The Choking Wokeness of One of My Alma Maters Latest Moves

Here is my response to the slobbering and gloating glee expressed by Harvard Forward (a group of woke progressives) associated with the University upon the news that Harvard's President, Lawrence Bacow, intended to divest the Harvard Endowment Fund of those evil fossil fuel stocks and bonds. Rational and balanced persons of good will MUST stand up to this plague of madness. (n.b. I think that I was kicked off the Harvard Forward subscription list for having the audacity of confronting this move by Bacow for what it is - woke to the woke power, based upon a horrific lack of reasoning and obviously decided without a vote of the Harvard Community as a whole.

My response to being "un-subscribed" -

I think that you un-subscribed me because of my criticism of President Bacow's divesting fossil fuel funds from Harvard's Endowment.

It appears that you cannot tolerate a brisk discussion on controversial matters.

Not everyone in the Harvard Alumni group of fair-minded well-educated thinkers agrees with such an obviously and overly "woke" decision.

I commented that such a divestment was hypocritical unless Harvard was prepared to "turn off the lights" and "unplug" itself from local fossil fuel dependent power companies in Cambridge and Boston.

I have my ScD. in Environmental Health Sciences and Engineering from the HSPH (1974) and have two engineering degrees from MIT and am a board-certified physician (Dartmouth 1976).

So, I know a thing or two about the issue of reliance upon fossil fuels and the energy balance calculations that must precede any intelligent action to "go solar or wind" and rely upon EVs.

Solar panels, wind turbines, EV batteries and all accompanying electronics do not materialize out of thin air.

Their production requires electric power, mining operations, and enormous infrastructure, all of which require the sagacious use of fossil fuels.

For decades there will be a need for inexpensive, clean fossil fuels both in the US and around the world.

The elimination of fossils fuels will rob billions around the world of accessing potable water, medicine, transportation, and a decent quality of life.

So - if Harvard is willing to divest its holdings in large corporations that provide us with these fuels, their actions will do nothing but self-inflict economic harm on the Harvard portfolio and do absolutely nothing to change the trajectory and necessity of providing clean energy to billions of mostly poor persons around the world.

So - "Go for it!" if you wish but keep your ears open to intelligent dissent, along the way.

James P. Kornberg, MD, Sc.D.

Certified Specialist - Occupational and Environmental Medicine

Environmental Health Scientist and Engineer

MD - 1976 - Dartmouth Medical School

Sc.D. - 1974 - Harvard University School of Public Health

MS - 1970 - Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics

BS - 1969 - Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics