Brown is an outlier when it comes to mobilizing on climate change — but not always in a good way. While we have an ambitious plan to reduce our campus emissions, we lag behind other universities and institutions in many other matters that count.

The most exciting contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination are those with the boldest diagnoses of our country’s malaise. On the one hand, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) fixate on the deepening climate crisis and the power of the elite class.

Watching liberal political commentators talk about the 2020 presidential election, one starts to wonder whether the world will even continue to exist should Democrats lose.

Peter Kropotkin was a Russian aristocrat, political agitant, contemporary of Marx and radical anarcho-communist. Besides being an all-time great class traitor, he also had a passion for science. My favorite work of his is a book called “Mutual Aid,” a collection of essays written during the late 19th century.

Last month, a representative from ExxonMobil arrived on campus to recruit Brown geology students. One of us, Galen Winsor, went to listen and ask questions.

Brown University’s celebrated Open Curriculum turned 50 this year. As any promotional pamphlet at the front desk of Stephen Roberts ’62 Campus Center will tell you, the Open Curriculum “is responsible for a vibrant intellectual environment in which students are fully engaged.

“You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!”

Every year, around 400 undergraduates sign up for the introductory course Econ 0110: “Principles of Economics.” Nearly four out of every five students in the current iteration of this course are first-years. For them, it may be their first serious exposure to economic policy.

When Hurricane Michael hit Florida in October, following a pattern of increasingly powerful storms, I was of course worried for my grandfather.

The university recently announced plans  to aim for net-zero carbon emissions by 2040, with a 75 percent reduction below current levels by 2025. Brown’s net-zero goals are a great improvement – but by no means exceptional, given the scope of the ecological crisis facing our planet.