TO THE EDITOR:
In May 2010, Chancellor Holden Thorp committed to stop burning coal at the campus power plant by 2020. James Hansen, the nation’s pre-eminent climate scientist, said, “UNC-Chapel Hill is a model for how students and a university can work together with a civil constructive approach to ending our national addiction to coal.”
UNC students should continue that spirit by voting yes on Feb. 12 in support of a referendum asking the University to divest its $2.1 billion endowment from the coal industry.
We are just one of more than 200 divestment campaigns targeting coal and other fossil fuels at college endowments across the country.
I’m an advocate for coal divestment at UNC because I feel passionately that coal extraction and combustion presents one of the greatest human rights issues faced by our generation. I expect UNC (and all universities) to take a moral stand on climate change, one of the biggest challenges facing our generation, by eliminating investments in the dirtiest, most carbon-intensive fossil fuel on the planet.
I urge UNC students to attend the teach-in on Feb. 6 at 6:30 p.m. in the Campus Y’s Anne Queen Lounge to learn more about the issue.
Erin McAnulty ’15
Environmental studies
