Throughout the years, Iowa State has taken many steps to reduce its ecological footprint, from building a wind turbine to constructing LEED-certified buildings and installing more recycling bins. However, one category for improvement has remained entirely overlooked: fossil fuel divestment.

Divestment is the act of pulling money out of stocks and bonds or other forms of investment — in other words, the opposite of investment. In the case of fossil fuel divestment, this means removing any money from fossil fuel company stocks or bonds. The primary purpose of divestment is to stop financial support of unethical enterprises, and as major polluters, fossil fuel producing companies are irrevocably unethical.

The extraction and consumption of fossil fuels has already polluted our air, water and soil, and if fossil fuel companies do not clean up their act, the damage will soon become irreversible. Scientists in NASA and the International Panel for Climate Change predict that, in order to avoid global warming of over 2 degrees Celsius — the so-called “climate tipping point” — we must keep 20 percent of all remaining fossil fuel reserves in the ground. Fossil fuel companies like Exxon Mobil, Shell and BP continue to extract coal, oil and gas in a blatant disregard to these warnings, putting no more than token efforts toward renewable energy development.

Fossil fuel companies are essentially putting our planet in danger for their profit, and will continue to do until, we, the people, stop their unethical behavior. That is why hundreds of student groups around the globe have launched Fossil Free campaigns asking their colleges and universities to divest from fossil fuels.

ActivUs, a student organization committed to environmental and social justice, has launched a Fossil Free divestment campaign here at Iowa State. To learn more and to sign our petition, see www.gofossilfree.org.