Reunion Weekend

Alumni Work on Campus Carbon Emissions

Daniel Shearer
Daniel Shearer’14, Jen Lazar ’04, Carlos Silva ‘04

Daniel Shearer ‘04, organized this reunion gathering to discuss Williams’ campus carbon emissions and endowment.  Daniel has worked with the Burlington, Vermont municipal utility to transition to 100% renewable electricity.  He asked the group: How can Williams use its $2 billion endowment to support the stability of our climate and health of our planet?  And he urged Williams to consider the ethical and moral dimensions of this question.  He is working with the alumni organization called the Williams Endowment Initiative, which has proposed that the College:

  1. Screen out all future investments in the top 200 fossil-fuel companies;
  2. Within five years, divest the endowment of all direct and indirect investments in these same companies; and
  3. Reinvest in opportunities that will reduce the college’s reliance on fossil fuels and companies that will enact solutions for climate change mitigation and adaptation.

The proposal has been assigned by the Board of Trustees to the Advisory Group on Shareholder Responsibility for consideration.  He also noted that his alumni group had sponsored a webinar on climate-responsible personal investment, available on their website below.

Daniel introduced Mike McGinn ’82, who is the former mayor of Seattle. He explained how he was motivated to get involved in the fossil fuel divestment movement while mayor. He heard Bill McKibben’s “Do the Math Tour.” McKibben’s central conclusion is that given the size of fossil fuel reserves and given predictions of the leading climate models used by the IPCC, 4/5 of these reserves must remain in the ground and never be burned if we are to avoid global climate catastrophe.  Mike also recently attended a conference sponsored by the Wallace Global Fund, where participants discussed our need to remove the social license to pollute, just as we removed the social license to smoke indoors and drink and drive.

The City of Seattle has begun divesting their direct investments in fossil fuel companies. The pension fund investments are more complicated and have not yet been divested.  McGinn said that although there is deep resistance to divestment, eventually fossil fuel investments will become fiscally imprudent. He cited the decision to divest from coal recently made by Stanford University because of their concerns about the long term economic viability of coal investments. Currently, 19 major philanthropic organizations and 30 U.S. cities are at some stage of divestment.  Mike reminded all that we are the first generation that can actually see the climate changing and the last generation to be able to do something about it before it is too late.

Amy Johns, Director of the Zilka Center gave an overview of the mission of the Center.  She explained that the College’s Climate Action Committee recommended to the Board of Trustees that the College set a goal of reducing CO2 emissions to a level 10% below the level in 1990 by the year 2020. The Board adopted this goal in 2007. Amy explained that the College is on track to meet this goal largely through conversion to natural gas in the heating plant and improved energy efficiency in many aspects of College operations. Todd Holland is the full-time engineer on staff who is working on energy efficiency initiatives.  At the current time, the administration has not adopted a more ambitious emissions reduction goal.

Sarah Thorne ’79 read a statement from Molly Pickel, a member of the student environmental sustainability group. This organization, called Thursday Night Grassroots, has been advocating that the College set a rigorous goal of reducing its carbon emissions 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. This mirrors the State of Massachusetts policy for state facilities. Their petition for this action was signed by over 1000 students and faculty.

Questions and comments were invited from the attendees. Several speakers advised that discussions about the College’s response to climate change should emphasize the positive steps to be taken, such as increasing investments in renewable energy. A suggestion was made that the initiative be called Divest/Invest or GreenVest. Some felt that advocating for divestment alone was too negative and possibly threatening.

A question was raised about the Social Choice Fund option for giving to the Williams Endowment. This Fund has a small amount invested, less than $200,000. It is not publicized on the College website. Calvert manages the fund and someone present thought that fossil fuel companies are not screened out. Alumni who give to the Alumni Fund can be confident that their contributions go directly to operations and do not go into the endowment.

Daniel closed the meeting by encouraging folks to continue the dialogue with his group and among each other. He also encouraged those who feel inclined to sign the petition on his group’s website www.williamsendowment.org   The gathering ended with a group photo holding the words: “Be Bold, Lead on Climate Change.”

Sarah Thorne ‘79

Climate