Victory at last...


From: "Richard Levin, Andrew Hamilton, John Pepper"
Date: Tue, 11 Oct 2005 11:21:05 -0400
To: "Yale Community"
Subject: Greenhouse Gas Reduction Strategy


In his recent book, Red Sky at Morning, Gus Speth, Dean of Yale’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, states that in the face of disturbing polar ice loss and the startling consequences of global warning “addressing CO2 emissions from fossil fuels must be the bedrock of [a successful climate strategy].” This concern has been strongly reinforced by the Advisory Committee on Environmental Management, under the leadership of Professor Thomas Graedel, and by a number of student groups around the university. Yale recognizes the need to respond to and prepare for the unprecedented circumstances that we face with respect to energy production, consumption, and related carbon emissions. As an institution, Yale is committed to becoming a model university that prepares its students for facing the pressing environmental conditions and taking a leadership role amongst higher education institutions to respond to the energy challenge.

In the fall of 2004 the Yale Energy Task Force, a university-wide committee with staff, faculty and student representation, was convened to respond to the challenge of increasing energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions. The task force [link tohttp://www.yale.edu/sustainability] was charged with making recommendationson Yale’s approach to energy - production (from conventional to renewable), procurement, demand, greenhouse gas emission reduction and conservation.

Following a thorough review and analysis, the Officers have adopted the key recommendation from the report presented by the Energy Task Force. We are pleased to announce the following campus wide goal which will become effective immediately:

Yale is committed to a level of investment in energy conservation and alternate energy sources that will lead, based on current projections, to a reduction in its greenhouse gas emissions by10% below our 1990 levels by the year 2020.This is consistent with a similar commitment by the Connecticut State Legislature and the New England Governor’s and Eastern Canadian Premiers Climate Action Plan.

By adopting this goal Yale is one of the first universities in the country to commit to a fifteen-year strategic energy plan. We intend to reach our goal through a combination of a strong energy conservation program, investing in alternative energy sources, purchasing Renewable Energy Certificates, and implementing on-site renewable and clean energy demonstration projects.

Every one of us on campus has a role to play in helping achieve this goal, by conserving energy and by reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that flow from its use. Effective conservation programs can further free up funds within the University budget that will in turn be invested in renewable and non-CO2 emitting forms of energy.Specifically, we are setting out to achieve the following conservation targets:

• 15% reduction at residential colleges over a three-year period.
• 10% reduction at all other facilities

Two student groups, New Haven Action and the Student Task Force for Environmental Partnership, will take the lead in engaging and educating students on how to participate in advancing our goals for energy conservation. For every 5% of reduction at residential colleges the University will allocate renewable energy certificates to offset 1/3rd of the electrical energy used by residential colleges.

There will be a great deal of learning to be gained, both here at Yale and outside the campus community, on how to best meet our energy conservation and greenhouse gas reduction goals. We will share this learning internally and externally as it is gained in the months and years ahead.

To learn more about Yale’s fifteen-year Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Renewable Energy strategic plan go to http://www.yale.edu/sustainability.

Sincerely,

Richard C. Levin, President
Andrew D. Hamilton, Provost
John E. Pepper, Vice President for Finance and Administration

Posted by Trailhobbit at 6:40 PM EDT

Updated: Tuesday, October 11, 2005 6:41 PM EDT

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Cool Archaeology Picture Time

When I'm too tired to think of anything to say, I'll just put up cool archaeology pictures. This is R.E.W. Adams in a Classic Maya tomb at Rio Azul, Guatemala. That's writing on the walls. Cool, huh?

Humbling Katrina
It looks like nature was just warming up when she decided to blast the United States with hurricanes. Both Central America and South Asia have suffered horrifying disasters this week. Although the Asian quake is much more terrible, my personal affinity for the Mesoamerican world I'm studying in Art History makes the pain of Guatemala and the surrounding region much more real.

"Panabaj will no longer exist," said Mayor Diego Esquina, referring to the Mayan lakeside hamlet in Guatemala covered by a half-mile-wide mudflow as much as 15 to 20 feet deep. "We are asking that it be declared a cemetery. We are tired. We no longer know where to dig."

Kind of makes the week of oily New Haven rain look like picnic weather.

Woman of the Hour
I'm afraid I don't understand the grumblings in the conservative community about Bush's choice of Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court. After all, this NYT feature describes her turn to the Dark Si -- er, Evangelical Christianity.


At least she's a woman. In fact, probably the ideal woman to some right-wingers. According to the office manager of her church, "She put herself in servant roles, making coffee every Sunday morning and putting doughnuts out." Just as a woman should.

