Published on Mar 12, 2014
Linguist Noam Chomsky, professor at MIT, discusses the ways in which language changes over time and how the idea of a national language is a modern phenomenon. In this University of Washington interview, Upon Reflection host Al Page speaks with Chomsky about how languages are systems of communication rooted in human nature.
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Published on May 13, 2014
Rare Interview of Prof. Noam Chomsky on Necessary Illusions: Thought Control In Democratic Societies. Must Watch!
Date – 1990-02-20
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Published on Feb 12, 2015
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Speaking at an international affairs thinktank in London, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker avoided answering a question about whether he believes in evolution. ‘That’s a question a politician shouldn’t be involved in one way or the other,’ the Republican said at Chatham House. Walker, a potential president candidate, was in England on Wednesday to promote trade and investment
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University of California Television (UCTV)
Published on Feb 18, 2015
(Visit: http://www.uctv.tv/) In part three of this four-part series, Scripps Institution of Oceanography’s Veerabhadran Ramanathan returns to India with an international collaboration to demonstrate that improving cooking methods in the developing world could slow global warming and improve public health along the way. Series: “Lifting the Blanket: The Pursuit of a Climate Change Solution – UCTV Prime” [Science] [Show ID: 23992]
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Published on Feb 18, 2015
Imagine a virus that’s been dormant for tens of thousands of years coming back to life – and causing a massive epidemic. No – that’s not the storyline for a new thriller. Thom will explain why it could become reality in tonight’s Daily Take.
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Jan 27 (Reuters) – The University of Maine Board of Trustees has unanimously agreed to divest from direct holdings in coal-mining companies.
The board’s decision was influenced by the threat and potential costs of climate change, the steady decline of coal as a non-renewable resource and the emergence of new green technologies, the university said in a statement on Monday.
Iris SanGiovanni, a member of Divest UMaine, a coalition of students, faculty and alumni from the University of Maine and the University of Southern Maine that advocates for divestment, said the group was “ecstatic that the Board of Trustees made the right decision.”
…(read more).
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18-Feb-15 / Posted By Christopher Ito
Expanding Divestment: University-Sponsored Defined Contribution Plans
The fossil fuel divestment movement has gained significant momentum across college campuses thanks to organizations like 350.org. On Monday, January 12, 300 Stanford University faculty members called for the divestment of fossil fuel companies from the endowment investment portfolio. While divestment calls have mostly targeted university endowment pools, we have started to see calls by university faculty to provide fossil free investment choices in their retirement plans.
Public universities will typically sponsor a Section 403(b) defined contribution retirement plan, which is similar to its 401(k) cousin used by corporations. From our discussions with on-campus divestment advocates, they are beginning to view participant-directed retirement plans (sometimes as large if not larger than endowments), as a natural extension of their divestment efforts. Defined contribution plan sponsors use retirement plans as an attraction and retention tool, while also seeking to increase employee participation. Providing investment choices that meet the demands of participants is a goal of both plan sponsors and the asset management companies who serve those plans.
In looking at the history of defined contribution plan investment choices, we have seen the industry create products that respond to the demand of certain participant segments. The introduction of target date retirement funds and self-directed brokerage are historical examples of this evolution. Given the strength of the divestment movement on college campuses, and as more faculty and staff put pressure on the university plan sponsors, we believe that mutual fund companies and 403(b) providers have a great opportunity to gather assets from the entire education sector by providing core fund products, or line-ups that are negatively screened for fossil fuel investments.
…(read more).
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By Mariel A. Klein and Tyler S. Olkowski, CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
Divest Harvard aims to launch a fossil fuel-free fund to which alumni can donate as an alternative to the University’s endowment, according to the group’s announcement from earlier this month. The coalition of students, faculty, and alumni that calls for the University to divest its endowment from fossil fuels occupied Massachusetts Hall for 24 hours last week.
The Fossil Free Alumni Fund stipulates that Harvard will only receive the donations if the Harvard Corporation—the University’s highest governing body—publicly commits to divesting from fossil fuels by Dec. 31, 2025, as detailed in the press release. Otherwise, the fund will be donated to one or more nonpartisan national organizations that work to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
“[The fund] will be one more form for alumni to get across the fact that climate change really matters,” said Bill E. McKibben ’82, an environmental activist and former Crimson president. McKibben called the fund “the next big forum” for the group’s movement and said that he expects many alumni to contribute.
Over the past year, 1,000 alumni have signed the organization’s petition to divest from fossil fuels, according to the press release. In addition, the Harvard-Radcliffe Club of Vermont officially backed the divest movement in December, after 76 percent of its membership supported the measure in an annual survey.
According to the press release, the group will seek $5 million in commitments before accepting donations in order to secure lower management fees. Although the fund has received pledges, Divest Harvard has not released donor names or amounts, Divest Harvard student outreach coordinator Chloe S. Maxmin ’15 said. Divest Harvard does not have a timeline for securing the $5 million in commitments, she added.
“A large number of alumni don’t want to be supporting the fossil fuel industry,” Maxmin said. “The divestment fund is an opportunity for alumni to support Harvard, and [the donations] will go to Harvard when we divest from fossil fuels.”
…(read more).
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Brazil/ Tanzania/ Trifinio/ Vietnam, February 12th, 2015 – You are working with coffee farmers? And are looking for a strategy to deal with the adverse impacts of climate change? We are happy to announce that we have now published our coffee & climate (c&c) sourcebook!
This manual is a step-by-step guide for implementing the c&c approach, focusing especially on the adaptation of coffee production in response to climate change at the farm level.
As we believe that the cooperation of all stakeholders along the coffee-value-chain is vital to effective climate change adaptation, we would like to invite you to make active use of both, the c&c approach and our c&c toolbox, which provides a first set of tools, case studies and further guiding materials for implementing this five-step process.
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Published on Feb 17, 2015
A free press and public access to information and a broad range of ideas and opinions were considered so essential for a healthy democratic republic that the Founders included protection for freedom of the press in the First Amendment to the Constitution. Alex Jones, director of Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, and Charles Sennott, founder of Global Post and The GroundTruth Project, assess how today’s press–print and electronic–is carrying out its mission. Where do current threats to a free press come from? How can citizens inform themselves in today’s media environment?
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Transition Studies 