I was appalled to see on the back of the January/February BAM a full-page ad from Statoil, touting the company’s innovative approach to tar sands extraction: “Progress in our genes.” In an era when the environmental costs of tar sands removal is disputed only by oil companies, and when enlightened universities are moving to divest from fossil fuel companies, allowing this ad to run is morally suspect at best. There is no adequate justification for engaging in energy practices that provide “progress” only by moving us closer (and much more quickly) to irreversible planetary damage. And there is no adequate justification—whatever the monies you gained—for running this kind of advertisement. You are not alone, however. The same ad runs on the current Yale Alumni Magazine.
    

M. Lise Hildebrandt
Concord, N.H.
lisehild@yahoo.com

The writer is a Brown parent.