divestment

Responding to student activists who say divestment from fossil fuel companies would address global climate change, administrators at the University of Massachusetts are pledging to advocate for divestment.

Don’t be fooled by the windmills you see in Chevron’s sleek advertising, says author and activist Naomi Klein. Fossil fuel companies may claim they care about preventing climate change, but as they earn record profits Klein says they are clearly not reducing fossil fuel consumption.

Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust is offering to meet with student activists and environmentalists if they end their blockade of her office and stop disrupting university business.

For the past five days, the student-led group Divest Harvard has been blocking Massachusetts Hall, Harvard’s oldest building, demanding the university sell off fossil fuel stocks in its $36 billion endowment. The goal, organizers say, is to address climate change.

Having universities divest from fossil fuels is a feel-good measure that would do nothing to address the problem of global climate change. Instead, we should be focusing on efforts to push for strong government action.

Many universities hold large endowments that have significant positions in fossil fuel companies or funds that hold fossil fuel assets. But universities also support most of the research that has identified the existence, nature and consequences of climate change, and the principal purpose of the university is to educate, particularly the young adults who will live and work in the climate of the future.

While only 22 U.S. colleges and universities have actually agreed to sell their shares in oil and coal companies, more than 50 have committed themselves to efficiency projects on campus through a special financing method called green revolving funds, including Harvard University.

At Harvard Tuesday morning, environmentalists and student activists expanded their blockade of Massachusetts Hall, blocking University Hall. The protesters are demanding Harvard sell off fossil fuel stocks in its $36 billion endowment. Today, WGBH's Kirk Carapezza explains why divestment is not so easy and how colleges are trying to foster a sensible conversation about climate change.

Students woke up Monday morning on the ground outside of Harvard University's oldest building. They had spent the night there, protesting the university's choice to invest part of its endowment in fossil-fuel companies.