BREAKING: Board of Trustees to vote on divestment in February

By Aldo Polanco, Managing Editor, on October 31, 2022

On Monday, October 31, President Alison Byerly confirmed that following an informal discussion on Friday, the Board of Trustees agreed to vote on divestment in their February session. In an interview with the Carletonian, Byerly stated: “I think [trustees] are very aware and have been for some time of the strong community feeling [regarding divestment]. And so, certainly the students who were protesting this weekend gave specific visibility to it. But this discussion we started more than a year ago and [the decision] was after several years of their feeling a growing tide of interest in the community.” The announcement comes after a weekend full of events from students pushing for the vote. 

As of now, Byerly announced the decision to the Carleton Responsible Investments Committee as well as the College Council. She is expected to make the formal announcement on Thursday’s edition of Carleton Today.

Published in Breaking News and News of The Carletonian

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Hope in a World on Fire: a Divest Carleton message

By Gina Atwood, Mindy Bell, Patrick Dunleavy, Rebecca Hahn, Britta Johnson, Brett Smith and Ben Stiegler – October 20, 2022

It can be difficult, in the midst of the climate crisis, to focus on the good things. Lands are flooding, forests are burning, deserts are spreading, climate refugees are increasing, entire species are disappearing and lies about climate change abound. These realities make it almost impossible to find hope.

The danger, when we focus on the bad, is that we may start to believe that things can never change. Yet we know that our duty as citizens, as friends, as humans is to confront the crisis and to do our part to build a better future. If we are to take action, we must have hope.

The alumni and students of Divest Carleton seek to operate from and build on hope: the hope that the many global movements aimed at the climate crisis, including divestment campaigns, will produce a better world. Based on that hope, for the last several years we have been calling on Carleton to divest its endowment from fossil fuels. We’ve found that by doing this work, we grow our own hope.

We learn that we are not alone. As the years go by and the effects of climate change grow ever more obvious, the support for divestment also grows. 244 alums added their voices to the petition at Reunion this summer. Divest Carleton students have gathered several hundred signatures from classmates in just one year. Altogether, 3,721 students, alumni and friends of the college have called on Carleton to divest from fossil fuels. These supporters have written letters to the Board of Trustees, created Youtube videos, posted on social media, marched, talked to their fellow classmates, organized panels, researched, created handouts and on and on. Alone, any one of us would have faltered. Together, we are strong.

Hope also comes from seeing the difference we can make. When our fellow liberal arts colleges — Pitzer, Lewis & Clark, Whitman, Middlebury, Macalester, Wellesley, Smith, Amherst, Reed, St. Olaf, Wesleyan, Vassar, Mt. Holyoke — decide to exit fossil fuels, we find hope in our similarities. If they can do it, so can we! Likewise, with every step we take, from increasing awareness of climate change in the Carleton community to building positive connections with the decision makers of the college, we learn we are making a difference. This births hope.

Finally, we find hope by seeking it. The 2022 climate bill (the Inflation Reduction Act) recently enacted does not solve the climate crisis, but it is the strongest attempt made by our government to act on it. This is a beginning, not an end. The climate protests that made headlines over the past few years have never stopped. Recently, Blame Wall Street protesters in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City and Chicago called on banks to stop funding fossil fuel projects. They may have a tough battle, but they are not giving up. The proliferation of fossil-free and ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) funds shows there is a growing understanding that values have a role to play in investing. We certainly haven’t figured out how to build a just, fair and ethical economy. Many of us are trying to take the first steps. This is hope.

Like ourselves, Carleton is not perfect. We hope that our college decides soon to divest from fossil fuels. We believe the right and the hopeful thing to do is to invest our money in the health of our planet. Carleton has done so much good in other ways. We would not have pressed this hard and for this long if we did not believe that. We are thrilled about the upcoming unveiling of the new sustainability plan that many in the Carleton community have been working diligently to bring to life. Their hard work and persistence give us hope.

It may be discouraging at times, but building a better world will require every one of us doing whatever we can in our own ways.

That is also where our greatest hope lies. A better world can be built by you. And us. And everyone.

Visit divestcarleton.com to learn how to get involved and to sign the petition.

On behalf of Divest Carleton Alumni: Gina Atwood ‘91, Mindy Bell ‘80, Patrick Dunlevy ‘72, Rebecca Hahn ‘09, Britta Johnson ‘97, Brett Smith ‘64, Ben Stiegler ‘77

Published in The Carletonian Viewpoint

It Is Time to Be on the Right Side of Climate Change History

Published in The Carletonian on March 1, 2022

By Patrick Dunlevy, Rebecca Hahn, Mindy Bell, Joshua Rabinowitz, Ben Stiegler, Pam Costain, Gina Atwood, Eleanor Haase and Karl Snyder

The following is a letter from Divest Carleton Alumni, a group of alumni calling for Carleton to divest their endowment from the 200 largest fossil fuel companies:

The following colleges and universities have made formal commitments to reduce their investments in fossil fuel companies. The schools are grouped below by the time period in which they announced their decisions regarding fossil fuel holdings.

2021

Amherst College

Boston University

Brandeis University

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Carls Join Climate Strike

Carleton students and alumni from Northfield and beyond were active in the September 20th Global Climate Strikes.

Alumni Eleanor Haase, ’79, rallied at Northfield’s event which was encapsulated by this KYMN radio story. The collage of photos below are also from the story.

Images from KYMN Story, Climate Strike in Northfield, Minnesota

Alumni Jorde Ranum, ’15, marched in the Denver, Colorado Climate Strike!

Jorde Ranum, 2015, marching in the Denver, Colorado Climate Strike

Maddie Halloran, ’14, did her part in the Arcata, California Climate Strike!

Images by Maddie Halloran, 2014, from the Arcata, California Climate Strike

Alumni Dwight Wagenius, ’64, checked in from the St. Paul, Minnesota strike with other members of the Mayflower UCC!

Mike Mullen at the St. Paul march with other members of his congregation from Mayflower UCC

Alumni Mike Mullen, ’90, sent a photo of him marching with his sign at the Boston Event at City Hall Plaza. He reports: “With all the colleges and universities in the area, there was a good amount of focus on divestiture.” Thank you for that hopeful comment!

Mike Mullen in Boston, Massachusetts speaking for the trees with The Lorax

Alumni Mindy Bell, ’80, was one of the thousand plus participants in the Flagstaff Climate Strike. The energy was phenomenal and you can read the KNAU article and see some of the images from Ryan Heinsius below.

Images by Ryan Heinsius, Climate Strike in Flagstaff, Arizona

If you attended a strike please share your story and images to add to this blog! Send them to divestcarleton@gmail.com. And if you want to experience more global hope, relish the amazing photos from worldwide marches in this CNN article.