Feb 14, 2014
Students across the UK demanded that their colleges and universities divest from the fossil fuel industry in a Valentine's Day of Action to curb the climate crisis.
At over 40 campuses across the UK, including Oxford, Glasgow, and Leeds, students pulled off rallies and creative actions to urge their schools to join the global divestment movement. This included a sit-in at the student union of Hull University, as well as a public display of over 1,000 signatures on a divestment petition at Glasgow University.
"Today we gave our petition of more than 1380 signatures to the University Secretary asking for divestment from both the fossil fuel and arms industries," said Hannah Roques, a campaigner from University of Edinburgh People & Planet. "We also gave Valentine's Day's cards with poems inside asking that the University break up with the fossil fuel industry as we don't think this relationship is working out."
The Friday events are part of Go Green Week, aimed at raising awareness and sparking action to curb the climate crisis.
In an open letter and petition to "Every Vice-Chancellor and member of Universities" students write:
We believe that investing in fossil fuel companies runs completely counter to the strong commitments made by all UK Vice-Chancellors to reduce the Higher Education sector's climate impacts. However, UK universities still invest over PS5.2 billion in the very companies doing most to cause the climate crisis.
We believe that not only are these investments financially unsound due to the looming 'carbon bubble' crisis, but also that it is deeply immoral and hypocritical to profit from those knowingly destroying a safe future for us all.
So far, Edinburgh and Glasgow universities are the only ones that have agreed to reconsider their investments in the fossil fuels industry, the Guardian reports.
Commentary and reports from the day of action were being published on Twitter by those using the hashtag #FossilFuelFree:
Tweets about "#FossilFreeFriday"
_____________________
On January 20th, it begins...
Political revenge. Mass deportations. Project 2025. Unfathomable corruption. Attacks on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Pardons for insurrectionists. An all-out assault on democracy. Republicans in Congress are scrambling to give Trump broad new powers to strip the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit he doesn’t like by declaring it a “terrorist-supporting organization.” Trump has already begun filing lawsuits against news outlets that criticize him. At Common Dreams, we won’t back down, but we must get ready for whatever Trump and his thugs throw at us. Our Year-End campaign is our most important fundraiser of the year. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover issues the corporate media never will, but we can only continue with our readers’ support. By donating today, please help us fight the dangers of a second Trump presidency. |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Sarah Lazare
Sarah Lazare was a staff writer for Common Dreams from 2013-2016. She is currently web editor and reporter for In These Times.
Students across the UK demanded that their colleges and universities divest from the fossil fuel industry in a Valentine's Day of Action to curb the climate crisis.
At over 40 campuses across the UK, including Oxford, Glasgow, and Leeds, students pulled off rallies and creative actions to urge their schools to join the global divestment movement. This included a sit-in at the student union of Hull University, as well as a public display of over 1,000 signatures on a divestment petition at Glasgow University.
"Today we gave our petition of more than 1380 signatures to the University Secretary asking for divestment from both the fossil fuel and arms industries," said Hannah Roques, a campaigner from University of Edinburgh People & Planet. "We also gave Valentine's Day's cards with poems inside asking that the University break up with the fossil fuel industry as we don't think this relationship is working out."
The Friday events are part of Go Green Week, aimed at raising awareness and sparking action to curb the climate crisis.
In an open letter and petition to "Every Vice-Chancellor and member of Universities" students write:
We believe that investing in fossil fuel companies runs completely counter to the strong commitments made by all UK Vice-Chancellors to reduce the Higher Education sector's climate impacts. However, UK universities still invest over PS5.2 billion in the very companies doing most to cause the climate crisis.
We believe that not only are these investments financially unsound due to the looming 'carbon bubble' crisis, but also that it is deeply immoral and hypocritical to profit from those knowingly destroying a safe future for us all.
So far, Edinburgh and Glasgow universities are the only ones that have agreed to reconsider their investments in the fossil fuels industry, the Guardian reports.
Commentary and reports from the day of action were being published on Twitter by those using the hashtag #FossilFuelFree:
Tweets about "#FossilFreeFriday"
_____________________
Sarah Lazare
Sarah Lazare was a staff writer for Common Dreams from 2013-2016. She is currently web editor and reporter for In These Times.
Students across the UK demanded that their colleges and universities divest from the fossil fuel industry in a Valentine's Day of Action to curb the climate crisis.
At over 40 campuses across the UK, including Oxford, Glasgow, and Leeds, students pulled off rallies and creative actions to urge their schools to join the global divestment movement. This included a sit-in at the student union of Hull University, as well as a public display of over 1,000 signatures on a divestment petition at Glasgow University.
"Today we gave our petition of more than 1380 signatures to the University Secretary asking for divestment from both the fossil fuel and arms industries," said Hannah Roques, a campaigner from University of Edinburgh People & Planet. "We also gave Valentine's Day's cards with poems inside asking that the University break up with the fossil fuel industry as we don't think this relationship is working out."
The Friday events are part of Go Green Week, aimed at raising awareness and sparking action to curb the climate crisis.
In an open letter and petition to "Every Vice-Chancellor and member of Universities" students write:
We believe that investing in fossil fuel companies runs completely counter to the strong commitments made by all UK Vice-Chancellors to reduce the Higher Education sector's climate impacts. However, UK universities still invest over PS5.2 billion in the very companies doing most to cause the climate crisis.
We believe that not only are these investments financially unsound due to the looming 'carbon bubble' crisis, but also that it is deeply immoral and hypocritical to profit from those knowingly destroying a safe future for us all.
So far, Edinburgh and Glasgow universities are the only ones that have agreed to reconsider their investments in the fossil fuels industry, the Guardian reports.
Commentary and reports from the day of action were being published on Twitter by those using the hashtag #FossilFuelFree:
Tweets about "#FossilFreeFriday"
_____________________
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.