Divestment, 350.org explains, is “the opposite of an investment — it simply means getting rid of stocks, bonds, or investment funds that are unethical or morally ambiguous.” In our case, we are asking the university to divest from fossil fuels.

As The Daily Orange does in its editorial “Divest SU protest can’t force change,” we praise the university’s commitment to become carbon neutral by 2040. Indeed, the university has made great strides in ensuring new buildings are energy efficient.

But the university can — and must — do more. The world’s leading scientific bodies have said we must radically lower our greenhouse gas emissions in the coming decades to prevent catastrophic climate change. Incremental changes will simply not cut it.

The university must green its portfolio as well as the campus. The time for half-measures and gradual change is long past. For students to have a fighting chance at preserving a livable planet, for themselves and their children, they need bold action from our politicians and our universities. Fossil-fuel divestment is the sort of bold action we need.

The article also argues that students should “encourage more incremental changes.” But when scientists warn that any warming of the planet above 2°C would be catastrophic and that in order to remain below this threshold, the global community can only burn one-third to one-fifth of its proven fossil fuel reserves, I don’t see how “incremental” change will cut it. It won’t. The sand in the hourglass is running out and time is no longer a luxury that we can afford.
As Co-President of Students of Sustainability at Syracuse University and as a member of the Divest SU campaign, I ask that you do not assume that we do not value the steps that the university has already taken to go green. You are not seeing the bigger picture when you assume that an issue threatening the lives of every single human and ecosystem on this planet deserves “incremental” change. Not one single penny of my tuition or this university’s endowment should fund the industries that are guaranteeing that neither I, nor my children, will be sustained on this planet.

Divest SU meets on Fridays at 3 p.m. in Smith Hall 003 and we invite you to come and continue this conversation.

Christine Edgeworth
Syracuse University
Class of 2015
Geography