Why DU students’ desire to divest from fossil fuels is wrong

“Divestment push at DU is unwise,” Dec. 17 editoral.

I am a University of Denver alumnus; I have undergraduate and graduate degrees from the university. I cannot express enough my gratitude to you for your editorial about DU divesting its fossil-fuel holdings.

I am in the oil and gas industry. I did not go to DU to pursue a career in oil; I knew little to nothing about the industry while I was in school. I would venture a guess that many to most of the students leading this charge also know very little about our industry, from what literally keeps the lights, heat, and air conditioning on to what their school supplies, cars and shoes are made from. One of the most valuable things I learned at DU is systems theory. Restructuring my thoughts to attempt to understand the complexity of how things interact, the known and unknown, has helped me keep a somewhat moderate view of how we should go about changing our world. You cannot simply get rid of one part of a system.

I would urge these students to try and learn something about the industries they detest from someone other than a celebrity or special-interest group. One or two might be surprised or have to have a very honest conversation with themselves about how open-minded they really are. Send letters of 150 words or fewer to openforum@denverpost.com or 101 W. Colfax Ave., Suite 800, Denver, CO, 80202. Please include full name, city and phone number. Contact us at 303-954-1331.