This is a good point, Joy. A statement from 500 Fortune 500 CEOs would
have a lot more impact. But I don't know how to get them on board.
Tom
On Tuesday, November 15, 2016, Joy Hecht <jhecht@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Circulating this letter and obtaining as many signatures as possible
certainly seems like a reasonable thing to do. If, as many others in this
discussion have suggested, you circulate it beyond business schools, then
of course you'll have to change the text to reflect who is actually signing
it.
But I can't quite imagine the new Trump administration could actually care
less what we think on this topic, as he has already happily rejected the
notion that preventing climate change is more important than any short-term
costs that might impose.
I'm wondering, therefore, whether people here are working on (or know
other networks working on) determining what exactly we can do to keep key
actors in our country on track even if the new president is working against
it and the new administration does not actually implement the terms of the
Paris accord. I've seen a few ideas around - that corporations will want
to reduce GHG emissions irrespective of the policies of the current
government either because they believe it is going to be required at some
point and it's better to begin sooner, or (perhaps?) because they may not
be able to export to key destinations if they are not reducing emissions,
or because at least in some cases there is a financial payoff to reducing
emissions. I've also seen it suggested that even if the federal government
is not dealing with the issues, we should be working to implement state and
municipal policies to reduce emissions, because much may be possible at
those levels.
I haven't done much reading (or googling) on this yet, but I'm wondering
what else people may have heard about specific actions that could reduce
harm. I'm also wondering what other websites, networks, or organizations
you all may be aware of where we can learn more.
Joy Hecht
**************************************************************************
Joy E. Hecht, PhD
Consultant on Environmental Economics and Climate Change
Email: jhecht@xxxxxxxxxxxx
<javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','jhecht@xxxxxxxxxxxx');>
Phone: 1-202-494-1162
From within Canada: 709-725-2420
URL: http://www.joyhecht.net/professional/consulting.html
<http://www.joyhecht.net/>
Skype: joy.e.hecht
**************************************************************************
On Tue, Nov 15, 2016 at 4:11 PM, Thomas Lyon <tplyon@xxxxxxxxx
<javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','tplyon@xxxxxxxxx');>> wrote:
Dear Concerned RESECON Colleagues,
I wanted to share with you a discussion that is going on in other parts
of my network. A group of business school faculty are thinking about a
joint statement that would address the broad issue of climate change and
Trump's pretense that is does not exist. This may make more sense than a
quick outcry about appointing climate denier Myron Ebell to guide the
energy and environment transition. We may also want to add a comment about
the Clean Power Plan into this. At this point it is just a first draft.
But it might be something that would attract broad support from
environmental and resource economists, too, if a few of the words were
changed. I suppose that raises the question of whether we might broaden
the language to include economists as well as business school faculty, and
present this all under one umbrella, or whether it is better to have two
separate statements.
The draft is below. Your thoughts are most welcome.
Best wishes,
Tom Lyon
*A Public Expression of Concern on Climate Change: A Call for Action in
Business and Business Schools*
As a general rule, academics in business schools do not take political
positions with respect to developments in national (or international or
local) politics. Our role is primarily to do research and to teach the
next generation of business leaders. However, the surprising election of
Donald Trump as the next President of the United States, along with his
promise to renege on the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, which has just
entered into force on November 6, 2016 (with ratification to date by 110
countries including the U.S.), compels us to depart from this general rule
and to make a statement in opposition of President-elect Trump’s position.
We urge him to reconsider taking this course of action.
For many years, academics like us have been studying the challenges posed
by climate change from a business point of view, even as scientific studies
have shown, with increasing certainty and detail, that climate change poses
a significant threat to the very foundations of human civilization. If
effective measures are not taken to reverse rising levels of greenhouse gas
emissions, then, as scientists tell us, there will be extreme consequences
in terms of rising sea levels, increasingly heavy precipitation events,
higher temperatures (including heat waves and more frequent forest fires),
and more severe droughts and water shortages. Human consequences will
include mass starvation, exponentially increased refugee flows, increasing
range of formerly “tropical” diseases, and new wars over food and water.
In light of these predicted consequences to the very fabric of human
civilization, we cannot as academics stay silent in the face of a political
call to ignore science and to allow the United States to reverse course on
climate policy. We therefore call in the strongest possible terms for
President-elect Trump to stay his hand with respect to the Paris
Agreement. The United States should not become a rogue nation with respect
to climate change; instead it should remain at the forefront of
international policy and dialogue.
In any event, regardless of whether we can have an influence over
decisions of a new Trump Administration, we call on our fellow business
academics and, most importantly, business people themselves, to redouble
their efforts and commitments to adopt climate friendly policies and
practices. Over the last several decades, we have witnessed a strong
increase in the commitment of many business firms to take climate change
seriously and to become “part of the solution” rather than “part of the
problem.” We reaffirm efforts to advance the cause of climate resilience
in the business community. After all, as David Brower has famously said:
“There is no business to be done on a dead planet.”
We urge President-elect Trump to listen to the world’s leading scientists
and the great weight of international political opinion as expressed by the
197 parties to the Paris Agreement and to stay the course with respect to
this Agreement. In addition, in light of the political threat to progress
on climate change, we urge business schools and business firms to redouble
their efforts to confront this real and immediate threat to human
civilization. There is no time to wait.
The undersigned business faculty members of the Alliance for Research in
Corporate Sustainability and the Organizations and Natural Environment
section of the Academy of Management.
--
Thomas P. Lyon
Dow Chair of Sustainable Science, Technology and Policy
Ross School of Business
School of Natural Resources and Environment
University of Michigan
701 Tappan St., Room 6366
Ann Arbor, MI 48409
734-615-1639
