Today students of Harvard Divest are taking a stand to demand that the Harvard Corporation divest from 200 companies that hold the vast majority of the world’s fossil fuel reserves. In addition to highlighting the scientific consensus calling for urgent action to limit carbon pollution, their struggle also seeks to loosen the tight grip that the fossil fuel industry maintains over our economic, academic and political institutions.
Two week ago, more than 100 members of Harvard Faculty for Divestment described this dual challenge in an open letter to President Faust and the university’s fellows:
We now know that fossil fuels cause climate change of unprecedented destructive potential. We also know that many in this industry spend large sums of money to mislead the public, deny climate science, control legislation and regulation, and suppress alternative energy sources.
The first dimension of the struggle has been authoritatively documented by the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), expertly translated into quantifiable financial risk by
the Carbon Tracker Initiative, but the second dimension is worth more attention.
One of the few peer reviewed efforts to document the influence of the fossil fuel industry over climate policy was published last year in the Journal Climate Change by Dr. Robert J. Brulle, a professor of Sociology and Environmental Science at Drexel University, and Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. Brulle’s research catalogues 91 organizations comprising what he calls the “climate change counter movement” – a $900 million-per-year industry comprised of conservative think tanks, trade associations, and advocacy organizations that confound public understanding of the science of climate change and obstruct meaningful government action.
While the flow of money to these groups has become increasingly obscured with the rise of so-called “dark money” pools, the influence of the fossil fuel industry is clear. Charles and David Koch, unsurprisingly, lead the industry in buying influence through these dark money groups. For their investment of more than $26 million since 2007, Brulle traces the influence of the Koch brothers through groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and Americans for Prosperity (AFP), currently working to dismantle clean energy incentives in dozens of statehouses across the country.
Harvard is an especially valuable brand for the industry to associate with. Since 1990, coal, oil and gas companies contributed more than $1 million to the research of Willie Soon, who’s attempts to challenge the scientific consensus on climate change continue to cloud our policy discussions with the imprimatur of the Nation’s most esteemed academy, even though his expertise is in astronomy and his conclusions have been widely discredited.
The influence of the fossil fuel industry is pervasive in nearly every institution of significance in our society. The top 50 publicly traded energy companies have a combined market capitalization of $3.78 trillion, or roughly 6% of the entire global equity market. Fossil fuel companies are among the top contributors to our federal and state electoral campaigns, and among the biggest lobbyists on policy. Fossil fuel company executives are among our biggest philanthropists. They are the trustees of our schools. Their names grace our museums and hospitals.
By divesting, Harvard would begin to break down the fiber with which the fossil fuel industry has woven itself into the fabric of our Universities and other public service institutions. It would also reinforce the risk that other social service institutions face by continuing to associate fossil fuel companies.
Fossil fuel-funded climate denial is a force to be reckoned with, but so are the students and faculty of Harvard Divest — and with our support, they can push the Harvard Corporation to divest from fossil fuels and mark a major victory for the divestment movement, the climate and our future.
Sign the petition to stand with the Harvard students and faculty rallying today for fossil fuel divestment.
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Harvard Divest Blogathon - April 30, 2014
On April 30, students from Harvard University will form a blockade outside President Drew Faust's office in support of divestment from fossil fuel. To support this student-led protest, the Daily Kos Blogathon Team is joining hands with Divest Harvard Students and a coalition of NGOs - 350.org, Forecast the Facts, Better Future Project, and Credo - and seeking your help. Please sign this petition and urge your coworkers, friends, and family members to do the same.
Harvard Divests: Harvard students leading the fossil fuel divestment movement at Harvard, @DivestHarvard
More than 100 Harvard faculty members have signed a letter demanding that the Harvard Corporation — which manages the largest educational endowment in the world — commit to divesting from the fossil fuel industry.
President Drew Faust committed to new investment standards after a multi-year student-led campaign — but she stopped short of full divestment. Now, more than 100 members of the faculty are firing back with an open letter, building immense pressure on Faust to go further — and more are signing on by the day.
Harvard divested from South African apartheid and Big Tobacco in the past — and now ten universities have already pledged to divest from fossil fuels. A strong show of support from the climate movement now would super-charge the growing campaign to set a game-changing precedent.
Sign the petition and stand with Harvard's faculty, students, and alumni for Divestment!
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