This is such an underreported matter...thank you for highlighting the significant changes that activism has wrought...and how much more there is to do.
Incredibly succinct synopsis of ten years of divestment action! Maybe #Yale will be next and maybe they, like BU, will say “divestment” and give credit to student activism. 🤞
Good news, Bill. I asked my investment adviser 2 years ago to only put renewable energy companies, and socially responsible ethical ones too, into my portfolio. I've been told my restrictions have actually paid off and I've done better than their other clients who have invested in fossil fuel companies, etc. Those more wealthy than I am could make a bigger difference. Our bottom lines would be better than these greedy corporations perhaps!
Well done, Bill, as usual. OT, but we are working on an avoided deforestation project here on the West Coast. The big Green organizations are useless, but others are showing interest. Sweden has developed a steelmaking process that reduces its carbon footprint from 6% of global emissions down to 1%. Email me if you want to help us here, and of course we have a place to stay next time you're in the Bay Area.
Bill, really powerful work. Thank you for being such an inspiration. As a California teacher, I was saddened to learn that CalSTRS (California State Teacher Retirement System) has $6 billion invested in fossil fuels, including Enbridge. Many powerful groups of California educators have called for fossil fuel divestment as far back as 2013. (Santa Roas Teachers Association, California Federation of Teachers (2016), United Teachers of Los Angeles (2019), Faculty Association of California Community Colleges (2020), California Faculty Association (2021), etc.) Unfortunately, the most powerful CalSTRS stakeholder, the California Teachers Association---my union that I am so grateful for---- still supports fossil fuel investing. I was surprised to learn that in 2017 the CTA opposed a Dakota Access Pipeline divestment bill that Asm. Ash Kalra brought to the CA legislature. Two weeks after the CTA's letter opposing the bill, Assemblymember Ash Kalra amended the bill to turn it into "report on engagement". Just 10 days ago, thanks to a Public Information Request, I learned that in the letter opposing this divestment bill the CTA misrepresented CalSTRS own analysis of possible costs of the 2017 DAPL divestment bill. The CTA appears to have conflated "exposure" with "costs of divestment". CalSTRS estimate the administrative costs of the divestment bill to be between $800,000 and $28.7 million whereas the CTA's consequential letter opposing the bill stated that the CalSTRS estimate of potential costs was $8 billion. I have evidence that this possible misunderstanding of costs of divestment may be a result of CTA/CalSTRS groupthink. I'd love to share more information and documents about this. Enbridge was one of the main companies involved in DAPL. I think the misinformation and opposition to the DAPL divestment bill by the CTA in 2017 may have impacted Enbridge's calculations about their ability to infringe on Indigenous treaty rights with impunity. I also believe that mistaken beliefs about the costs of fossil fuel divestment are enabled by CalSTRS employees (public servants) and that this misinformation is what has kept CTA protecting old norms about fossil fuel investing and screen out information such as the Blackrock/Meketa reports.
Neat to recall Unity College's role in this journey. As Bill knows, I was a fan of the divestment message - pushing universities and companies to re-examine "fiduciary responsibility" to include responsibility to maintain a workable climate and fair societies. But I was a skeptic on the scale of carbon and markets. Demonstrable progress shows I was wrong. This is why I encourage folks not to rely on a single viewpoint on tough questions.
This is such an underreported matter...thank you for highlighting the significant changes that activism has wrought...and how much more there is to do.
Incredibly succinct synopsis of ten years of divestment action! Maybe #Yale will be next and maybe they, like BU, will say “divestment” and give credit to student activism. 🤞
Good news, Bill. I asked my investment adviser 2 years ago to only put renewable energy companies, and socially responsible ethical ones too, into my portfolio. I've been told my restrictions have actually paid off and I've done better than their other clients who have invested in fossil fuel companies, etc. Those more wealthy than I am could make a bigger difference. Our bottom lines would be better than these greedy corporations perhaps!
Now we have to get congress, even the Republicans, to see that green is the economy of tomorrow. How can they be missing the memo??
Well done, Bill, as usual. OT, but we are working on an avoided deforestation project here on the West Coast. The big Green organizations are useless, but others are showing interest. Sweden has developed a steelmaking process that reduces its carbon footprint from 6% of global emissions down to 1%. Email me if you want to help us here, and of course we have a place to stay next time you're in the Bay Area.
Bill, really powerful work. Thank you for being such an inspiration. As a California teacher, I was saddened to learn that CalSTRS (California State Teacher Retirement System) has $6 billion invested in fossil fuels, including Enbridge. Many powerful groups of California educators have called for fossil fuel divestment as far back as 2013. (Santa Roas Teachers Association, California Federation of Teachers (2016), United Teachers of Los Angeles (2019), Faculty Association of California Community Colleges (2020), California Faculty Association (2021), etc.) Unfortunately, the most powerful CalSTRS stakeholder, the California Teachers Association---my union that I am so grateful for---- still supports fossil fuel investing. I was surprised to learn that in 2017 the CTA opposed a Dakota Access Pipeline divestment bill that Asm. Ash Kalra brought to the CA legislature. Two weeks after the CTA's letter opposing the bill, Assemblymember Ash Kalra amended the bill to turn it into "report on engagement". Just 10 days ago, thanks to a Public Information Request, I learned that in the letter opposing this divestment bill the CTA misrepresented CalSTRS own analysis of possible costs of the 2017 DAPL divestment bill. The CTA appears to have conflated "exposure" with "costs of divestment". CalSTRS estimate the administrative costs of the divestment bill to be between $800,000 and $28.7 million whereas the CTA's consequential letter opposing the bill stated that the CalSTRS estimate of potential costs was $8 billion. I have evidence that this possible misunderstanding of costs of divestment may be a result of CTA/CalSTRS groupthink. I'd love to share more information and documents about this. Enbridge was one of the main companies involved in DAPL. I think the misinformation and opposition to the DAPL divestment bill by the CTA in 2017 may have impacted Enbridge's calculations about their ability to infringe on Indigenous treaty rights with impunity. I also believe that mistaken beliefs about the costs of fossil fuel divestment are enabled by CalSTRS employees (public servants) and that this misinformation is what has kept CTA protecting old norms about fossil fuel investing and screen out information such as the Blackrock/Meketa reports.
Incredibly succinct synopsis of ten years of divestment action. TY!!!!
Neat to recall Unity College's role in this journey. As Bill knows, I was a fan of the divestment message - pushing universities and companies to re-examine "fiduciary responsibility" to include responsibility to maintain a workable climate and fair societies. But I was a skeptic on the scale of carbon and markets. Demonstrable progress shows I was wrong. This is why I encourage folks not to rely on a single viewpoint on tough questions.