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FFU Campaign in One Page
FAQ
General FAQ
How successful are so called “isolation campaigns” like FFU?
Boycott and divestment programs, similar to FFU, have a long history of political success. Alienating South Africa’s system of racial apartheid in everything from international cricket to economic exports started with everyday people like you: the refusal of a Dublin grocer to bag South African groceries led to eventual action by the Irish government.
Personal actions like what FFU asks from you were therefore key in crushing one of the most brutal White Supremacist regimes of the 20th century; “slave sugar” boycotts in the British Empire also helped bring an end to the slave industry there and over 10,000 farm laborers today owe work conditions to the Delano Grape Boycott which isolated an abusive agricultural company from the everyday economy.
In short, isolating dangerous, morally corrupt, and unsustainable industries from the wider economy works, and we must do it. You can have an impact, and UW can have an impact, if it models a just transition and cuts ties with the Fossil Fuel industry.
Are Fossil Fuel Divestment campaigns happening anywhere else?
Yes !! As of 2015, “fossil fuel divestment was reportedly the fastest growing divestment movement in history,” and it’s a divestment movement you can be a part of. Counting all assets which have begun the divestment process, over $39.2T in global assets have already been cut from this dangerous industry through Fossil Fuel divestment.
In fact, universities like the UW are predominantly responsible for divestment !! The first notably fossil fuel divestment campaign was a 2006 product of numerous UK campuses; the Australian National University then broke it’s own records for student turnout when 82% of its student body voted for divestment. Stanford (there’s a name you know) won what author Naomi Klein called “the most significant victory in the youth climate movement to date” through their 2014 divestment of over $18.7M in coal.
To avoid boring you with details, here are more names. Harvard. Yale. MIT. Brown. Columbia. Cambridge. And those are just the tip of the iceberg.
Why sign a petition?
You’re right: a petition alone isn’t enough. In FFU, we go by an edict of a fellow activist: passive public support isn’t enough. But without public support? A campaign is doomed.
Having a petition allows for the public to gain awareness of the campaign, so we can pull off future actions, while also having something to demonstrate public support to the Board Of Regents. In order to claim that administration isn’t listening to us, we’d have to talk to them first, and that simply isn’t possible without a show of public support to get us through the door.
Why focus on the University?
Universities are a great place for youth with shared passions and a shared stake in the future. In that sense, it’s partially a great place to organize; workplaces and social organizations don’t always have the solidarity or the size a university can provide. And in many senses, society has often considered universities as sitting at the leading edge and bushing the boundaries in the development of knowledge, theory and social change. If the most liberal and innovative public institutions are being poor role-models, where will the res of society go?
We believe Universities have a great social responsibility which comes with their social power. The UW has a student body of over 40,000 individuals, and plays a part in not only the educational but ethical development of each one. Holding job fairs with Halliburton, investing millions in Exxon, and designing well projects with BP sends the message that the social wellbeing of others comes after one’s own personal wealth.
To thousands of students just coming in to their own, such messages have dangerous and long-lasting effects. A Fossil Free U sends a much more positive and communitarian message, reminding us that we cannot live individual lives if we throw out the resources we all share and dump harms on those least able to handle it.
What has been accomplished so far?
As of last update, we are waiting on the Board Of Regents to vote on divestment. If it passes, Demand 1 is as good as done (if it doesn’t pass, we’ll see you in the streets for some angry but peaceful direct action). For Demand 2, FFU recently received a response on our public records request, to find some details about fossil fuel money even we didn’t expect; more coming soon . For Demands 3 and 4, FFU is working with UW Sustainability to guarantee their plans for a clean UW take place as quickly and as justly as possible. For Demand 5, FFU is in contact with the career office and will soon be speaking with the UW Daily.
FAQ on Campaigning for Climate Justice
FFU isn’t just divestment.. have demands 2-5 been successful in other places?
Again, yes !! It’s not just Demand #1 which we see mirrored elsewhere. In 2020, UK newspaper The Guardian stopped taking fossil fuel $$ for ads (Demands 2 and 5). Harvard is currently undergoing a fight to ban fossil fuel money in student research (so that Harvard students aren’t taking BP projects to make the oil wells threatening their future pump faster). That’s in our Demand 2; the example about the oil wells is literally from a UW public records request, and is happening here.
