Twitter A New Wave Of Campus Activism: Fossil Fuel Divestment
Members of Divest Harvard. From left to right: Oliver Kerr, Harold Eyster and Murtaza Nek. (Courtesy of Divest Harvard)
College campus activism came alive in the 1960s to oppose the Vietnam War. It happened again in the 1980s, with a divestment campaign aimed at ending apartheid in South Africa.
A new generation of college activists is mobilizing to stop climate change. Their tactic is to demand that university endowment funds shed their coal, oil and gas stocks.
Students at dozens of universities around the country, including Harvard, are making the demand: Divest from fossil fuel companies that they say are recklessly contributing to global warming. Two small schools — Unity College in Maine and Hampshire College in Massachusetts — have agreed to shed their fossil fuel stocks. But will the movement grow?
Guests:
- Bill McKibben, author of several books on the environment and founder of the grassroots climate campaign 350.org. His latest book is “Eaarth: Making A Life On A Tough New Planet.”
- Bob Massie, president and CEO of the New Economics Institute. He was active in the South African divestment movement in the 1980s.
- Chloe Maxmin, sophmore at Harvard University and co-coordinator of DivestHarvard, which is part of the Students for Just and Stable Future network
More:
- Cognoscenti: Colleges Should Divest From Fossil Fuels. That Means You, Harvard
- New York Times: To Stop Climate Change, Students Aim at College Portfolios
Other stories from this show:
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