Carleton College "is committed to being a good citizen of a more sustainable world," and a member of American College and University Presidents' Climate Commitment. Carleton was the first higher education institution in the country to install a wind turbine in 2004, and built a second in 2011. Solar arrays adorn a residence hall.

And yet despite commendable efforts such as these, climate change is accelerating. This fossil-fuel divestment opportunity provides one more opportunity for Carleton to take action against climate change.

We are witnessing the increasing impacts of a warming planet more and more consistently; in this last year alone our country experienced record-breaking heat, droughts, and hurricanes, which impacted hundreds of thousands of people and cost our country hundreds of billions of dollars. Hurricane Sandy alone caused $50bn in damages.

Experts agree that global warming caused by humans burning fossil fuels will continue to accelerate and intensify these tragic climate disasters. The scientific consensus is clear and overwhelming; we cannot safely burn even half of global fossil-fuel reserves without dangerously warming the planet for several thousand years.

As public pressure to confront climate change builds, we call on Carleton College to immediately freeze any new investment in fossil-fuel companies, and to divest within five years from direct ownership and from any commingled funds that include fossil-fuel public equities and corporate bonds. We believe such action on behalf of Carleton College will not only be a sound decision for our institution’s financial portfolio, but also for the wellbeing of its current and future graduating classes, who deserve the opportunity to graduate with a future not defined by climate chaos.