No investment in polluters

ABOUT 200 students at the University of Vermont (UVM) gathered on the first floor of the student center on February 8 to demand that UVM divest from fossil fuels. The rally was organized by UVM Student Climate Culture, a new activist coalition that formed last year.

As one speakers explained: "UVM could be the first public school to divest from fossil fuels. That's why we are building an environmental justice movement!" UVM hypocritically advertises that it "aims to foster sustainable development and promote environmental responsibility," while profiting directly from investments in corporations that are literally destroying the planet.

After the speak-out, students marched up to the third floor of the student center, closer to where the board of trustees was meeting. They chanted, "UVM, take as stand, keep the oil in the land" and "Divest, divest, put fossil fuels to rest!"

Next steps include continuing to put pressure on the board of trustees to divest and mobilizing for the February 17 protest against the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline in Washington, D.C. Activists from Vermont are getting ready to travel to the capital for what organizers hope will be the biggest-ever U.S. demonstration over climate change.