You may or may not have heard about a divestment campaign in your area. They are growing rapidly popular among businesses and especially college campuses. If you are not involved in it, there is a very good chance you are not quite clear in just what divestment entails.
Divestment is a process where investments are taken out of fossil fuels and other immoral industries. It is often a goal to then reinvest that money into renewable energy sources. This is largely targeted at businesses and schools because their investments tend to be significantly more than individuals’.
A major trend for divestment is happening on college campuses all across the country and other parts of the world. It is typically a student led campaign that can take varying lengths of time (though typically a long amount of time) to be fully accomplished. It takes an immense amount of student support, and then the students must convince their administration that they should divest from fossil fuels.
Why should the world stop investing in fossil fuels? The use of fossil fuels is a very unsustainable practice. For one, they are non-renewable and will eventually run out. This means a lot of people out of jobs, and mass chaos from the lack of power and electricity. Secondly, they are killing the environment. Fossil fuels significantly add to the pollution of the Earth. Thirdly, the reinvestment of that money into the renewable energy sector stimulates the growth for them instead. Climate change is affecting us more than most people realize, and more drastic effects will be happening soon if something doesn’t change. Divestment is a great place to start.
Not only is this campaign an important cause, it is also a great time to get to know your fellow classmates more, and to have a feeling of unity. Students in support of the cause will wear square orange felt patches on their backpacks, jackets, and bags. Orange is the national color of the movement, hence the orange X symbol. It is great to see other members of your community supporting the same thing you are, and then it is great to see the numbers grow.
Divestment is a long process but will definitely be worth it in the end; for the good of the planet, its people, and all living things.