Thanks to EcoRINews

For a good article that follows up on a show we did on students pushing schools to divest of holdings in energy companies, mostly focused on coal.

It will be interesting to see how successful the kids are in convinced schools like Brown, MIT, etc, to put their money elsewhere.   Let's hope if that money shifts, it is into companies that can create jobs.  We'll lose some in the energy sector as we pull dollars out.

Here's the link:  http://www.ecori.org/green-groups/2013/6/9/students-do-the-math-on-school-divestment.html

Part of the story:  

Students Do the Math on School Divestment

By KEVIN PROFT/ecoRI News staf

PROVIDENCE — Bill McKibben, climate activist and founder of 350.org, is concerned about carbon emissions. During the past 10 months, McKibben has brought attention to the fossil-fuel industry’s plan to burn five times more coal, gas and oil than the Earth’s atmosphere can safely absorb. He’s written for Rolling Stone, completed a nationwide bus tour and, most recently, released “Do the Math: The Movie,” a 45-minute documentary chronicling 350.org’s climate activist movement.

In the video, McKibben enumerates how fossil-fuel companies can help mitigate the impacts of climate change: stop lobbying in Washington; transition from being fossil-fuel companies to energy companies focused on a rapid transition to renewable energy; and stop exploring for new fossil-fuel reserves.

“The first rule of holes is that when you are in one, stop digging,” McKibben says about the industry’s ever-growing reserves.

The fossil-fuel industry, however, is unlikely to listen to McKibben, unless there is no other alternative. In fact, according to McKibben, Exxon currently spends about $100 million a day exploring for new fossil fuels to burn. In order to force the industry’s hand, McKibben recognizes he will need a lot of help.

That’s where groups such as Fossil Free RI come in. Fossil Free RI, the Ocean State’s newest student-led divestment campaign, has been working since March to get the University of Rhode Island, Rhode Island College and the Community College of Rhode Island to divest their funds from the fossil-fuel industry. The endowments at all three state schools are ultimately overseen by the Rhode Island Board of Education, which is why Fossil Free RI is targeting the schools together, say campaign leaders.

Fossil Free RI, unlike its counterparts at Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design, intends to target municipal and state funds as well, according to member Nick Katkevich. Many municipal and state pension funds, for example, are invested, in part, in fossil fuels. The goal of selling off fossil-fuel related stock is to hurt the industry’s market value and create a public stigma against them, he said..."