U-M Board of Regents votes against investing $50 million into fossil fuel companies
Apparently the students protesting here and at Harvard-Yale game are putting a lot of schools on notice about this issue. Good to see, especially if you're a donor, as I certainly wouldn't want my money going to those stupid companies!
December 6th, 2019 at 5:35 PM ^
Hoes. They work way harder than the other 3.
December 6th, 2019 at 5:22 PM ^
Yes, of course we should prioritize jobs over making our living environment sustainable for human life. Your argument is compelling.
December 6th, 2019 at 4:06 PM ^
I would like to see a full list of investments made to make sure I can’t find a way to be #outraged.
Isn’t the objective of investing the endowment to balance return with risk to ensure financial stability of the U’s operations into the future? Or is it to virtue signal on behalf of students that haven’t actually finished their studies or had any real world experience? What am I missing?
December 6th, 2019 at 4:07 PM ^
REEEEEEEEEEEEE
December 6th, 2019 at 4:16 PM ^
A lot of weird bad arguments being made in this thread. Fun
December 6th, 2019 at 4:17 PM ^
Political horse pucky. Nuke thread.
December 6th, 2019 at 4:23 PM ^
no way, this blog is going to save the world!!! Sporps Blog!
December 6th, 2019 at 5:26 PM ^
I don't see a lot of politics, I do see an environmental discussion with some minor finance action thrown in for fun. Science is science, it only becomes political when people make it so.
That said, science shows beyond any/all doubt that global warming is real, and also proves how its real. Reducing carbon emissions is the only way to fix the only Earth we have to live on. Now, it's not going away in our lifetimes, but things will start getting bad for our children. Our grandchildren, and (hopefully) great-grands are fucked on our current path.
My preference is to spend on the new flavors of nuclear power generation, not the old technology that brought us pressurized water reactors.
December 6th, 2019 at 5:39 PM ^
I feel like we're going to have to engineer our way out of this problem. Because I don't see us reducing emissions enough, or at all, unless there's some sort of cheap power generation breakthrough.
We should get off the oil asap though. We're going to need it for fertilizer production if the population continues to grow. There are 7x more people on earth than 100 years ago.
December 6th, 2019 at 5:43 PM ^
Perhaps ironically I'm guessing I/we are the only ones in ths discussion that actually raise, process, and live off of organic plants and animals, has a bio diesel reactor I built in the barn, has no pesticides, herbicides, hormones or vaccines on the farm, etc. but please tell me more about this environmentally friendly lifestyle all of you live and tout.
December 6th, 2019 at 5:54 PM ^
Congratulations - you've chosen a path most of us cannot take (for various reasons), and I wish you continued success. But can we stop with the sanctimonious and self-righteous statements? Please show me exactly where I touted any lifestyle. Instead, I made a comment about science and the need to reduce carbon emissions - which you've done. Which the rest of the planet's population needs to take more seriously.
I'm sorry you took my comment a different way.
December 6th, 2019 at 6:02 PM ^
Vablue, I wasn't chewing on you, it is/was a more general statement about this topic. Lots of hand-wringing about the issue, assigning all manner of blame and moral failures, but it seems a lot of it is as you say, self-righteousness with very little personal action or accountability.
December 6th, 2019 at 7:35 PM ^
I agree with this! And I apologize for jumping to a conclusion quicker than I should have - you are not the dickish type. Nonetheless, I believe we're on the same page now!
December 6th, 2019 at 5:54 PM ^
these same "Scientists" and "Experets" told us we were heading into a Ice age just about 40 years ago...ummmmm NEVER happened..so just because someone says its true doesnt make it true..its just their OPINION not a fact.
December 6th, 2019 at 6:33 PM ^
There was no point at which over 95% of scientists agreed on global cooling. It was a theory that existed, but not like this. There's as much evidence for man-made climate change (or maybe more) as there is for gravity's existence. Please believe scientists on issues of science, not news pundits and politicians.
December 6th, 2019 at 6:56 PM ^
you might be surprised to know that experiments proving that Varbon dioxide is a heat trapping gas and suggesting that an increase in CO2 could lead to warming were being done 200 years ago. While the experiment described here is eminently reapeatble (and thus lots more fact than opinion, looking at the impact of CO2 in the atmosphere is much more complicated, you can only do the experiment once before you’d find out whether or not you were right, that is why many scientists across multiple disciplines have done multiple different experiments pointing in the same direction. There is plenty of evidence - not just opinion.
https://www.sciencealert.com/a-feminist-and-amateur-scientist-beat-one-…
December 6th, 2019 at 4:23 PM ^
Those damned corporations! Everything is their fault!
December 6th, 2019 at 4:35 PM ^
Damn, it's almost like the most powerful entities in our society have an outsized control over it politics and economy. Crazy!
December 6th, 2019 at 4:24 PM ^
I see this lasting about as long as the campus-wide Coke ban in 2006.
December 6th, 2019 at 6:51 PM ^
They banned cocaine?
December 6th, 2019 at 4:28 PM ^
By 2040, there are expected to be 2 billion more people on the planet in need of gas and petroleum products for heat, cooking, transportation, and material goods. That's 2 BILLION, with a 'B'...
We simply are not going to be able to meet the world's needs with wind and solar, not even close. I am all for aggressive investment in alternative markets and sources, however, doing anything other than the minimum to placate the liberal stooges on college campuses is a huge mistake. Hell, I think doing the minimum to placate these goofs is a huge mistake.
