Vice President Robbiie Young shares his top 3 updates on the Emissions Impossible: divest-invest campaign, in the second edition of this monthly blog.
The past month has been incredibly action-packed, with events happening across the UK. As such it's been hard to pick out three headlines, but given that this is the structure I've given to my blog:
- On the 8th November we were at the annual Student Sustainability Summit co-facilitating a session alongside People & Planet called 'divestment on-campus & beyond'. The workshop shared an update of all that is taking place in the divestment & reinvestment sphere, with information & break out sessions focused on the variety of ways folks can get involved - through NUS and People & Planet's divestment & reinvestment campaigns, for example. It was great to see so many student officers acknowledging the fundamental role of working alongside grassroots student groups in advancing the movement on our campuses & to discuss how best that can be facilitated. It was powerful to explore how we can use divestment & reinvestment as a tool to open up dialogue on our campuses about decolonising our energy, economic, political & social systems, whilst pushing for a just transition that benefits all.
- On the 13th November we were at FEstival launching our new Emissions Impossible: divest-invest resources for Further Education (FE) organisers. As I said in my launch blog, bringing FE into the campaign has long been an aim of NUS', so it was great to be able to share the new resources with our FE membership. As over a third of UK universities have now committed to divest from fossil fuel companies, it was time that FE colleges had the opportunity to get involved - & we know our FE members can play a significant role in furthering the existing successes of the global fossil fuel divestment movement. To get organising check out our organiser briefing and/or our campaign outline. Further resources can be found here.
- On the 22nd November students across the UK participated in a National Day of Action for Divestment called by campaigners at the Universities of Cambridge, East Anglia, Leeds, Manchester and UCL. The day challenged the conflicts of interest that exist within institutions who have consistently refused to divest from fossil fuels & how these conflicts shouldn't factor into university/FE college decision-making. The day took place in the week following COP23 in Bonn & acknowledged how divestment can be a vital tool in the fight for climate justice by incorporating solidarity with Indigenous Peoples and frontline communities - in their calls for climate justice and community-based solutions that respect their rights and indigenous sovereignty. You can read more about the day here.
Dates for your diaries:
January, 2018: launch of our Community Energy Briefing, which has been written in conjunction with Leeds Beckett & Solar SOAS.
12th-16th February, 2018: Go Green Week. Watch this space.
ENJOY THE NEXT MONTH OF CAMPAIGNING FOLKS!