Marc De Ver­teuil

Should fos­sil-fu­el com­pa­nies be the tar­gets of an eco­nom­ic boy­cott like the one di­rect­ed against apartheid-era South Africa? Arch­bish­op Desmond Tu­tu, au­gust moral leader, calls for di­vest­ment from the com­pa­nies re­spon­si­ble for an­thro­pogenic cli­mate change. He's con­vinced that fos­sil-fu­el com­pa­nies will do every­thing in their pow­er to main­tain the fos­sil-fu­el-dom­i­nat­ed sta­tus quo, re­sult­ing in cli­mate cat­a­stro­phe.

There's just too much mon­ey to be made, and let's face it, put your­self in the shoes of an oil com­pa­ny ex­ec­u­tive. Your ed­u­ca­tion, your ca­reer, your so­cial sta­tus, your mort­gage, your chil­dren's uni­ver­si­ty fund, your ma­te­r­i­al pos­ses­sions...they all de­pend on a con­tin­u­a­tion of the in­dus­try in which you've in­vest­ed your life's pur­pose.

These com­pa­nies will not change from the in­side out. In fact, they have done every­thing in their pow­er to make be­lief in an­thro­pogenic cli­mate change one based on ide­ol­o­gy rather than one based on sci­ence. They will have to be com­pelled to change by out­side forces.

Har­vard fac­ul­ty and stu­dents are among those who have tak­en up the cause of di­vest­ment from fos­sil-fu­el com­pa­nies.

http://www.guardian.co.tt/dig­i­tal/new-mem­bers