Just a few weeks ago, author and environmental activist Bill McKibben spoke on Democracy Now! and recounted an interesting anecdote to host Amy Goodman. McKibben noted that Nelson Mandela, in his first visit to the U.S. after his release from a 27-year prison sentence in South Africa, made sure to stop at the Berkeley campus at the University of California.
Berkeley was “the cradle of the divestiture movement” of the mid 1980’s, according to the Los Angeles Times. The movement prompted colleges and universities throughout the U.S. (as well as pension and municipal funds)to abandon any investments in companies that operated in South Africa, then under apartheid. Berkeley students “boycotted classes, occupied the offices of top administrators, and were arrested in numbers reminiscent of the 1960s.” They even built shantytowns on campus to force a response from administration. The hard, gritty work eventually paid off and the University of California divested their $3 billion worth of investments in South Africa. Dozens of colleges and universities across the country followed suite.
Mandela’s public acknowledgement of the catalytic nature of this divestment speaks volumes to the power of students – not only in the internal politics of their institution or community, but also in truly international struggles for justice. And this principle holds for one of the most pressing concerns of the 21st century: global warming.
The science is extensive, repeatedly reinforced, and terrifyingly clear: unless there is a fundamental change in way we humans we relate to our environment, the ecosystems that create and support life will no longer be sustainable. But with the same gusto and motivation of the anti-apartheid movement of 80’s, students are rejecting the status quo and positing their vision for a just, sustainable future. And they’re taking a page from the student movement playbook and divesting from fossil fuel companies who cause, deny, and profit from a warming planet.
In less than one year, the fossil fuel divestment movement, spearheaded by 350.org has exploded. Over 250 institutions now have active petitions to administrators and boards of directors demanding that they divest their endowments from fossil fuel companies who deal in gas, oil, coal, and other forms of extractive energy. Some, like Sterling College in Vermont and Unity College in Maine have already made the move. Others like Middlebury College have announced an inquiry process into divestment. Students from Northern Arizona to Columbia and everywhere in between have launched campaigns to twist the arms of administration. But we crafty students understand that divestment is just one part of a larger climate puzzle and thus have not limited ourselves to divestment.
On February 17th, the largest climate rally in U.S. history took place in Washington D.C. in protest of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline – another extractive piece of infrastructure. If approved, the pipeline would carry millions of barrels of an exceptionally toxic substance, tar sands, from Alberta, Canada to U.S. refineries on the Gulf Coast. It was inspiring to hear the student contingent marching, chanting, and rabble-rousing in opposition to dirty energy and the environmental destruction it brings.
Actions like this, coupled with divestment campaigns, and situated as part of a larger climate justice movement are shaking up the discussion. Like so many times before, we students are realizing our inherent power to ensure that our future isn’t one devastated by future incarnations of Hurricane Sandy, the Western droughts of 2012, and similarly catastrophic events around the world.
As students we can collectively check the power of the fossil fuel industry (the most profitable on the planet), its corroborating partners in the corporate media, and its purchased politicians on Capitol Hill. We can assert our will to preserve the ecosystems of the planet and to create societies that are governed not by short-term profit but by sustainability, equality, and justice.
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