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To: President Benson and the University of Colorado Board of Regents

Fossil Free UC Colorado Springs

Because it is unconscionable to pay for our education with investments that will condemn the planet to climate disaster, we call on the University of Colorado and the CU Foundation to immediately freeze any new investment in the fossil-fuel companies, and to divest within five years from direct ownership and from any commingled fund that include fossil-fuel public equities and corporate bonds.

Why is this important?

The science is now clear: recent anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases are the highest in history. Our planetary ecosystems and human civilization are threatened by the accelerating rate of global warming, and the opportunity to avoid a dangerous warming is disappearing.

Atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases are at levels unprecedented in at least the last 800,000 years. Readings of carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere topped 400ppm in 2013 for the first time in recorded history, well above the pre-industrial average of 280ppm and the 350ppm which Dr. James Hanson and other leading climate scientists believe is the safe upper limit if we want to preserve a planet similar to the one in which life on earth is adapted.

Strong evidence indicates increases in extreme weather events are related to fossil fuel consumption. Record-breaking heat waves and droughts, devastating hurricanes and tornadoes, and massive wildfires have impacted hundreds of thousands of people and cost hundreds of billions of dollars in the United States alone.

Responsible management of a university's financial portfolio extends well beyond making money and must include an ethical obligation to consider the well-being of current and future graduating classes as well as that of endangered species, inhabitants in low lying lands, and the future children of all species for all time.

University of Colorado Colorado Springs, Austin Bluffs Parkway, Colorado Springs, CO, United States

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Updates

2015-06-05 18:00:08 -0400

10 signatures reached