{"id":7172,"date":"2015-03-27T13:22:28","date_gmt":"2015-03-27T13:22:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/usa\/?p=7172"},"modified":"2015-03-27T16:16:35","modified_gmt":"2015-03-27T16:16:35","slug":"we-have-no-plans-to-leave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/usa\/we-have-no-plans-to-leave\/","title":{"rendered":"We have no plans to leave."},"content":{"rendered":"

This guest blog post\u00a0was written by\u00a0Miles Goodrich<\/strong> of Bowdoin Climate Action<\/b>, where over 50 students have pledged to sit-in<\/a> for fossil fuel divestment.<\/em><\/p>\n\"We\n

The simple refrain of Swarthmore Mountain Justice speaks volume. \u00a0Entering into an indefinite sit-in<\/a> of their college\u2019s financial development office last week, Swarthmore students demonstrated the moral clarity and courage that our leaders so desperately require. \u00a0Too often have administrators slipped up on the oily status quo. \u00a0Sometimes, students need to sit-in for us all to get our footing back.<\/p>\n

The Swarthmore action marks an important transition<\/a> for the fossil fuel divestment movement. \u00a0Escalation means an active refusal to participate in the business-as-usual operations which discount the lives of poor communities and people of color. \u00a0It demands commitment, fortitude, and faith.<\/p>\n

These qualities aren\u2019t easy to come by–in the era of climate change, despair can seem all-too-convincing an emotion. \u00a0But I draw hope from the bravery of those on the frontline of extractive economies, who must risk everything to change everything. \u00a0Campaigning for divestment allows students to stand with Blockadia, those communities leading fossil fuel resistance. \u00a0Our rallying cry \u201cwhose side are you on\u201d<\/a> itself developed from a protest song of the Coal Wars<\/a>, when Appalachia miners fought for livable working conditions. \u00a0Now, any form of fossil fuel extraction threatens livable working conditions at all. \u00a0Now, with Swarthmore Mountain Justice\u2019s sit-in, Blockadia has come to campus, and students have become a source of inspiration.<\/p>\n

Those Swarthmore students are certainly an inspiration for me. \u00a0A few years ago, they started the very first fossil fuel divestment campaign in the world. \u00a0A few days ago, the United Nation\u2019s climate chief endorsed their sit-in<\/a>, calling for the \u201cmoral imperative\u201d of divestment. \u00a0When the top official of an international governing body uses your language, you know you\u2019re winning.<\/p>\n

Swarthmore students have shown what can be done with a vision and the fervor to pursue it. \u00a0They have reminded us what is possible. \u00a0The rest of us can turn possibility into reality. \u00a0This spring, I will be joining Swarthmore in sitting-in for divestment. \u00a0At my school, Bowdoin College, as well as at schools across the country, students will occupy a building and declare \u201cwe have no plans to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n

When I\u2019m asked whose side I\u2019m on, I will say: I sit with Swarthmore.<\/p>\n

Investing in fossil fuels undermines the very point of investment–to prepare for the future. \u00a0Right now, colleges are gambling away their students\u2019 futures with tainted carbon stocks. \u00a0My education prepares me for a world free of outdated fossil fuel infrastructure, and I will not allow Bowdoin to use my future as collateral for that education. Because my administration is so far unwilling divest, I will show them what it means to take climate justice seriously.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This guest blog post\u00a0was written by\u00a0Miles Goodrich of Bowdoin Climate Action, where over 50 students have pledged to sit-in for…<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":124,"featured_media":7176,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[152,124],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-divestment-2","category-education"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/124"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7172\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}