Image borrowed from Occupy Oakland Media <http://hellaoccupyoakland.org/kin/>
Wow! We are already 2 weeks into July and our Fossil Free UC Letter-A-Day Campaign! For all of this month and August, we are asking anyone who is affiliated with the UC, whether they are students, alumni, faculty, or even California taxpayers, to write in to the Regents and President Napolitano with a strong message:
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!
This week, we are featuring a letter from Jane Vosburg from Sonoma County who has written to President Napolitano requesting the same leadership from the UC as they showed in the 1980s when they divested from the apartheid government in South Africa. Vosburg’s letter makes a powerful case for the ethical argument for divestment but also gives a strong presentation for why it is economically beneficial. Please check it out below!
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Dear President Napolitano,
The images of Nelson Mandela returning to Berkeley to thank the student body for its help in bringing an end to apartheid in South Africa demonstrates the power of a campaign run by students with conviction. The injustices of apartheid were reprehensible and the good fight was fought and won.
Today, students find themselves in an even more reprehensible situation. They are faced with a fossil fuel industry which is determined to burn all the fuel it has in its reserves thereby causing climate catastrophe and heating the planet to a level unconducive to life. To prevent this scenario, the fossil fuel industry must keep 80% of its reserves in the ground. At the current rate of emissions, the carbon budget will be depleted by 2040. Humanity has never faced such a dilemma.
The moral argument alone should convince the UC Regents to divest the UC’s endowment from the fossil fuel industry; but, equally compelling are the financial reasons to divest. Beavis Longstreth, former commissioner of the Securities Exchange Commission cautions in his article “The Financial Case for Divestment of Fossil Fuel Companies by Endowment Fiduciaries,” that “For fiduciaries, the planet’s present condition and trajectory pose major, and growing, portfolio risks.” Republican Henry Paulson, who was secretary of the Treasury when the credit bubble burst warns, “We’re making the same mistake today with climate change. We’re staring down a climate bubble that poses enormous risks to both our environment and economy. The warning signs are clear and growing as the risks go unchecked….This is a crisis we can’t afford to ignore…. We can see the crash coming, and yet we’re sitting on our hands rather than altering course. We need to act now….” I would argue that inaction by the UC Regents would in fact be a breach of their fiduciary duty.
It is only a matter of time before prestigious colleges begin their commitment to divest their endowments from fossil fuel-Stanford has already committed to divest from coal. Therefore, I urge you to embrace the leadership of the students who are fighting to prevent climate catastrophe. Make the University of California the beacon of justice once more by divesting its endowment from fossil fuel companies.
Respectfully,
Jane Vosburg
