Solidarity!

Thanks for all the messages of support and solidarity! It’s keeping energy and motivation high inside the occupation, we’re still waiting until the University give us a satisfactory response to our demands…

Divestment really is a global movement – here’s a selection of the messages we’ve received from across the world:

From Egypt: Keep up the pressure! We stand with you in solidarity from Egypt

 

From Harvard:  People & Planet Edinburgh occupied their University’s administrative building one day after their Administration rejected‪#‎divestment‬. So much love and solidarity to these brave students. They’re tired of bad excuses and being ignored by those in charge, so they’ve taken matters into their own hands

Divest Harvard are piling on the pressure to protest their University’s continued refusal to divest. Yesterday over 25 students blockaded the President’s office, risking arrest to disrupt until the University shows signs of change. Solidarity Harvard! Nice work, you are an inspiration.

From Iowa: You guys are great!!! Brave, heroic, intelligent, and morally in the right! We from the Climate Reality Project stand firmly behind you as does much of the world. Thank you! You are making such a difference!

From New York: Thanks for taking a stand for the climate! I support you from New York.

 

From Healthy Planet UK: A whole load of love & solidarity from UK health students & workers!

Statement from Fossil Free Warwick:

On the 12th of May Edinburgh University Court decided against committing to divestment. Fossil Free Warwick expresses solidarity with our comrades at Edinburgh who are currently in occupation in reaction to the University’s decision. This case unfortunately is an all-too familiar example of universities, public universities, placing profit before environmentally sound policy. Edinburgh will take divestment decisions on a case by case basis, only divesting in companies who currently have feasible alternative sources of energy. This completely negates the principle of fossil fuel divestment, which is a desire to explicitly remove the social licence of fossil fuel burning companies to operate within society; a policy which is becoming ever more a necessity given the perilous position of our environment.

Edinburgh’s escalation is not an isolated case. They have shown, alongside recent action by students at Harvard, that the fossil free movement is now not satisfied with empty promises of ineffectual change. Universities are perpetually straying into hypocrisy by funding world-leading environmental research, while shunning calls for an ethically responsible investment portfolio. It appears as if attempts to delay critical decisions, or even worse, imparting an inconsistent environmental agenda, are considered appropriate for handling fossil free campaigns. This is frankly naïve. Students across the UK are willing to escalate in the fight for a fossil free university system, and a fossil free society. Solidarity Edinburgh P&P!

…And a shout-out to Free Education MCR who have been in occupation since yesterday in reaction to education cuts!

Why I’m Occupying- Beth

The University’s refusal to divest from fossil fuels is yet another demonstration of their continued prioritisation of profit over the concerns of students, staff, and the wider community.  In their decision to continue investing in the fossil fuel industry, the University Court stand high on their privileged platform and ignore the millions across the world who will suffer the most from climate catastrophe.

We need urgent commitment to full divestment. Instead, the decision of the University Court, as emailed to all students on Monday, was a weak half-hearted statement centred on a commitment “to work with companies to reduce their emissions”. This is fundamentally flawed. Engaging with companies, continuing to finance the destructive practices of coal and tar sands companies under the pretence that improvement is possible is not good enough. Negotiating with Shell won’t mean that they stop extracting fossil fuels even if they do invest in the odd solar panel; the University should not be able to use ‘engagement’ as an excuse for avoiding taking a decisive political action.

We’re here in the hope that our immediate demands – that the University must commit to unconditional divestment from coal and tar sands – will be met. The University must use its power productively and add its voice to the global call to divestment. The campaign for full divestment from fossil fuels and arms will continue should this compromised demand be met.

Show your support to the occupation by emailing (principal@ed.ac.uk)/shouting/sharing/letting the university know as publicly as possible that this fight is not going to fade until they make a commitment to divest from the toxic world of fossil fuels.

Occupation Demands

On the 12th of May Edinburgh University Court decided against committing to divestment. As a consequence, students have taken action and occupied Charles Stewart House. We are disappointed by both the decision taken and the lack of transparency surrounding the decision-making process. We are unconvinced by the policy’s ability to deliver even modest divestment from fossil fuels and thus have made the following demands:

Firstly, during the occupation we make the following demands:

– We want access in and out of Charles Stewart House

-We demand that nobody involved in the occupation be subject to any subsequent penalisation for their involvement in the occupation.

Secondly, our de-occupation of Charles Stewart House is contingent upon the following demands:

-We demand a commitment to divestment from coal and tar sands within an agreed timeframe

-We demand this timeframe to expire at our return to university in September 2015

-Thus, we demand the period of engagement with coal and tar sands to be limited to this time frame

-We demand full disclosure on the court’s decision-making process, that is, a description of how the decision was made and clarification on what the decision actually entails.

