Maynooth University

So today I went to Maynooth University, which is west of Dublin, for a conference on Ireland’s fossil fuel strategy. I mainly went to hear Mark Campanale, founder of Carbon Tracker Initiative and climate change rock star. I didn’t beg him for a job, but I chatted with him for a bit and followed up with a LinkedIn invite, which I parlayed into a query regarding possible employment. I didn’t get anything encouraging back, but one must try.

So here is what Maynooth looks like in the summertime.

It was grey when I was there, but the campus was lovely. To get to the conference, we went through two massive quadrangles with gardens in the middle. The hallways look like this:

And are adorned with hundreds of portraits like this:

And this:

Maynooth was historically a seminary; I think more recently it’s become a national university (like a state school). Having just seen Spotlight and Cardinal Law in his crimson finery, I was creeped out by all the portraits. I kept telling myself the Catholic church isn’t a front for pedophiles, misogynists, and Nazis. It has plenty of people, especially nuns, doing life-saving and thankless work among the world’s poor. Then I got thinking about all the companies and countries I’ve come across that encompass the best and the worst of capitalism. China is the world’s leader in financing conversion to green technologies--mainly because China was the world’s most polluted country. There are consulting firms that help companies minimise taxes AND help countries reduce reliance on fossil fuels. The Bank of America and Goldman Sachs have both taken the lead in underwriting green bonds that are financing the shift to renewables and to more energy efficient infrastructure. While my job search has leaned more toward NGOs, I could see working for Mercer or PwC, which are simultaneously part of the status-quo/unsustainable economy and part of the movement toward a sustainable future. I’ve even applied to asset managers that have a good ESG program.

F. Scott Fitzgerald said: “The test of a first rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.” Whether it’s a religion, a corporation, or even a highly annoying person, the challenge is the same: getting your head around how extreme good and noxious evil can live side by side.
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