T17:29:13","date_gmt":"2020-02-01T21:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/?p=2136"},"modified":"2020-02-03T09:04:51","modified_gmt":"2020-02-03T13:04:51","slug":"really-our-canadian-universities-fund-planetary-destruction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/2020\/02\/01\/really-our-canadian-universities-fund-planetary-destruction\/","title":{"rendered":"Really, our Canadian universities fund \u201cplanetary destruction\u201d?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Bambi would like to comment on the following article\nin NB Media Coop<\/em> by Ms. \u201cHannah Moore\u201d: Universities funding planetary destruction<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If readers from the Middle East or from another \u201chot\u201d part of our planet see this title, they would imagine that Canadian universities fund nuclear wars, armed conflicts, or deliberate physical destruction of nature or property ?. Hopefully, this would not be a turn off for them, if they are dreaming of immigrating to our beautiful country or to come to study here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OK luckily, this is not what this article is about.\nIt is \u201cjust\u201d about St.\nThomas University\u2019s endowment fund of about $1 million in fossil fuel industry\nstocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, Ms. Moore\u2019s article starts by pointing\nout to the hypocrisy of higher education institutions. Indeed, she wrote that \u201chigher\neducation teach the science of climate change and the social and economic\naspects of environmental degradation and yet they continue to invest in fossil\nfuels and profit from these industries\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The author seems to have a valid point\nhere. However, perhaps this apparent hypocrisy would have been mitigated had (1)\nour schools produced more critical (and creative) thinkers, and fewer trendy activists,\nto address critical issues in a broader way, that is without falling into the\ntrap of dogmatic thinking and (2) our funding agencies supported more research\non important matters such as environmental problems. Yes, more science based on\nrigour, ethics, and diligence, without risk of radicalization and roboticization\nof the producers or consumers of that science. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, scientists are researchers, not\npoliticians. They are supposed to translate scientific knowledge to decision\nmakers (and other audiences). Students are critical learners first and foremost,\nthat is before resorting to or beginning a career of activism. Their critical\nthinking is essential as it is their natural antidote to the eventual risk of\nbecoming bullies of political correctness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, despite the funny title of this article,\nit is generally well-written. Perhaps, the paper would have been stronger had\nit included references, especially in lines 5-7 (to show us the scientific evidence).\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would have also been informative to stop\nto think about the cited UN statement about global heating that must be kept to\n1.5 degrees Celsius. Why 1.5? Why not more? Why not less? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bambi is not an expert in neither climate\nchange science nor politics. She just uses her rationality to question scientific\n(or so-called scientific) claims in order to understand matters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This being said, let\u2019s assume that 1.5\ndegrees Celsius is the magical number indeed. How would we ensure concrete\nsolutions to the problem of global warming? Even if we divest tomorrow morning,\nhow will this translate into actual solutions?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third, the article states that \u201cthe\nstudent-led campaign at STU has gathered unanimous support from the Students\u2019\nUnion and the Faculty Association. Both groups agree that STU should\ndiscontinue funding, and profiting from, the fossil fuel industry.\u201d Great but\nis the word \u201cunanimous\u201d the most accurate term here? Precisely, what was the\nvoter turnout and what was the precise result\u201d? It would be informative to have\nthis information. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fourth, Ms. Moore talks about how our oil\ncompanies are so powerful and influential. There is for sure some truth in her claim\n(although there are usually small, medium, and large companies in any sector). Despite\nthis, should we kill our whole economy in our aspiration for a cleaner, greener\nplanet? Can\u2019t we aim to diversify our economy instead whilst working on our\nresearch and renewable energy commercialization?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, Bambi could be wrong, but her\nunderstanding is that the Irving Oil Refinery is not a publicly traded company.\nMs. Moore talks about the significant economic and social power that makes many\nNew Brunswickers afraid of speaking against it. Maybe for some, who knows? But how\nabout all those who do not wish to speak against it (even if it is far from\nbeing a \u201cbusiness angel\u201d, so to speak)? Those who earn a living from it or because\nof it? Or those who care for both our environment and economy, even without any\nties to this company?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latter may include some people who, like Bambi, may have mixed feelings at times: On one hand, they are fond of the success of such a Canadian giant. On the other hand, they may sometimes question some of its practices or influences. Regardless, Bambi has always hoped to see us diversifying our economy to make room for more competition. Healthy competition would foster the success of new entrepreneurs in our province, ideally even in a sustainable renewable energy sector. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bambi would like to comment on the following article in NB Media Coop by Ms. \u201cHannah Moore\u201d: Universities funding planetary destruction. If readers from the Middle East or from another \u201chot\u201d part of our planet […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2136"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2136"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2160,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2136\/revisions\/2160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}