Many colleges and universities of the USA are currently expanding their studies abroad programs. On this website I have referred to that of my alma mater, St. Olaf College of Northfield MN several times. By their own admission their international studies programs are now the most extensive anywhere for a college of their size (about 3,000 students) and are also enjoyed by numerous St. Olaf faculty and alumnae. The quarterly reports of this college strongly promote the further expansion of these travel programs.
Therefore, as an interested graduate of St. Olaf (class of 1966), I recently came across two articles that I thought I should bring to their attention. The first appeared in the Washington Post and can be read at
This article points out how a countless number of historic sites are predicted to be below water within the current decade or century due to our rising sea levels. More details concerning many of these historically important locations throughout the world are provided in the article. If you want to see some of these before they go under, perhaps St. Olaf College could be encouraged to arrange studies abroad programs immediately in those locations. Alternatively, if the locations of interest are already under water, perhaps the physical education department of St. Olaf College could arrange scuba diving adventures to those locations. Studies of this nature could have a promising future as some of our natural diving locations – such as at the Great Barrier Reef of Australia – are dying off due to our rising global temperatures. The increasing production of diving locations at low elevation historic sites are therefore providing potentially ideal locations for new studies/swimming abroad programs. The studies abroad program of St. Olaf now regularly sends their basketball teams to Europe – why not the swim team as well?
The other article that caught my attention blends perfectly with the one just discussed. This second article is by the renown environmental scientist, James Lovelock of Great Britain, who has been an astute observer of environmental changes over most of his 100-year life. The title of his article is ”Humans are too stupid to prevent climate change”. It can be seen at
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2010/mar/29/james-lovelock-climate-change
So, do you not agree that the two articles referred to here go together perfectly. Sure, it would be environmentally stupid for St. Olaf College to take my advice for increasing their studies abroad program. But on the other hand, they have already proven James Lovelock’s thesis to be correct (at least at St. Olaf College) by their existing and still enlarging travel programs as well as by their investments in fossil-fuel-related industries. (They would appear to not know that their CO2 emissions contribute to global warming)
So “Fram!, Fram! Kristmenn Krossmenn!”, the traditional motto of St. Olaf College, now becomes “Backwards, Backwards, mentally impaired students, faculty and alumnae “. Yes, St. Olaf is now more of a business than a center of knowledge and there is a lot of money to be made by serving the needs of their similarly impaired customers and industrial donors. And because we are so stupid, many or most of us will continue to enjoy that party while it lasts. So yes, “Fram, Fram, towards the abyss” also gives the new motto of St. Olaf College, “Oles can and Oles will” an unfortunate new meaning. Personally, I hope “Oles won’t” and that they pay much more attention to modern environmental science.
ericgrimsrud 
It appears, Eric, that a couple of years, from 29 Mar 2010 to April 27, 2012, can make a real difference in how some rational people think and prove that intelligent minds can be changed when the evidence that is presented is valid.
Apocalypse postponed
April 27, 2012
His books on the potentially cataclysmic effects of man-made climate change — The Revenge of Gaia and The Vanishing Face of Gaia — are required reading for anyone wanting to understand modern-day thinking on global warming.
And last week, in an interview with msnbc.com, he admitted he has been unduly “alarmist” about climate change, along with others like Al Gore.
Lovelock said it’s not happening as quickly as he feared and that he and many others have been “extrapolating too far” from computer models.
“The problem is we don’t know what the climate is doing,” Lovelock said. “We thought we knew 20 years ago. That led to some alarmist books — mine included — because it looked clear-cut, but it hasn’t happened.
“The climate is doing its usual tricks. There’s nothing much really happening yet. We were supposed to be halfway toward a frying world now.
“The world has not warmed up very much since the millennium. Twelve years is a reasonable time … it (the temperature) has stayed almost constant, whereas it should have been rising — carbon dioxide is rising, no question about that.”
Even though Lovelock is revered by global warmists for his Gaia theory and his previous writings predicting billions would die from it by the end of this century, his latest comments have prompted outrage from the same quarters.
https://ottawasun.com/2012/04/27/apocalypse-postponed/wcm/7d4ad557-756c-4296-ac2b-f6b980478997
By: John Swallow on November 2, 2018
at 5:45 am