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<font size="+2"><i><b>September 14, 2021</b></i></font><br>
<br>
<i>[follow the money]</i><br>
<b>The climate advocates who refuse to divest from big oil</b><br>
As Harvard sheds its fossil fuel investments, some argue it’s
dangerous to limit leverage over oil and gas companies<br>
Chris McGreal -- 14 Sep 2021<br>
Even as climate activists celebrated Harvard University’s promise to
cleanse its multibillion-dollar investment fund of holdings in
fossil fuel companies last week, others dedicated to the fight
against the climate crisis wondered if the real winner was the oil
industry.<br>
<br>
Harvard bowed to pressure from students and advocacy groups who
likened their campaign to the push to divest from apartheid South
Africa in the 1980s. The group, Fossil Fuel Divest Harvard,
described the decision as a “massive victory” and “proof that
activism works, plain and simple”...<br>
- -<br>
The difference over strategies hinges on sharply opposing views of
the future of oil and gas firms. The Harvard activists, alongside
national environmental groups such as 350.org, want to see the
fossil fuel companies put out of business as quickly as possible.<br>
<br>
Simpson and other institutional investors say the oil and gas
industry will remain essential to the US economy for some time and
will probably contribute to the transition to green energy, and so
it is more important to force the business to change the way it
operates.<br>
<br>
Morgen Whitten, an environmental science and public policy student
at Harvard who was one of the organizers of the divestment campaign,
is skeptical.<br>
<br>
“There’s no evidence right now that fossil fuel companies can be
changed. If engagement is an effective strategy, why hasn’t it
already worked?” she said. “There are plenty of studies that show
that no major fossil fuel company is aligned with the Paris climate
accords. Investors like Harvard have had a seat at the table for
decades, and companies have not changed course at all.”<br>
<br>
CalPers, the combined pension and health scheme for 2 million public
workers in California, is experimenting with new approaches toward
changing oil and gas companies from within. In May, it was a key
player in helping the activist investor fund Engine No 1 force three
new directors on to the board of ExxonMobil to press the company to
take the climate crisis seriously...<br>
- -<br>
Bill McKibben, a founder of 350.org, said this was all too little,
too late and risked providing cover for the fossil fuel industry to
appear to take the climate crisis seriously while dragging its
heels. He said that shareholder engagement could be effective in
getting a company to pay its workers more or adapt its business
model – but that was not what was at stake with the oil and gas
industry.<br>
<br>
“The problem with fossil fuel is that it’s not like there’s a flaw
in an excellent business plan. The business plan is that these are
companies that essentially exist for one purpose, which is to dig
stuff up and burn it. That’s all they know how to do,” he said.
“Their track record, both as companies and as political actors over
the last three decades, has been that they will do whatever they can
maintain that business model, even in the case of the planet
breaking.”<br>
<br>
McKibben said that far from divestment relinquishing leverage, it
had added to the pressure on fossil fuel companies.<br>
<br>
“Shell oil announced that divestment had become a material risk to
its business,” he said.<br>
<br>
CalPers did stop investing in coal under pressure from the
California state government and because it was hard to see any kind
of future for coal companies. Simpson argues that oil and gas
producers are different because, like it or not, they will remain
important fuels for years to come.<br>
<br>
Some institutional investors also fear that a rush to kill oil and
gas risks collapsing parts of the economy if there are insufficient
sources of green energy for large industries such as steel, with a
knock-on effect for other manufacturers, such as car makers.<br>
<br>
They want to see the fossil fuel firms pouring resources into
solving the problem, not dying out. McKibben, like others, doubts
that Exxon and Chevron will ever commit to that.<br>
<br>
Whitten sees another benefit of divestment: stigma.<br>
<br>
“It clearly points to who the villain is. Companies for decades have
been trying to shape the narrative on climate change and make
individuals feel like they’re responsible and the fossil fuel
companies are honest actors in this fight. But they’re not,” she
said.<br>
<br>
“They were undermining science. Exxon was attacking scholars,
including at Harvard. So when divestment makes clear who is
perpetrating the harms, we think that there’s got to be a financial
impact to them as well.”<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/14/fossil-fuel-divestment-harvard-oil-exxon-shell">https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/14/fossil-fuel-divestment-harvard-oil-exxon-shell</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<i>[politics gets very serious]</i><br>
<b>‘We will have a really long, long memory’: Greens calling
businesses’ bluff on climate change<br>
</b>Activists want the companies that have called for federal
climate action to get behind the $3.5 trillion package: "We will
have a really long, long memory."<br>
Green groups backing the Democrats’ $3.5 trillion spending package
are aiming their fury at one of the bill’s most powerful opponents:
corporate business lobbies that claim to support action on climate
change.<br>
<br>
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Business Roundtable and the National
Association of Manufacturers all support the much smaller bipartisan
infrastructure bill championed by the Biden White House, which
includes tens of billions of dollars for responding to climate
disasters and promoting green power. They also backed billions in
new spending last year for wind, solar and renewable energy...<br>
- -<br>
But climate activists said they would not go along with any attempt
by moderates to strip the non-climate provisions from the $3.5
trillion bill in hopes of enhancing its bipartisan appeal. They said
progress on climate change would be incomplete without the full
sweep of progressive programs.<br>
<br>
“We’re pushing for the full Build Back Better package,” said Tiernan
Sittenfeld, senior vice president of the League of Conservation
