Ever wonder just from where your schools’ funds happen to come? And more importantly, do you know what your school does with that money?

Educational institutions possess an endowment, money that begins primarily as grants and
alumni gifts or donations before being invested. This endowment serves as a sort of savings account for the college/university. Generating funds is certainly a necessary and positive activity as larger funds allow schools to hire more staff, create more programs, and offer more financial aid to students. So school spend quite a bit of time searching for sound investments that yield a high return. Unfortunately, schools often overlook one key, important factor when building a financial portfolio– in whom are they actually investing?

Hundreds of companies both domestic and foreign either support or are directly involved in
fossil fuel extraction, regardless of whether or not the Exxon-Valdez logo appears next
to the company’s name.  By investing endowment money in those companies, our schools
are lending their support to these proven dirty energy industries. But, how do we stop our schools from giving money to those companies in the fossil fuel business? Divestment! If we get our colleges/universities to take money out of those companies, we stop our support of fossil fuels and send the message that we want an end to the extraction and consumption of dirty, destructive, and unsustainable energy.

But this raises another question: How do we divest? Enter: Divest Fossil Fuel Student Convergence 2013! This February 22nd-24th, students from across the nation will converge at Swarthmore College (Swarthmore, PA) to talk divestment and share tips and strategies to launch a successful divestment campaign. We’ll be workshopping from starting a conversation with administration to reaching students and organizing actions.
Divestment allows our schools to send a message to fossil fuel companies that aren’t going to stand for climate injustice any longer. Starting a campaign of our own lets us send this message to our schools. We can and will not support companies that degrade and destroy the natural environment. We need an end to energy that pollutes and we need to support clean and renewable sources. We need to protect the natural world and stop pollution and destruction before it is too late. Launching such a campaign can be daunting and no one should have to go forward alone, so join like-minded students from around the country ready to offer advice and support. You too can send your school and the fossil fuel industry a message: we want climate justice now!