It has been two days already since the start of the Fossil Free UC Letter-A-Day Campaign! As we come upon the last Regents meeting before the September vote on divestment, it is critical to get hundreds more voices in the conversation and not just at these meetings! We need to begin making a presence on the phone, in their inboxes, and in their mailboxes!
This July and August, we are calling on students, faculty, alumni, and supporters of the UC to tell the Regents nonstop to divest from fossil fuels! We are asking ALL OF YOU to write a short 3-4-paragraph letter to the Regents urging them to vote YES on DIVESTMENT in anticipation of the September meeting. Every single day in July and August, at least 1 handwritten or typed letter will be mailed to the Regents so that the message does not stop.
If you want to support, please sign up HERE for the date that you will commit to send your letter!
You can also join our Facebook Event here!
Furthermore, every week, we will be featuring a letter from that week by a student, alumnus, faculty, or UC supporter! Since our project has just started, this week’s featured letter is from myself!
As a recent graduate from UCLA, it was easy for me to channel my experience as a student and the expectations of integrity and accountability that I felt were made clear to me. However, as an alumnus, I am also deciding how, if any, I want to continue to support the UCs. I do not want my donations and the credibility of my education to be sullied by continued financial investment in companies whose purpose is to make money at the expense of this planet, its people, and our potential. I also spoke about joining the Donors for Divestment campaign. Until the UC agrees to divest from all fossil fuels, any donation of mine is staying put in my bank account! Find out more and watch our video here!
Your letter is your first step in making your voice heard - we are gearing up for a huge win or a huge opportunity to escalate and point our fingers at the Regents. It only took me 15 minutes to handwrite my letter - please sign up for your own letter today!
July 2, 2014
Dear UC Regents / President Napolitano,
My name is Alyssa Lee and I am a (very) recent graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles. As a new alumnus, I am deeply troubled by the state of our endowment and its implicit support in funding companies whose for-profit mission is unequivocally driving climate change. With strong urgency, I ask that you consider the well-being of MY future and vote YES on divesting the UC General Endowment Pool from fossil fuel investments this September. Take this step and show that you are fully committed to your demonstrated leadership in a sustainable future.
I graduated from UCLA with a degree in Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics.
As a student of, I know how valuable my education is and how critical it is for me to take away the knowledge, skills, and values taught to me at UCLA by UC professors, staff, and students and to utilize them to improve the world, whether it be through disease prevention, developing feedstock plants for biofuels, discovering new antibiotics, or through community health sciences. I have spent four years investing time and money into this education so that I can proudly say that I am helping to found a better and more livable future. And countless others have invested in me as well - my family, friends, and colleagues. I am appalled by the hypocrisy of an institution that pushes and inspires me to ‘be the future’ and contribute my education back to the world, and yet does not use its social power and wealth to uphold the stewardship of the very Earth I am to supposedly lead.
Divesting the UC from fossil fuels aligns with your - with our - mission. It allows you to have credibility in your commitment to sustainability. You have said, “We will need to change to meet the demands of the century ahead. And that change must be imagined, sketched, questioned and agreed to publicly and accountably.”(1) By divesting, you are affirming that you will put into practice the accountability and integrity that are embedded in and considered core to our education. By divesting, you allow me to feel proud of my education and to know that the benefits I have reaped (and the future gifts I will give) do not come at the expense of this world and its creatures whom I hope to serve. You allow me to honestly defend my education and identity as a UC alumnus.
Because of this, I am joining the Fossil Free UC DONORS FOR DIVESTMENT campaign. I am pledging a gift of $50 to the UC that I plan to give and increase yearly, but if and only if my donation will be fossil free. Please consider the futures of students like myself and the millions more to come. I urge you to vote yes for the UC to divest its endowment from fossil fuels and put funds toward community-based climate solutions.
Sincerely,
Alyssa Lee
UCLA, Class of 2014
B.S. in Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics
(1) http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/uc-system/stewardship