The Carleton Fossil Free Faculty (CFFF), an environmental group on campus, is advocating for Carleton to divest its pension funds from the fossil fuel industry.
Root Gorelick, associate professor in the Department of Biology at Carleton and a member of the CFFF, said most universities in Canada have investments in fossil fuel companies.
Investment in the fossil fuel industry implies support for a fossil fuel-based economy, according to the CFFF’s mission statement, and “[a fuel-based] economy is compromising the capacity of our planet to provide the basic food and water resources needed by the coming generations.”
Gorelick said there are other alternatives to fossil fuels.
“We would be very happy to see Carleton both divest from fossil fuels and re-invest in renewable energy companies,” Gorelick said.
The CFFF has received support from other similar groups at Carleton as well as president Roseann Runte, according to Gorelick.
In response to the CFFF’s efforts, Runte said everyone is supportive of environment and sustainability, but “[the university] is also responsible for keeping education at a reasonable cost.”
“We all do the best that we can and sometimes it isn’t all what people want,” Runte said.
Barbara Leckie, founder of the Carleton Climate Commons, a group that addresses climate change issues, said her organization supports the CFFF.
However, Gorelick said the university itself has not responded well to the group.
“The pension committee has so far refused our requests,” Gorelick said. “The pension committee’s executive refuses to allow us to have a short time slot to present these ideas to the entire pension committee.”
