Posts by Fossil Free California
Divest! Start with coal!
by Janet Cox Help us strip dirty coal money from California pension funds. Help us pass Senate Bill 185! Kevin de León, President pro Tem of the California State Senate, has offered the divestment movement a tremendous gift. With SB 185, he has proposed a law that could become the first divestment legislation passed by…
Read moreCalSTRS: Divest from fossil fuels!
This post is by Vivian Stanton, a retired elementary school teacher with the Santa Barbara School District. She is a member of CalSTRS and of 350 Santa Barbara. As a member of the largest public teacher retirement fund in the United States, I am very concerned. The retirement fund which I currently rely on, the…
Read moreBig Oil isn't so big any more
This essay is by Diane Moe. Diane is a freelance copywriter, Cal grad (’75), and mother of two fierce sons. Big Oil, always a steady earner, is a solid financial investment, right? Why else would our state institutions such as CalPERS and the University of California invest so heavily in oil companies—despite the incontrovertible evidence that oil…
Read moreKilday-Hicks: Unions will join divestment consensus
Russell Kilday-Hicks wrapped up the Sacramento launch of Fossil Free California, speaking for union members. He is statewide vice president of the California State Employees Association, an active member of the CSU Employees Union, and a staff employee at San Francisco State University. His speech: I am statewide VP for the organization that started CalPERS…
Read moreVosburg: Shareholder engagement is futile
On Global Divestment Day, the second campaign-launch speaker in Sacramento was Jane Vosburg, a retired teacher and fervent activist for fossil fuel divestment. She is divestment coordinator for 350 Sonoma County and for the CalSTRS campaign of Fossil Free California. Her speech: “Action on climate change must happen now!” CalSTRS knows this. And CalPERS knows it. They also know that…
Read moreRudolph: Climate change and public health
On Global Divestment Day, 60 climate activists launched the Fossil Free California campaign in front of CalPERS headquarters in Sacramento.Three speakers addressed the need for divestment, Dr. Linda Rudolph, Jane Vosburg, and Russell Kilday-Hicks. Dr. Rudolph, the first speaker, is a CalPERS retiree who worked for 30 years as a preventive medicine physician in both local and state…
Read moreDoes shareholder engagement work?
This post is by Brett Fleishman, senior analyst at 350.org. Big investors like the California Public Employees’ Retirement Fund (CalPERS) are faced with a difficult choice. They can divest completely from fossil fuel companies to make a public statement about climate change. Or they can hold on to them and attempt, as shareholders, to influence…
Read moreA call to action for the climate crisis
Russell Kilday-Hicks is a climate activist from San Francisco State University and vice president of the California State Employees Association. This is a letter he sent to fellow CSEA members. Dear State Employee Colleagues, Please allow me a few minutes of your time to call attention to the looming crisis for our children and grandchildren…
Read moreCalPERS gift—a lump of coal
Here is more disturbing information about the dangers of coal, from Gary Horvitz. Gary is an erstwhile divestment activist and current CCL volunteer devoted to enacting carbon pricing worldwide. There is no dispute that coal is the dirtiest form of energy, contributing more carbon to the atmosphere than any other source of power. The coal life-cycle…
Read moreTeacher to CalSTRS: Divest!
Jane Vosburg is a member of CalSTRS who campaigns for divestment with 350 Sonoma County and Educators for Fossil Free Divestment. On November 7, she spoke to the CalSTRS Investment Committee meeting in West Sacramento. Thank you for allowing me this time to comment, and thank you, Sharon Hendricks and Paul Rosenstiel, for requesting educational…
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