Seems backward enough. So why the conservative unease? Are they afraid that, since she hasn't worn her views on her sleeve and was once a Democrat, she will let them down on critical social issues? Say, abortion? Check out this exchange with her fellow churchgoer Justice Hect:

"Yes, she goes to a pro-life church," Justice Hecht said, adding, "I know Harriet is, too." The two attended "two or three" anti-abortion fund-raising dinners in the early 1990's, he said, but added that she had not otherwise been active in the anti-abortion movement. "You can be just as pro-life as the day is long and can decide the Constitution requires Roe" to be upheld, he said.

So that's it: they're afraid Miers will choose what is Constitutional over what is Christian. In other words, they're worried she will be fair. Pardon my naivete, but shouldn't someone whose title is "Justice" embody fairness, regardless of political creed?

I'm not looking forward to seeing Miers installed on the court. In fact, I find her quite revolting. But as long as she's not, say Pat Robertson himself, we could be worse off.

It's sad that "we could be worse off" constitutes a positive attitude. 2008, where are you?

From the Too-Wierd-To-Make-Up Files...
Say, is that Anthrax on your tie?

Believe it or not, with"Infectious Awareables" your neckware can sport E. Coli, syphilis, and breast cancer among other miscrocopic horrors. See the full collection at their online store.

::shudder::

I mean, I like dark humor and all, but there's somthing about using giardia as a paisley motif that, well, turns my stomach.

Gee, I used to write good...
From last year's entry, 9/24/04:

There's something about Late September that sticks with you. It is almost a season unto itself, neither summer nor fall. Somewhere in the hardening green and the ripe sky and the dying goldenness of everything is a young heart in a young body, standing on the chilly precipice of a rapid aging and awakening, only looking. Looking and realizing that things are to be lost and that all journeyways run through death (though they do not all end there). It is a season of bittersweet begininings, of silent understanding, of held breath before resigned and wordless plunges. And yet the smile of summer remains, and every green moment left will be, if not innocent, sweeter for it.

It's that time again, folks...
As self-appointed Arbiter of All Things, I have decided once again to decimate the global poplation in hopes of saving the species from the ravages of its own idiocy. Yes, boys and girls, get ready for Round Two of elimination. This week's unfortunate losers are:

1. Relativists. Except Kate.
2. Terrorists, murderers, rapists, and just generally violent, dangerous, psychotic people.
3. People who don't vote. Ironic. You didn't vote when you had the chance. Sucks for you.
4. People who voted for Arnold in 2003. WTF??????????
5. People I just don't like, even if they don't fit into any of the aforementioned categories. You may not know who you are, but I do.
6. People who plaster all their worldly possessions with American flags.
7. People who drive Hummers just for kicks. Especially if said Hummers are plastered with American flags.
8. People who think it's fair that football players make more money than teachers.
9. The Yankees.
10. GESO.

Did you survive? Congrats! Enjoy your week.

Unfortunately, it is now too late to read the free online version of Louise Story's NYT report on how many women at elite universities are planning to put their careers on hold in order to be home with their children. I didn't need the YDN to tell me what a big controversy this was among campus women; everywhere from debates in the dining halls to irate mass emails, people have been talking. "I'm not planning to be a stay-at home mom! Maybe some of us are just here to get their Mrs., but nobody I know."

Some are outraged that the piece made the front page. Many feel personally offended, and some have written the author to question her survey methods.

The article adddressed many questions. Is it possible to balance a career and a family? Is it somehow the duty of Ivy League women to go out and conquer the world, and by being stay-at-home (or at least part-time) moms, are they wasting their education?

Personally, I think the whole thing is being blown out of proportion. I admit I was surprised when I read Story's numbers. Nobody can plan that far ahead to know where in their careers they will be when they marry, or whom they will marry. Everyone who gets offended by this claims to have tremendous respect for stay-at-home mothers; yet apparently the thought of spending any time as one attacks their sense of self. It's true that traditional gender roles are not hard and fast, but there are reasons for them that go back to the dawn of time. I do hope to be able to take a little time off when my kids are very young, but I would hope that my husband would make comparable sacrifices.

This strikes me as a very personal decision that is being turned into an almost political issue on campus, fostering nothing but animosity. If I were one of those who had planned to stop working after childbirth, I would not feel comfortable admitting it to some of my fellow students, for fear they would feel I was "taking up someone else's valuable spot at Yale" for nothing.

I think motherhood is a career unto itself, and for those unprepared for it (as most of us students, still dependent on our own parents, are), it seems remote and foreign. Working hard to get ahead is all most Yalies have ever known. I think most of the ire this article stirred up is really due to the fact that it forced us to briefly question exactly what we've been working for.

A minor victory for justice and the left
New York Times: Delay Indicted and Forced to Step Down as Majority Leader

Moral: Enjoy undergrad status while you can!
The blogs Easily Distracted and Unfogged have posted warnings and tips for those about to go to grad school. They're amusing, if daunting, and certainly not to be ignored. I'm getting so old! It's scary.