-We demand, as Edinburgh People and Planet, to have representatives present during all future discussion regarding ethical investment, and establishing parameters for what the University expects to achieve through engagement with fossil fuel companies.

You Refused to Divest So We’ve Occupied

We have just occupied one of the main University management buildings -Charles Stewart House – as we’re thoroughly disappointed with the University’s failure to commit to divestment from fossil fuels. Edinburgh came down firmly on the side of short-term economic interest, with little to no acknowledgement of the long-term repercussions of their investments.

WE ARE OCCUPYING BECAUSE:

* The University of Edinburgh have not committed to divestment.

* The process surrounding the decision to not divest has been extremely un-transparent.

* The decision not to divest has been contrary to the will of students and staff.

* The process surrounding the decision to not divest has not delivered any immediate results.

* People and Planet, the initiators of the campaign, have been excluded from all working group meetings and announcements.

* We’ve had three years of debate and empty promises, the time for action is yesterday.

Yesterday the University of Edinburgh failed to make any commitment to the staff and students, who for the past three years have demanded divestment. After failing to recognise our voice we therefore have decided to take matters into our own hands and up the campaign to make the University listen. Our occupation will last until the University meets our original demands of committing to full divestment from all fossil fuels with them being totally screened out of the investment portfolio over a five year period.

Yesterday the University Court claimed it would use the institution’s ‘leverage of [their] investments to bring about change that reduces carbon emissions in the fossil fuels and other sectors’. However, the proof against green-washing ‘engagement’ has been reiterated on countless different platforms. As Bill McKibbon states, ‘these companies are unlikely to engage in action that will put them out of business’, as is evidenced by BP’s recent decision to pull out of renewables. The fact is, if the University had an interest in changing behaviour it would have started at home by divesting. Divestment would have seen Edinburgh join a global campaign of universities and other forward-thinking organisations, which have divorced themselves from the grip of fossil fuel industries.

In regards to the University’s investment policy, the official press release states, ‘The University will withdraw from investment in these [fossil fuel consuming and extracting] companies if: realistic alternative sources of energy are available and the companies involved are not investing in technologies that help address the effects of carbon emissions and climate change.’ Firstly, this wording is vague and leaves the option of no divestment open. Secondly, the reason there are no large-scale alternative energy sources is because of the failure to invest in them. Despite a three-year process, it seems the university misunderstands divestment. Divestment does NOT mean a cessation in the use of fossil fuels immediately, instead it is about starting the shift from fossil fuels to a renewable economy. Divestment is designed to create space for alternatives to grow.

This non-decision brings into question the validity of the University’s decision-making process. This process began after students voted in favour of the policy in 2012 followed by student representatives starting to raise the issue in board meetings. In 2014 the University ran their own consultation which found staff, students and the public in favour of ethical investment. A year after their consultation we still have zero commitment to change. The University refused to issue their working group report until yesterday and refused student’s entry into the press conference where the decision was announced. At the most important stage, they neglected their responsibility to students.

So we’re not taking it any more, we’re occupying to make a firm stand that the campaign will not be going anywhere until the University commits to fully divest and we will be ignored no longer. 

OVER 50 ACADEMICS URGE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH TO DIVEST FROM FOSSIL FUELS AND ARMS

Today we handed in our open staff letter to the Senior Vice Principal and Chair of the fossil fuel divestment review group, Professor Charlie Jeffery. Signed by over 50 members of staff and academics at the university, it sends out a clear message of support for divestment from fossil fuels and arms. As the last fossil fuel review group meets, we call on them to listen to staff and students who are sending a strong message to remove investments from industries who are fueling environmental damage and social injustice.

Read  more here: The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/01/edinburgh-university-fossil-fuel-divestment?CMP=share_btn_fb

The National Scotsman: http://www.thenational.scot/news/staff-tell-edinburgh-university-sell-shares-in-fossil-fuel-and-arms-companies.656

Edinburgh Reporter: http://www.theedinburghreporter.co.uk/2015/03/academics-call-on-university-to-rethink-investments/

The open letter:

Dear Professor Sir Timothy O’Shea,

We are proud of being part of a University which aspires ‘to make world-leading contributions to understanding and addressing global challenges’. We are calling on the University to take action to fulfill these objectives: to divest from fossil fuels and the arms trade. While we use our endowment fund to support the fossil fuel industry, we bear responsibility for the environmental damage and social injustice that result from it. Similarly, by investing in arms companies we are fueling conflict, poverty and human rights abuses.

