Everywhere you go on The Penn State Campus, you see evidence of it. Very specific recycling bins, water saving toilets, water saving showerheads and green-to-go takeout boxes. To any passerby, Penn State looks like a very eco-savvy organization. But looks may be deceiving and some of Penn State’s more environmentally harmful activities are the ones that most people do not see. What I am cryptically referring to in Penn State’s investment into fossil fuel industries.

In very basic terms (as the financial side is not my forte) Penn State has a huge endowment that they invest in portfolios in order to get returns that keep the university functioning. Penn State has a $2.7 billion dollar endowment and a portion of this money in invested in fossil fuel industries.

It is no secret that fossil fuels are dangerous to the environment. The burning of fossil fuels in one key factor in global climate changed caused by the emissions of green house gases in the production and burning of these Fossil Fuels. By investing large sums of money in companies that produce fossil fuels, Penn State is essentially part of the problem.

Divestment is what it sounds like, the opposite of investment. The Organization Go Fossil Free defines divestment as, “ getting rid of stocks, bonds, or investment funds that are unethical or morally ambiguous.” Over 400 institutions of higher learning are in the process of lobbying their administration to divest from the Fossil Fuel Industry. According to the Go Fossil Free website, about 30 universities across the globe have divested from the Fossil Fuel Industry including Stanford University. With joint work between students and professors at Stanford, they convinced the university to divest from companies who work in fossil fuel or coal production. In addition to Universities, other cities, religious organizations, counties and foundations across the world have divested in the Fossil Fuel Industry.

Divestment is endorsed by some of the world most note worthy leaders. Recently, on March 15, 2015, The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) endorsed the Fossil Free divestment campaign. The spokesman for the UNFCCC Nick Nuttall said, “We support divestment as it sends a signal to companies, especially coal companies, that the age of ‘burn what you like, when you like’ cannot continue.” Additionally The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has come out in support of the Fossil Free movement and even attended the Fossil Free march in New York City last year. President Obama has also stated his support for divestment stating, “Push your own communities to adopt smarter practices. Invest. Divest. Remind folks there’s no contradiction between a sound environment and strong economic growth.”

At Penn State there is a battle brewing over whether the University should or will divest. Fossil Free PSU is an on-campus organization that is pushing for the divestment in fossil fuel industries. The organization calls for the university to begin by freezing present investment in fossil fuel industries and then to divest in fossil fuel, coal and related industries over a five-year timeline. This money would then hopefully be invested in companies that support greener initiatives. Companies that the club has publicly stated make comparable if not higher returns on investments.

The Penn State Board of Trustees decides upon the decision on how the endowment will be invested. According to the Board the board only oversees the investment process with investment matters being taken care of by third party money managers. Additionally, the Board sites the fact that the decisions as to where to invest money can only be guided by purely financial principals. The university continues to stress that they are trying to reach a balance in their financial obligations and their commitment to “environmental stewardship.”

But this is simply not enough for Penn State student. Recently Fossil Free PSU has made the news for the delivery of coal to the members of the Board of Trustees last December. Additionally, this year members of Fossil Free PSU hand-delivered a letter to President Barron asking him to divest from Fossil Fuel. Fossil Free PSU has recently gained endorsements from two other Penn State organizations. The Penn State Eco-Action Club and the Penn State College Democrats recently announced their support of Fossil Free PSU. The hope of the club is to rally enough support in the student body as to eventually receive the support of University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA).

I personally support the initiatives of Fossil Free PSU. I hope that you will all consider supporting the Fossil Free initiative at Penn State. The groundbreaking environmental research and student run environmental action at this school are only being overshadowed and even diminished by the fact that the University invests huge amounts of money into the Fossil Fuel Industry. And we are no longer going to stay silent.

Fossil Free PSU:

https://www.facebook.com/fossilfreepsu

https://twitter.com/ffpsu