Leehi Yona describes evolving from scientist to activist, and urges Dartmouth to divest from fossil fuels in order to align its endowment with the science its students learn (Monitor Forum, April 23).
Divestment serves many purposes, but Dartmouth economics classes certainly must teach that the best, most efficient way to cut emissions and fight climate change is with carbon pricing.
Although Yona objects to Shell’s David Hone speaking on campus, Hone often speaks publicly about why Shell supports carbon pricing. Yet, for years, Shell remained a member of ALEC – even while ALEC actively works to stall climate action.
Asked about Shell’s membership in ALEC, Hone said in January 2015: “My own experience in organizations which don’t have the same outlook as us is that actually being at the table is more helpful in many cases than not being there, that we can influence the agenda. We can perhaps shift their attitudes to something more reasonable and more aligned with where we are and that can be sometimes more constructive than just picking up and leaving.”
Finally, August 2015, Shell bowed to pressure from environmentalists and scientists and, along with BP, left ALEC.
I hope Yona uses Hone’s visit to Dartmouth as an opportunity to appreciate Shell’s decision to leave ALEC, and to invite, cajole and pressure Hone to lobby Congress with her and other Dartmouth students and faculty.
Politicians are more likely to heed calls for carbon pricing if those calls come from an eclectic team of environmentalists, corporate leaders, fossil fuel experts, young people, and old.
RABBI JUDY WEISS
Brookline, Mass.