 The most recent IPCC report has clearly stated that anthropogenic global warming is “unequivocal”. If we continue on the current trajectory to a 4°C rise in global temperature we will face rising sea levels, reduced capacity of food production, and immanent resource wars. Whilst there is near-consensus concerning the causes and potential consequences of climate change, the global community has faltered in articulating the actions that must be taken to combat it.

 We now have a global movement that has pinpointed a simple and necessary action: divestment from fossil fuels. From the University of Glasgow, to the British Medical Association, The World Council of Churches, Mary Robinson, Desmond Tutu, UN Climate Chief Christiana Figueres, the Rockefeller Foundation and the National Union of Students – the support for divestment is widespread. Collectively over $50 billion of investment in fossil fuels has been withdrawn.  In order to stay below a two degree rise of global temperature, 80% of known fossil fuel reserves must stay underground. This is possible. A whole-scale shift to renewable energy production, coupled with increased efforts to reduce consumption would enable us to mitigate the effects of climate change. The fossil fuel industry poses a formidable barrier through funding climate change denial and lobbying politicians, thus distorting public debate and preventing action on climate change.

 Business as usual is not an option. Divestment from the fossil fuel industry means that our money will not further worsen the problem but also send a strong statement that the University of Edinburgh  is making a ‘significant, sustainable and socially responsible contribution to Scotland, the UK and the world’. We further believe that divestment from the arms trade is crucial and follows the precedent set by divesting from Ultra Electronics Ltd. Our continued investment in fossil fuels and arms, combined with the futility of shareholder engagement, constitutes inaction on climate change and human conflict across the globe. It is time that we stop thinking in terms of the risk of divestment and lead the way in creating a sustainable and secure future. By positively investing in renewable energy, local innovations and the university’s own initiatives we will be fulfilling the University’s mission and attempting to meet its targets to reduce carbon emissions.

We are calling on the University of Edinburgh to divest from fossil fuels and the arms trade.

Signed

Signed:

