This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Early this month, the University of Utah's Academic Senate, an august body representing the breadth of the university's faculty, voted to urge the university to divest itself of its fossil fuel holdings.
This was not an obviously good idea, as it might not sit well with the state Legislature, nor with certain important industrial contributors to the well being of the university. But the overwhelming evidence that controlling global climate catastrophe depends on reducing the nation's and the world's carbon appetites carried the day.
Of course, this courageous act by the Academic Senate will not have any immediate impact on the global climate. However, its immediate impact is by no means negligible, as it suggests to each of us that there is, in fact, some hope that we will turn the tide, so to speak, and make a successful transition to lives powered with non-carbon sources.
As the Academic Senate has expressed confidence in the university to succeed in spite of loss of revenue, we must as a society move confidently to find ways toward eventual prosperity while leaving the carbon fuels in the ground.
John Worlock
Salt Lake City