There’s also a lot of support for 2-5 from big names; over 500 academics including the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize winner and a former President of Ireland have signed on to Harvard’s Fossil Free Research campaign.
The fight to cut ties with the fossil fuel Industry is everywhere, and with your voice at UW, we can be proud of where our own University leads us in it.
Who is the most affected by UW’s continued investment in Fossil Fuels? (Generally)
There are a few different answers to this question, ranging on who is affected by UW specifically and who is generally affected by the Climate Crisis UW is choosing to be complicit in.
As to the second, our “frontline communities” in this crisis, the answer is those most commonly hurt by political and social inequality. A key aspect of the Climate Crisis is air pollution, put out by Oil and Gas companies primarily. As of 2022, Black Americans were 74% more likely to live near dangerous air pollution than White Americans, and almost twice as likely as a result.
The increase in heat will also primarily affect people of color. When heat spikes, like it did in Summer ‘21 in WA killing over 100 people, the most at risk are those who rely on physical labor for a paycheck. Foreign-born workers, predominantly Mexican, make up about and their lives will be put at severe risk.
I still drive a gas car, and use Fossil Fuel-made electricity, is it fair for me to sign?
While we do encourage you to drive less, take public transport when possible, and take other steps towards a lower personal carbon footprint, the situations of you and UW are probably incomparable.
First of all, you may very well have no choice in purchasing a gas car. While EV prices are quickly dropping and public transport may be more accessible than you think, the EV market is still developing and not everyone (hello, suburban mom with five kids and soccer practices, or hello our underserved rural communities) has public transport which currently fits their needs.
The US can and must invest in accessible green options for all, including especially our frontline and rural communities, which have historically been left out of the inequitable policies that got us here. Until then, the stock market has plenty of other (and more profitable*) options for UW.
Other than Boycotting and Divesting from the Fossil Fuel industry, how can I have an effect? (Politically)
It’s important to remember your political action is generally more impactful than changes you make in your personal life. Enacting the final version of the Build Back Better Act would’ve directed $555B in spending towards clean energy rebates, EV investment, and jobs to prop up the American lower and middle classes. With clean energy standard, 100% of America’s electricity would be clean by 2035; you wouldn’t have to worry as much about personal behaviors like buying high efficiency lightbulbs (though you should) and unplugging unused electronics, which relatively have minimal effects.
350 Action, a climate groups which centers justice and frontline communities, has a who commit to passing serious and equitable climate legislation. We recommend you check it out, and vote / volunteer for those candidates if you can (see the embedded link earlier in the paragraph).
If you don’t see either of the candidates in your local races on the 350 list, not to worry; many candidates talk about climate on their campaign websites or in their voter pamphlets. If a candidate doesn’t center climate; good try, but time to move on.
Other than Boycotting and Divesting from the Fossil Fuel industry, how can I have an effect? (Personally)
Why isn’t FFU focused on replacements (like how to power our Power Plant without Fossil Fuels?)
Outside of FFU, the team of activists (ICA) who formed the campaign are working towards reinvestment in clean energy. But the university knows that if it doesn’t have fossil fuels to power its projects, it will have to go clean.
We can’t provide a detailed plan for a new, green power plant because we want UW to find the best solution for that plant. As activists, our role is to convey the values we fight for and the world we want to see, and let the expert technicians evaluate how we can get there.
Why isn’t FFU focused on replacements (like how to power our Power Plant without Fossil Fuels?)
Outside of FFU, the team of activists (ICA) who formed the campaign are working towards reinvestment in clean energy. But the university knows that if it doesn’t have fossil fuels to power its projects, it will have to go clean.
We can’t provide a detailed plan for a new, green power plant because we want UW to find the best solution for that plant. As activists, our role is to convey the values we fight for and the world we want to see, and let the expert technicians evaluate how we can get there.
Divestment Specific FAQ
Q: But really: what does divestment even mean??
