Editorial: Lehigh should divest from fossil fuels

In March 2019, the United Nations warned the globe that by the year 2030 the Earth will have reached a point of irreversible damage due to climate change, calling to action that all citizens of the world take part in working toward more sustainable practices and policies.

Although President Donald Trump and his administration made it clear their policy priorities were not concentrated in this realm, President-Elect Joe Biden built his campaign with environmental issues as a main pillar. Re-entering the United States in the Paris Agreement, which is a global initiative to strengthen international response to climate change, and implementing the Green New Deal have already been discussed less than a week after the news of Biden’s victory. 

We are hopeful that under this new administration there will be national as well as international policies to help combat environmental issues and take preventative measures to stop what could come in the next 10 years.

The 2020 presidential election saw a comparatively high voter turnout rate of 66.4 percent, and each candidate earned an unprecedented number of popular votes. 

Pennsylvania was one of the last standing battleground states this election season and Northampton County was incredibly up-in-the-air, ultimately swinging narrowly for Biden. Lehigh students were at the brink of turning the entire election, therefore, it’s important we know which issues on the ballot were deciding factors for them.

Through our publication’s reporting at polling places on Election Day, many Lehigh students reported climate change as being one the most pressing issues in their voting choices. Higher turnout, including youth turnout, means results of the election represents our young people’s ideals and concerns — the same people who will soon lead our country through the future. 

When voter turnout is this high, priorities shift among our elected officials because the outcome was more representative of the population as a whole. Just because we will have a new president come late January that doesn’t mean these concerns will go away. Our ideals don’t stop after every last vote has been counted. If anything it’ll mean that these globally impacted issues should be held of utmost importance by the Biden administration.

Given that these reflect a decent amount of Lehigh student’s ideals and values, it only makes sense that the institution they attend works to align with such goals as they will impact our campus, community and world not just now, but for eons onward.

In November 2019, news broke that the Lehigh University’s Board of Trustees invests approximately $28 million into the fossil fuel industry. It is a well-known fact that fossil fuels contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and the warming of the Earth, thus contributing to detrimental climate change.

If Lehigh’s reasoning for such investment is mainly based on short-term financial gain, shame on them. That would show such financial shortsightedness — much less a moral dereliction of duty — that it would rise to the level of malpractice in the board’s goal of setting the school on a path of stability and financial solvency. 

While the nation looks to enter a new era focused on scientific fact and taking environmental issues seriously, wouldn’t you want your own school’s administration to do the same? 

The administration and Board of Trustees should take their own student’s concerns seriously and act on them. Look at your student body’s vote and ask what you can do to cater to what they care about. 

The school announces new sustainability plans, but it’s time for Lehigh to put its money where its mouth is.

In 2019, the university ended the sustainable development program, which was put in place to educate students on sustainable practices from every aspect of other areas of their education. From eco-friendly business models to engineering environmentally friendly technologies to many other tactics, this program aimed to serve the world and shape a more viable world for its students. 

It is clear that millennials and Gen Z value maintaining a sustainable and healthy Earth for their future and their posterity. For them, it’s not a matter of if but when. It’s something that terrifies them to their core and makes them question how they will continue to build a life for themselves when there is no knowledge that the Earth will continue to function in a way that will serve itself.

A common theme throughout the last year in terms of sociopolitical issues is being on the right side of history. Lehigh’s student body most definitely values maintaining a healthy environment. Shouldn’t the university they attend, meant to help them learn and grow in order to shape the future, also want the same things?

Be on the right side of it. Do the right thing with the power and resources you have. The Earth needs you and so do your students. Divest from fossil fuels.