Open Letter to Bryn Mawr College Development Office

This morning I got an email from the Bryn Mawr College Fund Chair, Christy Allen. Here is my response.

Returned check from Bryn Mawr College Annual Fund

Hi Christy,

I am a Donor for Divestment - I recently sent a check to the Annual Fund with the stipulation that the College must cease investing in fossil fuel companies and fully divest from fossil fuels within the next five years. The check was returned to me. I will try again next year - with a higher contribution amount - but under the same conditions, and with the timeline narrowed to four years. We are on a collision course with climate catastrophe, and the clock is ticking.

I have made a conscious decision to divest all of my assets from fossil fuels. I will not support an industry that is actively working to destroy the future of the smart young women Bryn Mawr is educating. To do so would be immoral - and illogical. It breaks my heart to read about the aspirations of these young women and the callous disregard for their future displayed by the trustees, in the interest of purportedly saving money. And of course - their decision not to divest won't save the College money, as fossil fuels are ultimately an unsound investment policy. The carbon bubble will ultimately burst, as 80% of the known fossil fuel reserves cannot be burned without destroying human civilization, as well as most of life on earth. 

So the question isn't really WHETHER the College will divest - but WHEN. I sincerely hope that Bryn Mawr will choose to be a leader on this vitally important issue, before it is too late.

Sorry to not be more helpful - I know you are trying to support this noble institution that means so much to all of us. But our life support systems come first - and the sooner Bryn Mawr wakes up and joins the movement for a livable climate, the better.

Best regards,

Vanessa Warheit '90

Boiling frogs!

Yesterday was a day of deep irony in the Ingle-Warheit household.

Our only pets are two cute little aquatic frogs that live in a fishtank in our dining room. They were a gift to my husband a year and a half ago. As the most diligent and methodical member of our family, my husband is in charge of feeding and caring for them.

Cyril and Basil, our cute pets - hiding from the camera.

For the past year and half, Cyril and Basil seemed to be doing well - singing into the night, and cheerfully swimming around in their tank. But starting a few months ago, their companion snail died. We bought them another one - and it died too. And the frogs started to seem listless. They sang less. They swam less. We got worried.

Two days ago, my husband finally announced that one of them had died - but much to my relief, when he went to scoop out the dead frog, it moved. So - as the crisis management member of our family - I took a sample of the frogs' water in to the aquarium store yesterday to see if they had any insights into what might be wrong. Their advice? Check the temperature. African Dwarf Frogs are tropical creatures, and they like their water to be around 78 degrees.

So... I returned home and checked... and the thermometer read 94 degrees. We had been, in effect, cooking our frogs.

A few hours after frantically unplugging the heater, turning off the tank light, and pointing a fan to blow over the top, I got the tank back down to 78 degrees. Lo and behold, the frogs now seem much happier.

There are a few lessons we have learned from this experience:
1) don't trust the heater thermometer to do its job.
2) my husband needs new glasses.
3) look to your own metaphors for guidance (I used this as an opportunity to teach Elliot the word 'irony'):

I'm a Climate Reality Leader. I even helped our friend Naveen to create a 'boiling frog' sign for the Forward on Climate march in San Francisco! If anyone should have thought of checking the temperature, it should have been me.

But there you go. Sometimes, the stuff happening in your own back yard (or your own fishtank) is the hardest to notice - until it's (almost) too late.

Father's Day - Beatles style

 Elliot and his dad performed two Beatles songs yesterday at a recital for Chaia May's students. What a great way to celebrate Father's Day!

EV's more affordable than ever

How cool is this? Three all-electric cars are now available to lease (from Nissan, Fiat, and Honda) for $199/month - some with no money down, and some even throw in a 240v home charger!

Honda Fit all-electric EV - 80-90 mile range, $199/month

Cool City Challenge video - at last!

After several months of very hard work, we have finally finished the Cool City Challenge video. This program is based on a simple but very powerful idea: organize people at the neighborhood level to reduce their carbon and work together toward local sustainability. We're trying to get it off the ground in three Northern California cities, which will provide models for the hundreds of other cities that are looking for ways to implement their climate action plans. We have the cities, we have the people - now we're just looking for funding. Check it out, and tell me what you think!

Cool City Challenge is an initiative of Empowerment Institute in collaboration with Lawrence Berkeley Labs, Stanford, UCB, UC Davis, and the World Wildlife Fund. For more information, please visit www.coolcitychallenge.org.

Elliot tries to meet the President

Elliot and I participated in a protest against the Keystone XL pipeline outside a fundraiser at a private home in Palo Alto this evening. We saw his car from afar but not much else!

 

OFA National Day of Action on Climate Change

Last week I was invited to speak at a rally in downtown Palo Alto, as part of Organizing for America's National Day of Action on Climate Change. Here is a link to the text of my speech. If you don't have time to read the whole thing, skip to page 6.

Vanessa Warheit presenting at OFA's National Day of Action on Climate Change
Lytton Plaza, Palo Alto, California