Kudos and many thanks to the University System of Maryland Foundation for choosing to steer all future investments away from the coal, oil and gas industries ("University System of Maryland to direct its endowment away from fossil fuels," June 28). I hope more academic institutions follow suit.
In a predictable response, American Coal Council CEO Betsy Monseu claimed the move was unwise because the global rate of coal use is rising. Her cherry-picked reference does not hold water.
The rise in coal use is mainly due to ongoing population increase; these two roughly proportional parameters are greatest in the Asia-Pacific region but less so on the American, African and European continents.
And out of necessity renewable resources are rising globally as well. In most parts of the world they are gradually overtaking coal. For example, from 2010 to 2015 in the U.S., electricity generation from coal decreased from 44 to 33 percent, while the renewable sector increased from 5 percent to 9 percent.
Investments can be merely for guaranteed returns, but they are just as often entrepreneurial or pioneering. In this case, the sought-after security is environmental sustainability, or at least a decreased chance of catastrophe.
The University of Maryland Foundation's mission statement includes "visionary leadership ... in stewardship." Everybody should start a penny jar for that to offset the jar of dollar bills we fill for polluting industries.
We are jaded by the lopsided pleas of coal investors and bureaucrats, who by now must know that coal is a waning industry yet would rather go down with their oil tankers than summon the courage to change course. "That iceberg won't hit us!" they insist. Unfortunately, history tells a different story.
Kevin Kriescher, Baltimore