To kick off Valentine's Day weekend, the University of Illinois Beyond Coal Campaign is hosting “Breaking Up with Coal,” an event in honor of Global Divestment Day featuring a twenty foot long comic about breaking up with coal.
Starting Friday afternoon, UIUC students can stop by, grab a valentine, warm up with a cup of hot chocolate, and participate in a photo petition to call on U of I to break up with coal.
The UIUC Beyond Coal Campaign has come a long way in the fight to divest. Last November, the campaign launched a major petition drive and achieved an unprecedented 6:1 vote on a ballot initiative from the student body in favor of coal divestment. Currently, it is estimated that $5.1 million dollars of the active University endowment pool, of about 1.81 billion dollars, is invested in the “Filthy Fifteen” largest coal mining and utility companies.
Transitioning from coal to a clean energy future will prevent premature death, asthma attacks, and heart attacks. So this Valentine’s Day, we are asking students to pledge to save a heart by taking part in a photo petition supporting UIUC’s breakup with coal.
Divestment campaigns across the nation will be hosting flash-mobs, vigils, sit-ins, pledges, and rallies to pressure their institutions to divest from fossil fuels. Recently, Stanford University, the City of Seattle, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and countless other religious organizations and institutions have committed to divesting from coal.
The University of Illinois is making significant headway on addressing climate change. U of I is the first Big Ten university to submit a climate action plan, pledging to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, end coal combustion from the local Abbott Power Plant by 2017 and just broke ground on a 5 MW solar installation. The University is also writing new plans that look at moving up its carbon neutrality date, which includes 100% clean energy purchasing.
As UIUC leads the way for large universities and clean energy, one crucial step will be for the University to divest. The University’s achievements regarding carbon neutrality will always be limited by its investments in coal.
Join UIUC for Global Divestment Day! And take the pledge to go fossil free today!