October 27, 2021
What Will It Take for Princeton to Finally Take Bold Climate Action?
By Sarah Burke
After Harvard and Dartmouth’s divestments. Princeton remains one of the few remaining Ivies still invested in the fossil fuel industry
“TIGERALERT: GET IN, GET DOWN, COVER UP. Stay where you are and stay away from windows.”
At the start of September, Princeton University students were welcomed back to campus with a “tornado emergency.” After receiving confirmation that a tornado caused by Hurricane Ida had touched down and was headed toward campus, students were instructed to take shelter in the basements. However, many of those basements were filled with inches of standing water as a result of flash flooding.
The severity of the climate crisis is now undeniable even here in Central New Jersey, where our administrators have been sitting comfortably as much of the country experiences wildfires, drought, tropical storms, flooding, and glacial recession. If a tornado and flash flooding won’t do the trick, what will it take for Princeton to finally end its ties with the fossil fuel industry?
At present, Princeton remains one of the few remaining Ivies invested in the fossil fuel industry. Harvard, Dartmouth, Brown, Columbia, Cornell, and Yale have all announced ambitious plans to divest from coal, tar sands, and oil and gas companies that do not align with UN science-based targets.
