Rutgers Fossil Fuel Divestment organization urges divestment on Earth Day
Rutgers Fossil Fuel Divestment’s heated passion for climate change yet again motivated them to put together a march and rally: “Earth Week Climate March.”
“What we’re asking for is that Rutgers divest in some holdings for fossil fuel,” said Shane Patel, president of Rutgers Fossil Fuel Divestment.
Rutgers Fossil Fuel Divestment wants to show University students they are able promote and create change in their local communities. Moreover, they want to show the administration that their students truly care about climate change action.
Patel, a School of Engineering senior and primary sponsor, hopes to be as successful in channeling a similar spirit among the crowd this Friday as they did last September during the “People’s Climate March” in New York City.
“There were about 440,000 people marching in NYC for climate action,” Patel said. “That was a pretty unprecedented event. We brought about 150 Rutgers students with us.”
Patel said targeting fossil fuel divestment is a strategy for getting past the country's political problems facing climate change.
The University is in charge of charitable funds in the form of Rutgers' endowment, and Patel said Rutgers Fossil Fuel Divestment would like the school to take a portion that is invested in fossil fuels and reinvest it in a better alternative.
“The logic of fossil fuel divestment isn’t to bankrupt oil and gas companies,” he said. “It is to send a hopeful message that we shouldn’t be profiting off of the destruction of the climate.”
Beyond that, Patel said the march also highlights attempts to limit the power of oil and gas companies that try to work with Congress to stop climate action from occurring.
“In 2015, big oil companies continue to profit off the extraction and consumption of our Earth's life's blood, and those who are least able to deal with the ensuing environmental destruction are made to bear the burden,” according to the event’s Facebook page.
As the planet continues to warm, sea levels continue to rise, swallowing island villages and fueling ultra-violent storms, according to the page. While climate change is not only an issue of socio-economic and environmental injustice, it is also one of the greatest threats to humanity's survival.
The march was originally scheduled to assemble yesterday, but had to be moved to Friday due to inclement weather.
The expected crowd will start at College Hall on Douglass campus at 4 p.m., then will march through George Street to the College Avenue campus — all-the-while, making voices in support heard.
The march will finish as a rally on the steps of Brower Commons, where there will be speakers and performances in the hopes of raising awareness concerning the climate injustice, according to the event’s Facebook page.
“We’re hoping to send a message to our students that this is something that they can actually impact," Patel said. “There’s obviously a ton of students at Rutgers who care about climate change and who want to make a difference, but it’s really difficult to actually do that especially when you’re between the ages of 19 to 22.”
