Announcing the Cornell on Fire Faculty Fellows

Feb 28

Written By Cornell on Fire

Mobilizing academia to confront the climate crisis

Newsletter #14, February 28, 2025

Dear Cornell on Fire,

We have good news to announce in spite of world events.

The news for our campus community has been grim. Many of us – students, staff, faculty, and community partners alike – are suddenly facing the possibility of losing funds that cover research, student opportunities, and access programs, or wondering if we will need to disguise our work on social justice or climate. You may feel pessimistic about the future of academia in this country. Behind this microcosm of disruption is a bigger picture: The future of academia and every other complex organized human activity in this country and every country is headed on a dismal if not terminal trajectory. If the attack on science and the academy’s values inspires you to act like never before, then act on the root causes of climate change as much as anything else. There is no time to campaign for democracy now and climate later. We must show up in force for climate justice to protect everything else we hold dear.

That’s why we are thrilled to announce the Cornell on Fire Faculty Fellows program. This program engages faculty in calling on Cornell to confront the climate emergency while leveraging their world-class research for concrete change right here. Because, in Fellow Chloe Ahmann’s words, “securing a livable future means we must act now.” Faculty Fellows break from the silent majority that wants action but remains quiet, to take the powerful step of communicating to Cornell that we want strong and decisive climate action. “Now is our time to lead.”

Now more than ever, scholars and universities need to walk their talk.*

If we are to meet the challenge of this critical decade, as individuals and collectives we must reconfigure our norms of what is necessary and what we are responsible for. “Scientists have a moral obligation to push their information into policy,” as Fellow Robert Howarth asserts. Academics must communicate the double truth that we are in mortal danger of locking into the point of no return, but that meaningful action is still possible.* Fellow François Guimbretière captures it: “There is no Planet B and a sustainable future is possible.” At the same time, a planetary framework cannot be divorced from human rights. “Climate change is a form of environmental injustice,” Fellow Marina Welker reminds us. We must step outside the Ivory Tower to align climate justice with labor justice, following Fellow Ian Greer: “The labor movement needs to be involved in order for the urgently needed change to happen.”

Change doesn’t stop with individuals and collectives: Cornell must also reconfigure its institutional norms. Fellow Caroline Levine points out that “fossil fuel profits continue to wreck our students’ futures.” Cornell continues to allow fossil fuel funding to influence research, donations, and trustees. New buildings continue to be named for fossil fortunes. Faculty and staff TIAA retirement funds are still invested in fossil fuels. Cornell’s business-as-usual makes a mockery of academics’ efforts to expose fossil fuel industry lies and communicate the climate crisis.

Cornell must prepare students for the future they will actually face. Fellow Shimon Edelman takes action because “I want my children, and everyone else’s children, to have the future they deserve.” Distressingly, students and the wider public may not be well informed about their futures. No wonder: almost no university in the world offers mandatory climate education for all undergraduates. UC San Diego and the University of Barcelona are two shining exceptions whose climate curricula were won through activism. As for Cornell? Our efforts to advocate for a mandatory climate curriculum have been met with tepid excuses that it would be “too hard.” Yet Cornell found a way to implement mandatory writing seminars. Is clear prose more pressing than climate literacy?

Cornell proudly claims that they are “uniquely positioned to operate at the speed, scale, and scope needed to confront climate change." We are holding them to it. As Fellow Andrea Stevenson Won points out: “I am proud to be part of a community like Cornell with the will and expertise to take climate action.” Fellow Marianne Krasny holds up “the incredible work of our community volunteers in helping Cornell make the energy, food, and other needed climate transitions.”

Through their activism, Fellows are actively weaving the fabric of resilient transformation. Steven Mana‘oakamai Johnson acts to “return the favor to our planet for caring for me, my ancestors, and my descendants.” Fellow Michael Charles takes action knowing that "through reconnection, reciprocity and healing - decarbonization is sure to follow." We can build the foundations of change right now, cultivating our own right relationships as we call on Cornell to restore theirs.

Please join us in congratulating and appreciating our Faculty Fellows as they mobilize academia to confront the climate crisis, starting right here at home. There has never been a more pressing time to activate the academy.

To academia in action,

Marianne Krasny, Professor of Natural Resources and the Environment

bethany ojalehto mays, Cornell ‘08 and professor-turned-activist

Co-organizers of the Cornell on Fire Faculty Fellows Program

*Asterisks indicate points where supplemental notes can be found. You can like this post and others on Instagram or Mastodon.

Supplemental Notes:

*Universities need to walk their talk: In the face of accelerating climate breakdown, universities continue to behave like most other corporations, failing to adequately address climate injustice or to tackle their own outsized carbon footprints – Cornell included. This incrementalism on the part of universities is doubly damaging because institutions of higher education have a unique responsibility to act in accordance with their own scientists’ dire warnings. From No Research on a Dead Planet: “Even though universities have been the fora where much of the vital knowledge warning us of avoidable disaster - and the massive injustices this entails - has been produced, there is little sign as yet of the transformational changes required” in the higher education sector (pp. 1-2).

*Communicating the double truth of climate crisis and meaningful action: This is captured well by the final sentence in the IPCC 2022 report foreward and Summary for Policymakers: ‘The cumulative scientific evidence is unequivocal: climate change is a threat to human well-being and planetary health. Any further delay in concerted anticipatory global action on adaptation and mitigation will miss a brief and rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a livable and sustainable future for all.” We thank Robert Howarth for pointing us to this quotation in a slide presentation.

Engage the Wider Movement:

TODAY! National Economic Blackout. Don’t buy anything today. Learn more here. Millions have pledged to buy nothing on Friday, 2/28. This boycott protests corporations that capitulated to Trump’s rollback of diversity and equity initiatives. The people are responding.
Next Friday, March 7: Stand Up For Science! Take 5 minutes to participate in a distributed action to help Cornell Stand Up For Climate Science. Stand Up For Science is a national day of protest – we created a quick, comedic way for you to participate right here in Ithaca. To pitch in, drop by our Office Hours at the Mann Library Entrance from 11am-12pm on Friday, March 7.
Join concerned citizens and scientists in opposing Cornell’s proposal for yet more artificial turf fields despite an ongoing lawsuit. Make your voice heard during public comments to the Town Planning Board on Tuesday, March 4 (6:30pm, in person at Town Hall or via this Zoom link). Write to Zero Waste Ithaca (info@zerowasteithaca.org ) or connect@cornellonfire.org to get involved with next steps.
Extinction Rebellion Climate Vigils 11am every Saturday at Chase Bank - the worst bank on Earth - at the East end of the Ithaca Commons.