Where do these turds think the electricity to charge their iPhones comes from now, static from rubbing their feet on the carpet?
Its time to act like adults and stand up to the people protesting. State the case simply and clearly. When they have the eventual tantrum, you remove them from the premises and either arrest them for trespassing or expel them for douchebaggery.
December 6th, 2019 at 4:35 PM ^
I just kind of think singling out fossil fuel companies bc you want society to be carbon neutral is confusing. Aren’t the fossil fuel companies just satisfying their customers’ demand for their products? If anything, investment should be directed away from companies that use fossil fuels (or toward companies that operate closer to neutral). Wouldn’t that be a more effective way to initiate change?
December 6th, 2019 at 5:06 PM ^
Well, no because the oil companies knew the extent of the damage burning oil was doing to the planet in the 80s and buried the research. They actually nailed when we'd cross the important 400 ppm CO2 threshold within a couple months. They knew how dangerous their product was and hid it from the public out of greed. So fuck 'em like we fucked the tobacco companies.
December 6th, 2019 at 7:41 PM ^
Global temperatures have been declining for 10 years as the leaked IPCC emails detail. They change the numbers to meet the narrative.
The Club of Rome invented "global warming" in 1968 to push for a global government. They even said gullible people would believe them.
Geoengineering is the biggest problem. Intentionally pumping millions of tons of toxins into the atmosphere by jet to control the weather is not good.
December 6th, 2019 at 7:59 PM ^
This post is uh...something.
I would recommend some personal development in the area of learning how to evaluate the resources you find on the internet.
December 6th, 2019 at 8:53 PM ^
I would suggest watching more TV to get your daily "programming".
December 6th, 2019 at 9:06 PM ^
wAkE uP sHeEpLe
December 6th, 2019 at 8:08 PM ^
HAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!!!! Holy shit!!!
This is special, right here...
December 6th, 2019 at 5:13 PM ^
Aren’t the fossil fuel companies just satisfying their customers’ demand for their products?
No, and it's concerning that some folks are this naive.
Oil companies, like Big Tobacco back in the day, is actively involved in manipulating the market and politics to hammer down competition and increase dependence on their product. They rig the system to guarantee themselves victory, the planet be damned.
December 6th, 2019 at 7:44 PM ^
The planet will be here a million years from now. Humans won't be, which is a good thing. A better species will replace us.
December 6th, 2019 at 9:51 PM ^
Yes, it's all a conspiracy, especially the increasing our dependence on the only thing that keeps our houses running part
December 6th, 2019 at 5:19 PM ^
Can you show the data the supports your argument of "solar and wind cannot meet this increased demand"? I would love to see it from a source not sponsored by O&G companies.
December 6th, 2019 at 5:58 PM ^
Ruh Roh Liberals HATE FACTS
December 6th, 2019 at 7:05 PM ^
You just put "scientists" in quotes a few comments up because you don't like what they've overwhelmingly found with decades of corroborating research and you're being critical of people HATING FACTS.
December 6th, 2019 at 4:34 PM ^
Thank you for your service sir.
December 6th, 2019 at 4:52 PM ^
All I have are fossil fuels!
December 6th, 2019 at 7:23 PM ^
This is an underrated comment.
December 6th, 2019 at 5:15 PM ^
They are diverting most of the funds to lithium mining companies for making batteries for electric cars.
December 6th, 2019 at 7:33 PM ^
In Afghanistan
December 6th, 2019 at 5:55 PM ^
This is why Michigan fans get a bad rep. We’re always whining about something.
December 6th, 2019 at 8:52 PM ^
Sorry, what was that? I can't understand you when you whine like this.
December 6th, 2019 at 5:56 PM ^
Can you imagine how much farther we would be in nuclear technology if the damned hippies didn't get in the way back in 1970's?!
December 6th, 2019 at 7:23 PM ^
The hippies certainly didn’t kill the latest nuclear renissance.
https://www.npr.org/2017/08/06/541582729/how-the-dream-of-americas-nucl…
nuclear proponents continually claim it is the solution to low cost clean energy, yet actual projects continue to prove them wrong.
if anyone gets around to actually producing a small modular reactor that can be easily replicated maybe we’ll see nuclear energy take off, but unlike nuclear, the cost of solar, wind and storage all continue to drop as performance continues to improve.
ironically nuclear power is alot like Michigan football - fans are always saying “next year”.
December 6th, 2019 at 8:21 PM ^
Money needs to be poured into non-PWR reactors. MSR's (molten salt reactor) lost the funding battle back in the 40's and 50's, for some reason. That's where R&D money needs to go for nuclear to take off. Here's a brief history...
December 6th, 2019 at 5:57 PM ^
Sad to see. Our regents are weak; it's no surprise the football team is as well. The rot starts from the top.
December 6th, 2019 at 8:56 PM ^
What the fuck does that even mean?
December 6th, 2019 at 5:58 PM ^
My response to 95% of the posts here:
1. Don't let perfect be the enemy of better.
2. Don't let your distaste for virtue signaling distract from the actual virtue.
3. You have to start somewhere.
December 6th, 2019 at 6:04 PM ^
Sell your car and ride a bike to work then.
Hypocrite.
December 6th, 2019 at 6:09 PM ^
Wwg1wga
Free energy is coming. Believe it