This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated.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.
President David Pershing and the University of Utah Board of Trustees' recent decision not to divest the University's endowment from the fossil fuel industry represents a tragic surrender of leadership.
In response to the Academic Senate's recommendation that the university divest, the president and the board have stated that "climate change is one of the most pressing and difficult issues of our time."
This statement falls far short of reality. Climate change and the global destruction it is already causing is the defining issue of our time. Every moment we delay on taking action on climate change magnifies its impact exponentially for thousands of years to come. As such, climate change and climate justice demand immediate and consequential action and a clear path to a just, equitable, sustainable and renewable-energy-based future. We must keep fossil fuels in the ground.
We know that anthropogenic climate change is caused by the burning of fossil fuel. Yet we are trapped within a culture and an economy that are completely dependent on fossil fuels. We are addicted, and our addiction is fed, manipulated and reinforced by the fossil fuel industry. Further, the extraction and burning of fossil fuels has a much more devastating impact on poor and marginalized communities, people of color, people in the global south, the very young and the very old.
To break this cycle of addiction, we must make changes at the scope, scale and urgency required to meaningfully address climate change. We already know what to do and how to do it, due in part to the world-class research being done at our own university and universities around the nation and the world. We also know what is stopping us from moving forward.
For decades the fossil fuel industry has been well aware of the direct link between the burning of fossil fuels and human-caused climate change. And yet, instead of sounding the alarm and changing direction, the industry has chosen to spread climate change disinformation, deny that the burning of fossil fuel is harmful to people and planet alike and fund and foster the growth of climate change denial, all while continuing to profit from fossil-fuel extraction and its unjust and disastrous consequences.
The fossil fuel industry has blocked carbon fee and dividend legislation, stymied funding for renewable energy and undermined the elimination of fossil fuel subsidies.
In addition to being immoral and contrary to everything we know about human and planetary health, these actions on the part of the fossil fuel industry have resulted in the gridlock that has led us to the situation we are in today.
Breaking this gridlock and the fossil fuel industry's stranglehold on our lives will require courage, conviction, commitment, leadership and, most importantly, action.
In their recent press release, the University of Utah stated that their "efforts have benefited from longstanding relationships and continuing support from many entities, including the fossil fuel industry, and we appreciate their partnerships in addressing these difficult problems." However, the recent debate over divestment in the Academic Senate has made it clear that donations from fossil fuel companies come with strings that bind the university's judgment, integrity and ability to act in ways that are moral and consistent with the reality of climate change and climate justice.
If it is wrong to destroy the climate, then it is wrong to profit from or facilitate that destruction, and it is also wrong to rely on donations and funding from institutions that are fighting policies needed to stop that destruction. It is time for the University of Utah to disengage from the support the fossil fuel industry provides.
The University of Utah has the opportunity to demonstrate just how serious climate change and climate justice are by committing to divest its endowment from the fossil fuel industry, committing to make significant positive investments in renewable energy and renewable energy infrastructure on campus, and committing to disengage from the support that the fossil fuel industry provides. It is time for Utah's flagship university to take a strong leadership role demonstrating a true commitment to the health and well-being of the earth and all who live here now and in the future.
The authors are the 2015-2016 Academic Senate Ad Hoc Re-Investment Dialogue Committee at the University of Utah (Chair: Joan M. Gregory, MLS, Librarian; Members: Fred Adler, Ph.D., Professor, Mathematics and Biology; Joseph Andrade, Ph.D., Emeritus Professor, Bioengineering; David Carrier, Ph.D., Professor, Biology; Julia Corbett, Ph.D., Professor, Communication; Naomi Franklin, Ph.D., Research Professor (retired), Biology; Monisha Pasupathi, Ph.D., Professor, Psychology; Thomas Reichler, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Atmospheric Sciences; Maximilian Werner, MFA, Assistant Professor (Lecturer), Rhetoric and Writing Studies; and John Worlock, Ph.D., Research Professor, Physics and Astronomy)