The Truth About Divestment
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The impact of climate change on global society is no longer in doubt: More treacherous storms, intense cold and heat waves, and serious droughts and flooding are wreaking havoc on our cities.
Driven by a growing sense of urgency, people are no longer content to stand on the sidelines of this pressing issue. Thanks to the highly publicized rallying cry from 350.org, institutions across the globe have taken a closer look at their carbon footprint, mainly through the companies in which their endowments are invested.
Led primarily by college students, the fossil fuel divestment campaign asks institutions to remove their holdings in the top 200 oil, natural gas, and coal-producing companies. So far, nearly thirty universities have pledged some form of divestment, including The New School.
But as we learn in this latest episode of Research Radio, not all divestments are equal or as impactful as we’d hope. Brandt Weathers, an economics student at The New School for Social Research, discusses his involvement in The New School’s Climate Action Plan, and the creation of a new and scalable metric tool that thoroughly analyzes an institution’s carbon footprint. The question: What does it actually mean to divest?
Click on the player above to listen to “The Truth About Divestment.”
Research Radio is a New School podcast series that explores academic inquiry at the university. Our faculty and students have been researching pressing social and scientific issues, from sustainability to psychology to politics, for nearly a century—and now you can hear about their latest findings.Â