For a university that champions the ‘best student experience’, what are the financial implications for the university to withdraw from these bodies? At what point will we put ethics ahead of finances? There have been a multitude of reports indicating investing in sustainable forms of energy, energy efficiency, and sustainability can be more profitable than investing in fossil fuels. With the clean energy market reaping in over $260 billion in investments in 2011, it is a growing market and a safe place for Western to invest. Thus, there are copious other options for Western to invest in that do not involve fossil fuel companies, while also still serving to fulfill the principle objective of keeping Western’s cash reserves growing. In fact, many socially responsible funds such as the Domini 400 average the same or better returns, even over a 10-year period, compared to other index funds such as the S&P 500. Continued investment in this sector will have negative effects on investors as well as society. The valuation of these companies is based on their carbon reserves; these exact reserves need to remain in the ground in order to maintain a livable planet. The bottom line is that divestment from fossil fuel companies is the only moral choice for institutions that care about society and the planet their students are going to inherit
When it comes to facing large corporate bodies, what do students have to realize in terms of their political voice and how do we convince them of their power? Students need to remember that we live in a democracy and in a democracy, majority rules. If we want fossil fuel companies to stop driving a climate catastrophe, then we can make them stop. As individuals, we have only limited influence, but in solidarity we hold the power to make real change. There is over $415 billion in the endowments of Canadian and American universities, which means we have the power to take a lot of money out of dirty energy and into a more sustainable future. Rolling Stone has called this the largest student movement in decades. Cities, Schools, and religious denominations around the globe have committed to divesting tens of billions of dollars from the fossil fuel industry including Seattle, San Fransisco, and Portland. The Chair of the World Bank and the United Nations Secretary General have both publicly called on institutions to divest their money from fossil fuel-backed funds. Thus, this movement has powerful allies. Many students are too young to remember that divestment has been used successfully as a strategy for social change to fight the Apartheid in South Africa. In the mid 1980’s, over 155 campuses and many other institutions across the United States divested from all companies doing business in South Africa and it eventually lead to De Klerk proposing the release of Nelson Mandela; the rest is history. When Mandela got out of jail one of the first places he went, even before the White House, was to Berkeley. He went there to thank Berkeley for divesting the $1.7 billion they held of Apartheid tainted stocks. Schools made the right decision then, and now another huge social problem has come to face us. Will Western refuse divestment, or realize that doing so would leave them on the wrong side of history?
Why are deeply concerning environmental issues so difficult to understand the material consequences of ? Why do we feel so distanced from things that are so intimately connected to the quality of our lives and lives of so many others? I think one of the main reasons is that students and a large part of society do not understand climate change as a present danger. Another reason is that humans are terrible at thinking globally. A global temperature rise of 4 degrees would be an absolute calamity on a global scale, but on a local scale no one would even notice an increase of 4 degrees. Moreover, as a culture we are so used to the narrative of a quick, cheap way to fix things. People are convinced that although we may be on a disastrous path, soon enough, just in the nick of time, a new technology will come out that allows us to fix our mistakes. These individuals are ignoring the climate science. The effects we’ve seen to date include extreme weather, rising sea levels, and species loss. The increasing carbon emissions are driving up mean hunger, lack of water access, displacement, desertification, and worsening impacts on people around the world. The biggest threat facing our generation is climate change. Thus, we have a moral responsibility to divest from corporations that are destroying the planet. This interview has been abridged for length. To read the full, unabridged interview, visit OPENWIDE Online and check out www.facebook.com/DivestWesternU
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