Last weekend Bill McKibben visited London, 3 years on from the Fossil Free Tour which kicked off the divestment campaign in the UK. A lot has changed since then and a whole movement has blossomed taking on the fossil fuel industry in our universities, local councils, churches, health organisations, charities and more.
To celebrate, we hosted a day of talks and workshops at Friends House with Bill, thinking about what we’ve achieved so far, and where our movement is going. Here’s what went on…
Blog by Chayley Collis, Fossil Free West Yorkshire
I first became inspired by the Fossil Free divestment movement when I saw the powerful Do the Math film at a Quaker sustainability conference about two years ago. I had been looking for a way to tackle the enormous and terrifying problem of climate change and a way to use my limited available time and energy in the most effective way I could think of.
After seeing the film, divestment came to me as the answer and a way that the environmental movement could ‘reclaim our power’ and redress the balance of power away from the fossil fuel industry. I like the way that divestment means that the actions of a small group in a small town could reverberate wider and have a wider impact. The Fossil Free movement always feels to me like dominoes, once one institution divests, there is an immediate knock-on effect on other institutions. I am currently involved with the brilliant Fossil Free WYPF and Fossil Free Huddersfield University campaigns.
It was great to be able to hear Bill McKibben speak at the recent talk at Friends House. Bill is the narrator of Do the Math and helped set up the Fossil Free movement through 350.org. He is a very inspiring and engaging speaker. Here are a few gems from his speech:
- Why have we not tackled climate change already? Because of the vast lobbying power of the fossil fuel industry.
- The divestment movement is about going on the offensive against the fossil fuel industry in addition to acting defensively to stop fossil fuel projects.
- If we can slow them down for a little while then the economics of renewable energy, where costs are coming down rapidly, will kick in and undercut fossil fuels.
- The dynamic is shifting but we need to win it fast. Our enemy is physics. It will do what it will do…
500+ institutions have committed to divest $3.4 trillion in assets from fossil fuels!
Coming to the talk has helped galvanise and renew my efforts on divestment. The Fossil Free WYPF campaign is at a crucial stage, as Bradford Council is currently considering the financial risk of its £671 million fossil fuel investments. Bill’s talk made me realise the importance of speed and pace in this struggle and we will re-double our efforts!
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