Fossil Free

Santa Monica divests the city (and cemetery) from fossil fuels

Posted by Jamie Henn – May 21, 2013

The home of tennis star May Sutton, astronaut Sally Ride, and actor Glenn Ford is divesting from fossil fuels.

We’d been hearing rumors for a couple months that Santa Monica had divested from fossil fuels, but it’s only in the last few weeks that we’ve gotten all the details on the lengths this sunny, sea-side California city has gone to clean up its portfolio. Last November 27, just weeks after we kicked off the national fossil fuel divestment campaign with the Do The Math tour, Santa Monica City Councilmember Kevin McKeown brought forward a resolution directing city staff to “evaluate how best to divest fossil fuel investments from the City’s portfolios, and return with policy options as part of the February mid-year budget review.”

In February, city staff presented the council with their findings. Santa Monica didn’t currently invest it’s city funds in the fossil fuel industry, so there was no money there to divest. The city’s pension fund was tied up in CalPERS, California’s mega pension plan, so while the city could help push for divestment at the state level, there was no immediate step they could take on that front, either. There was one city fund that did have a substantial amount of money that could be divested, however: the Cemetery and Mausoleum Perpetual Care Fund.

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First Unitarian Church of Salt Lake City Divests from Fossil Fuels

Posted by Jamie Henn –

We just got the news that the First Unitarian Church of Salt Lake City has become the first Unitarian congregation in the country to commit to fossil fuel divestment! Rev. Tom Goldsmith told the Salt Lake City Tribune yesterday, “We did the math,” he said, “and we realized that the difference between green investments and fossil fuels is miniscule.”

First Unitarian members met over the weekend to explore the question: “What would Jesus divest?” They then voted unanimously to make sure their $700,000 endowment was free of fossil fuel stocks.

A 350.org Rally in Salt Lake City

As Bill McKibben has said in the past, it makes no sense for religious institutions to be investing in companies that are, in effect, “running Genesis backwards.” In their proposal to divest, the “socially conscious” First Unitarian Church wrote, “Since our congregation fits that description and most members and friends are acutely aware of climate change and the environmental destruction caused by the burning of fossil fuels, it represents an opportunity to do our part in an effort to preserve a livable planet for ourselves, our children and grandchildren.”

Salt Lake City has a long and proud history of climate activism. It was the home of one of 350.org’s first big climate rallies, back when we were the Step It Up 2007 campaign. It’s also the home of one of our favorite allies, Peaceful Uprising, and climate justice activist Tim DeChristopher, who recently got released from 18 months in prison after disrupting an oil auction in Utah (to learn more about Tim’s story, check out the new Bidder 70 film that is in theaters now).

The congregation at First Unitarian know that their action alone won’t solve climate change, but that their leadership can inspire more congregations, universities, cities, and other public institutions to also divest. As Joan Gregory, who leads the congregation’s environmental ministry, told the Tribune, ”It is one piece of the puzzle. It is a way to walk our talk.”

Fossil Free American University Meets with the Board

Posted by Rachel Mandelbaum – May 20, 2013

Last week, while the end of the semester passed and most students were packing up and graduating, Fossil Free AU came together and pulled off an awesome week of actions around Commencement and the Board of Trustees Meetings!  Over the Commencement weekend, graduating seniors wore small green dots to make a big impact, and symbolize witholding any donations to AU until the university divests.  Student leaders also met with Commencement speaker Lisa Jackson, the former director of the EPA, prior to her speech to explain our campaign. Following the meeting, Jackson endorsed our campaign!

Our campaign culminated on Friday May 17th, with an Open People’s Board Meeting just outside the room where our Board of Trustees was considering our divestment proposals and support we’ve gained over the last few months.   After the Board refused to let a representative from our campaign present, Fossil Free decided the best way to get our message across would be to hold this open meeting, allowing for the opportunity for all AU voices to be heard.  We had previously been told that a voice through Student Government leadership was our only option for communicating the urgency of this issue.

American University students and alumni, along with organizers and supporters from throughout the DC community, rallied at the Open People’s Board Meeting to envision what their endowment could look like if the Board had permitted representatives from American University Fossil Free to present on their campaign work.

During the Open Meeting, the case for divestment was presented to student representations of Board Members, Jeffery Sine and Gary Cohn, COO of Goldman Sachs.  They also heard students of AU Fossil Free, the President of AU College Democrats, alumni supporter Mary Schellentrager ‘10 with Energy Action Coalition, and Lili Molina, an environmental justice advocate who worked with Little Village Environmental Justice Organization on the 10-year campaign to successfully close the Crawford & Fisk coal plants in Chicago. At the end of the speeches and presentations, our student board members decided the evidence was clear, and “fake” divested our endowment from fossil fuels while reinvesting our money into clean energy technology. (more…)

Our UC Regents Meeting Action

Posted by Deirdre Smith – May 17, 2013

Written by Guest Blogger and UCSB Students and Fossil Free Organizer Theo LeQuesne

It is five o’clock in the afternoon and we are carpooling home to UC Santa Barbara from Sacramento. Behind us is a car full of students from Cal Poly San Luis Obisbo; comrades from USF and UC Berkley and UC Santa Cruz are already home. But we are here, crammed into the backseat, sticky in the heat of the late afternoon sun, and contentedly exhausted from the day’s exertions. We are listen quietly as our driver talks of his days in the South African divestment movement of the 1980s. Hazily, as the heat of the day begins to take its toll, my mind meanders through the history being written about own divestment movement, the movement to free our generation from the bonds of the fossil fuel industry. If my experience yesterday reflects even a little of what’s happening everywhere, I believe that we will win.

Yesterday marked yet another remarkable milestone in the Fossil Free Movement’s short but vibrant history. In Sacramento, on Thursday May 16th, dozens of students from colleges throughout California converged upon the University of California’s quarterly Regents’ meeting. Our purpose: to show the Regents our power and to insist that fossil fuel divestment be placed on the Regents’ agenda for their meeting in September. We garnered more success than we were prepared for.
It started at 5:30am when students, some who had only met the night before, began to gather our props, hammers, chains, locks, and letters to the regents. As we sipped coffee in the park and put the final touches on our 12 foot oil derrick, we wondered if we’d actually run into any Regents. By 8am a bevy of Fossil Free UC students and partners were staged an impassioned demonstration right in front of the entrance to the Regents quarterly meeting in Sacremento – a far cry from where we’d come from. (more…)

University of Delaware: Heating Up

Posted by katie –

By Jock Gilchrist, Senior with Fossil Free UD

Fossil Free UD finished out the spring semester with a bang. On the National Divestment Day of Action on May 2^nd, the group administered a poll and had 95% of students surveyed say they support socially responsible investing. 89% said they support fossil fuel divestment and reinvestment in carbon neutral or clean energy companies. To formalize this widespread support, the group submitted a StUDent Government Association proposal on May 4^th.

The proposal was finally presented on May 14^th. After a few questions and brief discussion, about 15 student Senators voted for the proposal, none against it, and about 5 abstained. With the passing of this resolution, the University of Delaware joins the ranks of a few other world-class universities whose student governments have taken action on divestment and made strides towards a more sustainable future. The proposal, now adopted by SGA, urges administration to make divestment a real priority. (more…)