Made my day

Seven years ago, I published an article entitled “The Environmental Risks of Incomplete Globalization” which, sadly, foreshadowed much of what later happened, including the return of geopolitics and the deepening fossil dependency caused by renewable energy. Making the case for open borders and the building of a “world unafraid of itself”, I knew the article would be up against some strong historical headwinds, but little did I expect the Covid pandemic with its near-total border closures nor the complete political normalization of protectionism.

As such, it really made my day today when I received an e-mail from a senior professor in Indiana who apparently has been using my article in his class on globalization:

“I just wanted to tell you that this is a great article. I so appreciated your perspective on the injustice of keeping poor people poor and the utter failure of imagination in seeing their growth, development, or increased prosperity as a problem because it might lead to increased fossil fuel consumption […] Again, congratulations on such an original, innovative, thought-provoking and ethically-grounded article. I really enjoyed reading it and will keep it as a permanent fixture on the syllabus for this class going forward.”

It is messages like these that make academic life worthwhile, that you realize that it is not all about trolling or alienation but rather about meaningful connections and conversations. Feeling encouraged, I have otherwise spent most of the day today supervising students on Zoom but, luckily, I was able to squeeze in a second run of the day up to Skatås.