Divest, Reinvestment and Next Steps for the 5 Colleges

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Presentation transcript:

Divest, Reinvestment and Next Steps for the 5 Colleges

Welcome! Introductions Name Preferred Pronoun (she/her, he/him, they/them, or other) Affiliation (optional) Why are you here today? Emily If <20 people, go around the room and everyone introduce themselves If >20 people, turn to your neighbor (or stand up and find someone you don’t know) and introduce yourself

Overview Intro to Fossil Fuel Divestment - 15 min General Q&A - 10 min Definition, importance, strategy, history General Q&A - 10 min Focus on regional campaigns - 15 min Yale Amherst Smith Q&A for campaigns - 10 min Discussion & Closing - 15 min Emily

Divestment “The act of selling all of one’s shares of a given company or type of asset, for an explicit social or political reason” - Responsible Endowments Coalition Emily

Endowments 101 Eleanor $1.8 billion endowment, 6.8% (over $100 million) in fossil fuels Investure, private management firm for nonprofits, 13 clients totalling $12 billion, including Smith, Middlebury, Dickinson, and Barnard Smith was Investure’s first (2004) and largest client, close relationship b/c helped start

Why fossil fuels? Eleanor Many of us are exposed to these images, and all the usual reasons to dislike fossil fuels: global warming, melting glaciers, sea level rise, oil spills. DSC strives to address a much wider range of issues with which the fossil fuel industry is less frequently associated

Corruption of democratic process Eleanor Lobbying against renewable energy incentives, trillions of dollars in fossil fuel subsidies, direct or indirect contributions to politicians to support fossil fuel interests lobbying and corruption of democratic process, money in the gov.

Climate refugees Eliana people are losing their homes to severe weather events (worsened by global warming), and flooding, from rising sea levels. Just this year, for the first time, New Zealand granted refugee status to people from the island nation of Tuvalu who had to flee their homes because of rising seas

Extreme extraction techniques Eliana Not just combustion, but also extraction and distribution of fossil fuels destroys communities and the environment Spills in the gulf… but also, lesser known: Mountaintop removal, marginalization of people in appalachia. Polluted water from fracking

Exploitation Eliana Environmental injustice and environmental racism Coal-fired power plants are often placed in areas with low property value, which are disproportionately people of color. Even nearby in Holyoke, there was a coal-fired power plant until 2014 that polluted the air with higher concentrations of heavy metals. One in four children in Holyoke suffered from asthma.

This is a human issue... Eliana that is why our symbol is an orange square, not a green one. This is not just an environmental issue, it is a human issue. we are campaigning for social justice.

Why divestment? Emily By divesting from fossil fuels, institutions communicate to the fossil fuel industry that we will not stand for the destruction of the environment, the marginalization of human beings, or the corruption of our democratic process, we need to use their language- and they speak in money. Trying to make a statement to policy makers - Stigmatize the fossil fuel industry

History of the Movement First fossil fuel divestment campaign Swarthmore Mountain Justice in 2010 Divestment movement takes off in 2012 Bill McKibben of 350.org published “Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math” in Rolling Stone “Do the Math” tour visits 21 cities Eleanor

Divestinvest.org Eliana Schools, foundations, religious institutions, cities, towns, individuals… Divestinvest.org

Who has divested from fossil fuels? Eliana Also Syracuse University, Guardian Media Group Notable partial divestments in state school systems (Maine, CA, MA)

Earlier this year: UMass! Emily (if no UMass people) They had been asking their board to vote on divestment repeatedly and finally last Spring, they decided to take big action -

Questions? (about fossil fuel divestment in general) Emily

Divest Amherst

Divest Smith College Eliana Divest Smith College (DSC) is a student-led network of Smith College community members working towards divesting our endowment from the fossil fuel industry.

Our mission We call on Smith College to (1) freeze any new investment in fossil-fuel companies, and (2) commit now to divest within five years from direct ownership and from any commingled funds that include fossil-fuel public equities and corporate bonds. Eliana

Smithstory of divestment Companies tied to the apartheid in South Africa Big tobacco Sudan Emily Apartheid 1980s Big tobacco 1990s Divested from oil companies tied to the Sudanese government in 2007

What We’ve Done Student Body Referendum $1 million in sustainable investment fund Now $8.5 million! Student Government Association Resolution Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility Independent analysis on impact of fossil fuel divestment 30% of faculty signed petition Eleanor

What are we doing? Engaging with… Students & alums Faculty & staff Community members Cross-campaign collaboration (esp. Investure coalition) Actions & events Meet with admins & trustees Emily

The Intersection Series Fossil Fuels and Institutional Racism Climate Crisis and Gender Climate Change, Conflict, and Migration Next event: October 21 OPEN TO THE PUBLIC!!!!! Eliana 1: Jacqui patterson, head of the NAACP climate and environmental justice program, came to talk about how the corrupt practices of the fossil fuel industry and environmental destruction disproportionately affect people of color and low-income communities

Taking Steps to a Renewable Future NO MORE PIPELINES Emily

Contact us! #DivestSmithCollege www.divestsmithcollege.com divestsmithcollege@gmail.com

Questions for our presenters? (about the campaigns at Yale, Amherst, Smith, or even UMass) Eleanor

What do YOU think... How is the fossil fuel divestment movement contributing to the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy? How can we make the conversation about climate change and sustainability more focused on justice and intersectionality? What is stopping more institutions from divesting from fossil fuels? How can the public support fossil fuel divestment campaigns at colleges, universities, and other institutions? Eliana