UTAS students join national civil disobedience campaign #FloodtheCampus

*Pic: ABC: Condamine River set on fire after Greens MP lights bubbling methane gas, blames fracking. HERE

Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham ignites the river …

Flashback to an earlier UTAS protest …

HOBART, 12.00pm, Thursday 21 April university students and members of Fossil Free UTAS join other university divestment groups to Flood the Campus.

Flood the Campus is a national campaign that aims to get universities to divest from the fossil fuel industry through acts of civil disobedience.

UTAS students will flood the campus, wearing wetsuits, snorkels and toting kayaks and surfboards to create a submerged garden at the centre of the Sandy Bay Campus.

“This symbolises that UTAS is contributing to rising sea levels with its continued investments in the fossil fuel industry,” said Fossil Free UTAS member Maggie Edwards.

“At a time when Tasmania badly needs leadership on climate change and renewable solutions to our energy crisis, UTAS is stuck in the past, investing in the fossil fuel industry.

“To stay below the politically agreed 2°C of global warming, 80% of current fossil fuel reserves need to stay in the ground. By investing in fossil fuel companies, universities are helping drive the problem.

“The time for divestment is well overdue. We, as well as many students world wide, see the catastrophic harm that comes with supporting dirty climate change inducing industries.”

A petition by Fossil Free UTAS attracted over 2000 signatures calling on UTAS to divest from fossil fuels.

Over 500 institutions, representing $3.4 trillion globally, have committed to sell their investments in coal, oil and gas companies.

This includes Stanford and Oxford University, the Australian Capital Territory and City of Newcastle, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund.

“The University of Tasmania has the chance to be among these institutions leading a global movement that had the potential to dramatically effect future generations.

“Universities have a moral responsibility to move their investments away from fossil fuels. How can they possibly fund the very problem they are teaching their students to solve?

“If we are to keep the temperature of the planet under 2 degrees, universities must join the fight and divest from dirty fossil fuels,” said Ray Yoshida from 350.org Australia.