This guest blog post was written by Deborah Silvey, spokesperson for the Fossil Free CA Coordinating Team (and CalSTRS member).
Fossil Free California launched its statewide campaign on February 13, Global Divestment Day. Divestment activists from all over Northern California gathered in Sacramento to urge that the two big state pension funds stop investing in fossil fuels and sell their Old Energy investments within five years.
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) are the largest state pension funds in the United States, and their decision to divest would carry enormous weight among other investors. At the rally outside CalPERS headquarters, we started with some colorful street theater to dramatize the struggle between the people of California and the fossil fuel industry. California labor leaders and members of the two pension funds followed with brief remarks that brought our divestment message directly to the decision-makers.
The excitement and sense of purpose we felt that day grew out of many months of long-distance planning across our huge state. Phone conferencing has been our lifeline to keep us going. And connections we made last spring at a 350.org-supported face-to-face strategy meeting in Los Angeles revitalized our commitment for the ongoing phone calls and emails needed to craft the campaign goals and message, and to create our website FossilFreeCA.org.
We’re now more committed than ever to moving forward on every front to get pension funds to divest. One of our committees is now working with state legislators to help shape a proposed bill calling for divestment. We will continue to talk regularly with board members and managers at both CalPERS and CalSTRS. And our new website will help us reach out to pension fund members, who can drive forward the goal of influencing board members to vote for divestment.
Those of us who are members of CalPERS and CalSTRS are concerned that our pensions funds are at risk because fossil fuel investments will soon lose their value. But even more important than financial reasons are the moral reasons for divestment. Fossil fuel companies’ products are destroying the Earth, and we don’t want to have anything to do with that destruction.
Watch the campaign launch in the video below, and join the Fossil Free California campaign here.