Voters. “We’re not negotiating with ourselves.”<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/09/13/greens-tighten-vise-on-businesses-to-back-climate-bill-511549">https://www.politico.com/news/2021/09/13/greens-tighten-vise-on-businesses-to-back-climate-bill-511549</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<i>[time to adjust our diets]</i><b><br>
</b><b>Climate: When Plants Can't Help Us - Katharyn Duffy on Radio
Ecoshock</b><br>
Alex Smith<br>
Scientist Katharyn Duffy reveals a tipping point for plants - where
they become a source of CO2. We are approaching a temperature
bridge where photosynthesis is cut back. Plants currently absorb
about 30% of our carbon emissions, but within a few decades they may
add to it instead. This is important science about imminent
danger. <br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yi6zFY7tMn8">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yi6zFY7tMn8</a><br>
<br>
<p><br>
</p>
<i>[a social/philosophical discussion]</i><br>
<b>The Zeitgeist of this Moment: Marianne Williamson with author
Peter Joseph</b><br>
Sep 2, 2021<br>
Marianne Williamson<br>
Subscribe to Marianne's Substack, TRANSFORM:
MarianneWilliamson.Substack.com<br>
<br>
Williamson and Joseph discuss the economic and social systems
prevailing in the world today and what is needed to heal society. <br>
<br>
Learn more about Peter Joseph: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.peterjoseph.info">https://www.peterjoseph.info</a><br>
<br>
Read Peter's Book: The New Human Rights Movement: Reinventing the
Economy to End Oppression<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781942952657">https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781942952657</a><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DacbQDV3o-s">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DacbQDV3o-s</a><br>
<br>
<p>- -</p>
<i>[The book ]</i><br>
<b>The New Human Rights Movement</b><br>
Reinventing the Economy to End Oppression<br>
Peter Joseph<br>
Description<br>
Society is broken. We can design our way to a better one.<br>
In our interconnected world, self-interest and social-interest are
rapidly becoming indistinguishable. If current negative trajectories
remain, including growing climate destabilization, biodiversity
loss, and economic inequality, an impending future of ecological
collapse and societal destabilization will make personal success
virtually meaningless. Yet our broken social system incentivizes
behavior that will only make our problems worse. If true human
rights progress is to be achieved today, it is time we dig
deeper--rethinking the very foundation of our social system.<br>
In this engaging, important work, Peter Joseph, founder of the
world's largest grassroots social movement--The Zeitgeist
Movement--draws from economics, history, philosophy, and modern
public-health research to present a bold case for rethinking
activism in the 21st century.<br>
Arguing against the long-standing narrative of universal scarcity
and other pervasive myths that defend the current state of affairs,
The New Human Rights Movement illuminates the structural causes of
poverty, social oppression, and the ongoing degradation of public
health, and ultimately presents the case for an updated economic
approach. Joseph explores the potential of this grand shift and how
we can design our way to a world where the human family has become
truly sustainable.<br>
The New Human Rights Movement reveals the critical importance of a
unified activism working to overcome the inherent injustice of our
system. This book warns against what is in store if we continue to
ignore the flaws of our socioeconomic approach, while also revealing
the bright and expansive future possible if we succeed.<br>
Will you join the movement?<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781942952657">https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781942952657</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[Some noble eco-history in a fine documentary of suffering - with
rare voices, unique songs and historical images.]<br>
<b>Stinging Dust & Forgotten Lives: The Dust Bowl (2008)</b><br>
posted on Aug 31, 2011<br>
TCPFilms<br>
Ponder for a moment that you are huddled around a dimly lit lamp in
a vast dusty room with your family. All eyes have a look of fear
from the gusty winds shaking your home. The next morning, after the
storm blows over, you look outside to find your house, barn,
animals, fence, and water well have all been buried by feet of soil.
All is lost. You must live...but how? <br>
<br>
Over a hundred years ago people left the American east to find a
better life. They migrated and established homestead throughout the
Great Plains. There, they would prosper with fields of plenty,
until, they exhausted the land. Again, they migrated westward to
find a better life and provide opportunities for their starving
children. STINGING DUST & FORGOTTEN LIVES presents the effects
of the Dust Bowl on humanity during the 1930s. Meteorological
conditions are often the first to blame, however, it was economic
gain of the nation that doubled the unfortunate fate of the dusters.<br>
<br>
For more information visit tcpfilms.com/sdfl<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tzo9wtXfHGk">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tzo9wtXfHGk</a><br>
<br>
<p><br>
</p>
<i>[The news archive - looking back]</i><br>
<font size="+1"><b>On this day in the history of global warming
September 14, 2004</b></font><br>
<br>
September 14, 2004: British Prime Minister Tony Blair declares that
climate change is "...a challenge so far-reaching in its impact and
irreversible in its destructive power, that it alters radically
human existence." He further notes:<br>
<br>
"The problem...is that the challenge is complicated politically by
two factors. First, its likely effect will not be felt to its full
extent until after the time for the political decisions that need to
be taken, has passed. In other words, there is a mismatch in timing
between the environmental and electoral impact. Secondly, no one
nation alone can resolve it. It has no definable boundaries. Short
of international action commonly agreed and commonly followed
through, it is hard even for a large country to make a difference on
its own.<br>
<br>
"But there is no doubt that the time to act is now. It is now that
timely action can avert disaster. It is now that with foresight and
will such action can be taken without disturbing the essence of our
way of life, by adjusting behaviour not altering it entirely."<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2004/sep/15/greenpolitics.uk">http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2004/sep/15/greenpolitics.uk</a> <br>
<br>
<br>
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