Cornell on Fire Post 9/11: A Love Poem

Dear Cornell on Fire,

We're back! You're back! The academic year is back. And we're elevating Cornell's response to climate breakdown. If you missed our one-year anniversary newsletter, check it out here.

There's so much we could say right now that we decided not to say it at all. We boiled it down to a love poem instead. Or shall we say, a poem to love gone wrong.

Titled "In this House We Believe Science is Real," this poem is affectionately dedicated to Cornell's own anti-science consultants, Jay Peters and Haley & Aldrich, who strive to "lessen environmental liability" for polluting industries like coal ash, TCE, and asbestos in order to "save them money." Haley & Aldrich are infamous for their underhanded testing in defense of polluters: the Cambridge Public Library has a special archive just for them, titled "The Haley & Aldrich Reports." But that didn't stop Cornell from hiring H&A to present a faux "research summary" on the health and environmental impacts of artificial turf to the Ithaca Planning Boards in defense of their plan to install fake plastic grass. Hold your nose before you read it.

Clearly, these impassioned defenders of toxic pollution have enraptured Cornell the Corporation. Without further ado, we offer this poem to Mr. Peters and his Cornell paycheck-writers:

There once was a man named Peters*

Whose company served bottom feeders.

Instead of real grass

They greenwashed PFAS

And revealed us as non-climate leaders.

In the twisted romance between a world-class research institution and a bottom-class lobbyist firm, we see the throes of the fossil-fuel industry desperately seeking new markets for their toxic plastic products, masked as selfless and pure-hearted "donations" from the Meinig family -- whose fortune comes to them through fracked gas pipelines. We see the unenlightened self-interest of an educational institution willing to risk its athletes' health and community's ecosystem for extra hours of "weather-free" playing time. (How did Big Red athletes thrive over the first 150 years of Cornell's natural rhythms and landscapes, one might reasonably ask?) We see the curious credulity of the Ithaca City Planning Board, who sleepily decided that the project did not rise to the level of potential adverse environmental impacts last week. They bought Mr. Peters et al.'s promise of recyclable "PFAS-free turf" without a shred of evidence that such products exist, and with plenty of evidence that they don't. 

Well, love can be blind. But education shouldn't be. It's a disservice to Cornell's scholar-athletes to engage them in this process without encouraging debate or examination of alternative perspectives and scientific concerns.

When love goes sour, laughter is the best medicine. We're pleased to announce that our satirical film premiere is coming this Friday to a theater near you!

Beyond Comedy: Getting Cornell to Step Up on Climate Justice

Cornell Campus @ Uris Hall 202: Film screening + panel, Friday, September 13, from 5:00-6:30pm

Panelists: Caroline Levine, Robert Howarth, Michael Charles, Eric Cheyfitz, Chris Owen, Madelyn Rhodes, and bethany ojalehto mays

*Admission is free.* Further details here.

Huge thanks to our unparalleled community of scientists, climate and social justice advocates, artists, photographers and musicians, who joined us for an exhilarating film premiere at Cinemapolis last weekend! Come to the Cornell campus showing for actionable laughter and wisdom from new and familiar guest panelists.

Stay tuned for Cornell on Fire posts this fall, arriving at your inbox on a fortnightly schedule (more or less). Join our bi-weekly meetings at our permanent Zoom link (next meeting: Wednesday, September 18, 1:00-2:30pm) or drop by Office Hours on campus every Friday from 11-12:30pm. This week, look for us on the Ag Quad, where we'll experiment with a greener location.

Yours truly,

Cornell on Fire

*To be clear, this poem is addressed to Mr. Peters on a professional level. Nothing personal. On a personal level we’re sure he’s a great friend, family member, and all-around rich guy. Cornell’s administrators will be sensitive to this personal-professional distinction, having raised it repeatedly themselves.

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Plurivocality: CoF Posts are written by a revolving team of writers. Our movement is diverse, so are our thoughts, and so will be our posts. If you receive a CoF Post that you think is wrong headed, can we still walk together? (We, like you, sometimes write things we later laugh at!) 

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