University of Tasmania students have been at Hobart’s Hotel Grand Chancellor this morning, chatting with delegates on the first day of the Australasian Campuses Toward Sustainability Conference about the need to divest from fossil fuels.
Australian Greens Leader Christine Milne will be delivering a keynote address at the conference tomorrow and says:
“It’s so great to see people taking the power back from the fossil fuel industry and the governments intent on propping it up.
“Tony Abbott loves coal and wants it to be central to Australia’s economic prosperity whilst completely ignoring global warming. We have to vote with our wallets and invest our minds and money in institutions that share our values.
“I’m really proud of the students behind Fossil Free UTAS. They’re sending a clear message to the university that they do not want their investment in UTAS to be contributing to climate change and threatening their own futures.
“The IPCC report that came out this week plainly said we will stand no chance of preventing catastrophic warming if we do not leave the majority of the world’s fossil fuel reserves in the ground.
“The thought leaders in our universities, who, of all people, should respect this huge body of research, must do what they can to act on the recommendations.
“I echo the call from Fossil Free UTAS and from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in saying: please reduce your investments in the coal and fossil fuel-based economy and shift to renewable energy.”
Australian Greens Leader Christine Milne
