Imperial, Trump and other things that piss Sara off
Sara Hamilton is angry about the environment. Again.
One of my 2017 felix-related resolutions was to diversify my activist feelings away from the environment. Not that I’m bored about talking about it – not at all. Every week there seems to be some lab somewhere making breakthroughs on green energies, new legislation about restricting urban transport, or an international agreement to reduce our carbon emissions. And if that’s not the case, there’s always Trump sharing his insightful thoughts about how we’re all making this greenhouse gas stuff up after all. Anyway the point was that there’s a thousand other causes that are also worth protesting weekly about, but Lef asked me to write about climate change, so blame him. This week in climate change news we have a giant iceberg, the size of Trinidad and Tobago, threatening to break off from the Antarctic ice shelf, which could lead to a global ocean rise of 10 cm. Big iceberg or not, temperature and sea level rises have been reported for the past few decades, with human activity being deemed directly responsible (sorry Trump, there’s evidence).
If you’re reading this, you’re probably thinking either (a) “I know this, and I don’t care- some UN people will make sure everything is alright and Venice won’t become Atlantis any time soon” or (b) “I know this, and I do things in my power to fight it (recycle/buy one of those reusable coffee cups/am vegetarian, etc...)”. I personally proudly sat in the library this afternoon researching decarbonisation of UK electricity sources for my coursework and thinking to myself how nice it feels to be in category (b).
And then for a second, the paradox struck me that while we’re all here happily dreaming about a fossil-free world, Imperial, with its world leading leaders in renewable energies, cutting edge clean technology labs and environmentally mindful individuals, is investing over 4 million pounds of its endowment directly in oil, coal and gas. Indeed, while leading universities worldwide, from Stanford to Glasgow, have managed to almost entirely divest from fossil fuels, Imperial is currently ranked 96th on the People and Planet 2016 University League, reflecting its lack of involvement in environmental issues. UCL is 29th, just saying.
I’ve tried to understand the logic behind this, but even after talking to Imperial’s Energy Manager about the issue, I am convinced that nobody cares how much coal we burn to power our green technology research labs – such is the currency of a degree from Imperial. I feel like not only should we care, but demand an ethical investment policy from our institution and thankfully, there’s a great bunch of people called Fossil Free Imperial who do just that. So spare a few seconds of busy student life to check out their Facebook page and sign their petition. Island-sized icebergs are breaking off after all.
