This submission was written by Sunrise Santa Cruz, formerly known as the UCSC Climate Coalition, a student group that advocates for and supports climate activism in Santa Cruz. If you would like to submit a letter to be published by City on a Hill Press, please email your submission to us at editors@cityonahillpress.com.
2024 was a year of violent and unpredictable climate change. Millions in Zambia, Malawi, and Zimbabwe faced imminent famine due to climate-induced crop failure, thousands remain displaced in India from climate-intensified monsoons, and over 11,000 square kilometers of Amazon rainforest were lost to unprecedented wildfires. Closer to home, the Los Angeles fires, which have displaced over 100,000 Californians, are being accelerated by winter drought conditions that scientists attribute to climate change. In spite of its reputation for sustainability, UC Santa Cruz, which emits almost 30,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide on an annual basis to provide campus with electricity and heating, was complicit in each one of these disasters.
Recognizing the urgency to reduce our campus’ carbon emissions, in August 2022 Chancellor Larive directed a task force to conduct a study on the feasibility of replacing our gas-powered cogeneration plant and heating boilers with renewable electricity by as early as 2030. That study, released in October 2023, proved not only that it would be possible to decarbonize by 2030, but also that it would be cheaper to do so than to delay the decarbonization date until 2035, 2040, or 2045.
Yet this summer, UCSC released a statement suggesting that Chancellor Larive is now poised to select 2035-2040 as the target date for decarbonization, backpedaling on her original goal of 2030. No rationale has been publicly provided for this sudden reversal.
We know that UCSC is facing a historic budget deficit. We also know that it is spending $143 million on the first phase of construction for Student Housing West, and is taking steps to potentially add a medical school to its academic mission. Creative financing is always necessary at a public university, and there is no cause more worthy than protecting our planet.
Waiting until 2040 to decarbonize, when it is possible to do so by 2030, goes against everything that UCSC has ever stood for. Not only does it ignore the results of UCSC’s own decarbonization study, but it also prioritizes UCSC’s short-term bottom line over the overwhelming scientific evidence showing that failing to slash emissions immediately means much higher costs for infrastructure and for our planet in the long term.
As the generation that will be forced to inherit this earth, we say clearly: 2040 is 10 years too late. UCSC can and must decarbonize by 2030. For too long, we have pretended that inaction causes no harm. It is now time to take responsibility for the harm that inaction causes. It is time to act and to lead.