Guest post by Cameron Fenton of the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition, which is spearheading divestment efforts in Canada. Cross-posted from the Fossil Free Canada blog.
The divestment movement’s move up to Canada is starting to pick up steam, with campaigns popping up across the country the media is starting to take notice. This morning’s Montreal Gazette, the largest English language paper in Quebec, featured a piece on Divest McGill’s campaign to divest their over $1 billion endowment from fossil fuels.
Most of the world’s remaining reserves of fossil fuels would have to stay in the ground in order to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, that are released into the atmosphere, said economics student Christopher Bangs, a member of Divest McGill.
“Global warming is a huge, huge issue, and it’s not just going to be for students, it’s for everyone,” Bangs said. “We can see it in mega storms, the terrible fires and droughts in the South (of the United States), and we can see it in rising sea levels and Arctic sea ice disappearing over the summer.”