1. Professor Crispin Bates, Director of Centre for South Asia Studies, School of History, Classics and Archaeology
2. Dr. Julie Cupples, Lecturer in Human Geography, School of Geosciences
3. Dr. Sara Rich Dorman, Lecturer in Politics, School of Social and Political Sciences
4. Dr. David Farrier, Lecturer in English Literature, School of Literature, Languages and Cultures
5. Dr. Guy Fletcher, Lecturer in Philosophy, School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Studies
6. Dr. Franklin Ginn, Lecturer in Human Geography, School of Geosciences
7. Dr. Hugo Gorringe, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, School of Social and Political Sciences
8. Dr. Andrew Harmer, Lecturer in Global Health Policy, School of Social and Political Science
9. Professor Jonathan Hearn, Professor of Political and Historical Sociology, School of Social and Political Sciences
10. Professor Lynn Jamieson, Professor of Sociology of Families and Relationships, School of Social and Political Sciences
11. Professor Patricia Jeffery, Emerita Professor of Sociology, School of Social and Political Sciences
12. Professor Roger Jeffery, Professor of Sociology of South Asia, School of Social and Political Science
13. Dr. Stephen Kemp, Lecturer in Sociology, School of Social and Political Science
14. Professor Simon King, Professor of Linguistics & English Language, School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Studies
15. Dr. Eric Laurier, Senior Lecturer in Geography and Interaction, School of Geosciences
16. Dr. Richard Milne, Senior Lecturer, School of Biological Sciences
17. Peter McColl, Rector and Chair of University Court
18. Dr. Fergus McInnes, Research Fellow, School of Informatics
19. Professor Michael Northcott, Professor of Ethics, School of Divinity
20. Professor Andrew Patrizio, Professor of Art History, Edinburgh College of Art
21. Dr. Pauline Phemister, Reader in Philosophy, School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Studies
22. Dr. Tom Slater, Reader in Human Geography, School of Geosciences
23. Dr. Katherine Smith, Reader in the Global Health Public Unit, School of Social and Political Sciences
24. Professor Liz Stanley, ESRC Professional Research Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences
25. Professor Janette Webb, Professor in Institute of Governance, School of Social and Political Sciences
26. Dr. Tom Webster, Lecturer in History, School of History, Classics and Archaeology
27. Dr. Sarah Hill, Senior Lecturer in Population Health and Health Policy, School of Social and Political Sciences
28. Dr. Thomas Pierret, Lecturer in Contemporary Islam, School of Literature, Languages and Cultures
29. Rev. Ali Newell, Associate Chaplain
30. Professor Matthew Williams, Professor of Global Change Ecology, School of Geosciences
31. Dr William Mackaness, Senior Lecturer in Geographical Information Science, School of Geosciences
32. Professor David Stevenson, Atmospheric Chemistry Modelling, School of Geosciences
33. Dr. Kanchana Ruwanpura, Senior Lecturer in Human Heography, School of Geosciences
34. Dr. Caroline Lehmann, Lecturer in Biogeography, School of Geosciences
35. Dr. Samantha Staddon, Teaching Fellow in Environment and Development, School of Geosciences
36. Professor Dave Raey, Director of Post-graduate Teaching, School of Geosciences
37. Professor Mark Aspinwall, Professor of Politics, School of Social and Political Science
38. Dr. Shaun Bevan, Lecturer in Quantitative Political Science, School of Social and Political Science
39. Dr. Andrea Birdsall, Lecturer in International Relations and Co-Director of Undergraduate Studies, School of Social and Political Science
40. Dr. Philip Cook, Lecturer in Political Theory, School of History, Classics and Archaeology
41. Dr. Alan Convery, Lecturer in Politics, School of Social and Political Science
42. Professor Douglas Cairn, Professor of Classics, School of Social and Political Sciences
43. Melanie Scott, Assistant Director Student Disability Service
44. Dr. Andrew Cross, Research Associate, School of Geosciences
45. Dr. Jeremy Kidwell, AHRC Post-doctoral Research Fellow, School of Divinity
46. Dr. Songül Mecit, Post Doctoral Fellow in Islamic Studies, School of Literature, Languages and Cultures
47. Dr. Serpil Ozdemir, Teaching Fellow in Turkish, School of Literature, Languages and Cultures
48. Dr. Marisa Wilson, Chancellor’s Fellow of Geographies and the Lived Environment, School of Geosciences
49. Mags Tingey, Research Officer in the Institute of Governance, School of Social and Political Sciences
50. Dr. Aaron Thierry, Postdoctoral Research Associate, CYCLOPS, School of Geosciences
51. Dr. Lisa Shillio, Fellow in Archaeology, School of History, Classics and Archaeology
52. Dr. Gemma Phillips, Research Fellow, School of Molecular, Genetic and Population Health Sciences
53. Dr. Isabel Fletcher, Global Public Health Unit Research Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences
54. Dr. Isabelle Darmon, Lecturer in Sociology, School of Social and Political Science
55. Dr. Claire Haggett, Lecturer in Sociology and Sustainability, School of Social and Political Sciences
56. Dr. Ken Rice, Reader in Astronomy, School of Physics and Astronomy
57. Dr. Paul Graham Morris, Lecturer in Health Psychology, School of Health In Social Sciences
58. Dr. Mark de Vries, Lecturer in Materials Chemistry, School of Chemistry
59. Dr. Velda McCune, Deputy Director, Institute for Academic Development
60. Dr. Hamish Macleod, Senior Lecturer in Education, Community and Society, Moray House School of Education

GLOBAL DIVESTMENT DAY!

https://www.facebook.com/edunipeopleandplanet?fref=tsToday people gathered from across the world to demand a fossil free future – one that is free from the injustices of climate change, exacerbated by our continued investment in fossil fuels. Students and staff at Edinburgh University gathered to increase pressure on the university’s ongoing discussions on fossil fuel divestment, looking to reach a critical stage in the next month. The University of Edinburgh continues to invest over £30 million of it’s endowment fund in fossil fuel companies. This is not a sustainable, ethical or socially responsible use of such funds. We demand the university to:

– Immediately freezes any new investment in fossil fuel companies.

– Divests from direct ownership and any commingled funds that include fossil fuel public equities and corporate bonds within 5 years. (By fossil fuel companies we refer to the index of the top 200 fossil fuel companies: http://tinyurl.com/nydvfjg

Action cards were signed, chants were sung and a big model of the Earth was attempted to be kept in the people’s hands, whilst ‘oil monsters’ tried to undermine our efforts…Check out photos from our action here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ricjl/sets/72157650732921726/

And tweet the university today and tomorrow: @Edinburghuni #divest

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ricjl/sets/72157650732921726/

Info on University of Edinburgh Fossil Fuel Divestment!

Come and find out more about our Fossil Free campaign THIS WEDNESDAY (29th October) @ 11-2pm outside Central Library. We will be informing people about our progress since last years petition and open consultation, and how you can get involved with the campaign this year! (There will also be food…)

See you there! 🙂