It has to be done.
It’s no secret that the largest oil and gas corporations yield more power and influence than most governments, but quietly lurking in the shadows are their investors/shareholders. My theory is that a good chunk of the people who vote for Harper have their rrsps/mutual funds tied up in oil and gas. It’s one of few things that adequately explains why they would support a federal government that treats Canadians like enemies to revenge upon rather than serving them with even a thin regard for the public interest. Birds of a feather flock together, whether it is just plain greed or cognitive dissonance and/or obsession/ addiction, so voting for anyone else could lead to personal loss and Harper may guarantee that before he is done.
It has to start somewhere and Seattle appears to have started on the right track.
Mayor McGinn Calls On Seattle To Divest From Fossil Fuels
Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn wants the city to get its money out of fossil fuels. He has called on the city’s two main retirement funds to divest millions of dollars invested in oil and gas companies.
Climate change activists have been urging colleges and institutional investors nationwide to abandon the fossil fuel sector. McGinn is the first elected official to heed their call.
On Dec. 21, McGinn ordered the city’s finance director not to invest in any coal, oil or gas companies. As mayor, Mike McGinn has control over $1.4 billion of the city’s cash balances. None of those short-term balances are currently invested in fossil fuel stocks.
But the city’s two main retirement funds, worth another $2.6 billion, have major investments in the energy sector. McGinn doesn’t control the retirement funds. But he asked the boards that manage those funds to divest from fossil fuels and to offer city employees climate-friendly investment choices.
Burning of fossil fuels is the main driver of global warming.
The city hasn’t tallied its investments in the fossil fuel sector yet. But they include at least $17 million in ExxonMobil and Chevron stock, according to McGinn.
“We should make a statement by the use of our investments about the importance of not continuing to pump global warming pollution into the air,” McGinn said. (more…)
