Global Climate Strike on Friday
September 17, 2019
Dear CLU community,
On Friday, September 20, millions of youth โ including those from indigenous and frontline communities in over 100 countries โ will participate in the Global Climate Strike. They will walk out of school and peacefully demand a just and livable future for all. Millions of adults will join them in solidarity, making this the largest youth-led protest in history against the business-as-usual approach of governments and corporations in the face of global climate breakdown. More than 500 events are planned in the United States alone.
California Lutheran Universityโs mission is to educate leaders for a global society who are strong in character and judgment, confident in their identity and vocation, and committed to service and justice. There is no more obvious, meaningful, or productive way to carry out the universityโs mission at the start of this semester than to participate in the Global Climate Strike. Climate-related disasters often strike the people least responsible for the environmental status quo first, and hardest, and a true commitment to justice requires us to step up. Letโs show our care for students at, and far beyond, CLU; and letโs communicate to young people everywhere that we take the climate emergency seriously and are educating leaders to address it.
So, what do we do? If your situation allows on September 20, donโt go to class, donโt go to work, attend the Conejo Climate Strike at noon in Thousand Oaks or an event close to your home, and speak out about why youโre disrupting business as usual. To find Global Climate Strike events, scroll down to the map at https://globalclimatestrike.net.
Will CLU be relevant in relation to the most important issue of our time? You decide.
Yours, Vic Thasiah
Associate Professor and Chair Religion Department
*Letter to the Editor published as submitted, this is an original copy not edited by The Echo staff.
William R Place • Mar 11, 2020 at 2:56 pm
Recently, I’ve seen several documentaries about American cities, such as Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, and Washington D.C.
From a few thousand years to a few million years ago, the landscape changes from desert, to forest, to swamp, to savanna, and so on. This was seen in most of the cites above mentioned.
The elevation can be flat, mountainous, or anywhere in between. Temperatures range from cold to moderate to hot. At times, the terrain might even be under either fresh or sea water. About 70 Million years ago, the average summer ocean temperature was about 104 F degrees, in winter it was about 86 F degrees. With temperatures like that, who could have ice caps?
What we have is a scientific record of drastic climatic and geologic changes; all without any material presence or involvement of mankind. The total of pre-industrial world population, about the time of Jesus, was about 300 Million.
Sobering, isn’t it.