Divestment is a tactic used by stakeholders who are concerned with a publicly traded company’s actions. Like boycotts and sanctions, the purpose is to stop the flow of money that finances unethical behavior. Divesting from the fossil fuel industry simply means that we as a university will no longer invest in companies directly tied to the fossil fuel industry. Both a fiscally sound decision in reducing our risk exposure, and a symbolically powerful one in joining groups across the nation pushing for a clean and just transition to a more sustainable economy and energy grid. The UW has a chance to be one of the leaders in this field rather than one of the followers, the choice is ours and the world and future generations are watching.
Q: Won’t divestment hurt UW’s financial health?
One of the most common concerns we hear from students and faculty is Won’t it cost me research dollars/mean I get paid less? In short, NO: Not only is Divestment financially feasible, but according to many metrics it’s a financial positive.
Divestment from fossil fuels will likely not negatively impact your tuition or salary, as fossil fuel investments are some of the lowest performing assets in the market. Recent studies have shown that fossil fuel investments often perform worse than the market as a whole, and that by divesting from these risky and underperforming assets, the university would actually likely increase their revenue.
Q: What is shareholder activism/shareholder engagement and why divest instead?
Mention divestment, and the first alternative that is usually presented is shareholder engagement (also called shareholder activism). In shareholder engagement, those that own stock in a company attempt to positively influence that company’s behavior to get them to reform their ways. This can include shareholder resolutions where shareholders propose changes and convince others to vote in favor, or all the way to hedge fund proxy contests to buy up more stake in a company.
This is potentially an effective method when the issue with a company is a management style or policy which the company currently practices that can be reformed. Convincing a company in the fossil fuel industry to reform their business practices is one thing. But shareholder activism fails for a few reasons
*The issue of fossil fuel companies is fundamental to the companies themselves. Simply making their products a bit less polluting or their practices a bit less GHG intensive won’t address the problem: the problem is the very notion of the extraction, combustion or processing of fossil fuels (not to mention the very unjust and unethical manner which it currently entails).
Q: How much does UW currently have invested in the fossil fuel industry?
The university currently has approximately $125 Million dollars directly invested in fossil fuel energy companies. Of the ~3.6 billion dollar consolidated endowment, this is roughly 3.5% of the total endowment. However, it is likely that the university could be inadvertently indirectly invested in several hundreds of millions more in subsidiaries of the fossil fuel industry, although this exact amount is unclear. If you are interested in diving more into the companies that university is invested in you can view the that the university is invested in currently.
Hasn’t the university already stopped investing in coal?
Sort of. The that many remember on campus in 2015 resulted in the Board of Regents asking UWINCO, the group that manages the UW endowment, to divest all UW holdings in thermal coal (a smaller subset of coal used for the production of electricity). While a great symbolic gesture, at the time thermal coal made up a tiny percentage of the endowment representing only 13 million or ~ 0.04% of the endowment.
The BOR failed to divest from all fossil fuels for “financial reasons”, an argument debunked not only by the divestment of larger peers such as the” but also by showing that fossil fuel divestment over the past 40 years would have minimal impact and potentially a positive impact on endowments. That is why ICA is asking the university divest from all fossil fuels, oil, natural gas, coal (Yes, we are still invested in other coal companies that don’t focus on thermal burning of coal), etc. and other associated industries. The time has come for us to double down on our commitment to sustainability, and finish the job we started in 2015.
Q: Why Divestment? What impact does it have on the fossil fuel industry anyways?
Q: Hold up. Where do we invest all that money then?
What do you think we should invest in instead of fossil fuels? Solar, wind, ESG?
While we are not financial experts, we do ask that a portion (5%) of the money divested from fossil fuels be directly reinvested into clean technologies such as solar, wind, battery technology, etc. to help invest in a just and clean transition. These are commonly referred to as and are an area of investment that the University is already doing. Ultimately the stock market is full of non-fossil fuel companies to invest in, many of which have returns many times higher than fossil fuels. We have not specified specific companies we would like them to invest in because we don’t want to prevent the professionals from choosing what is best for the UW, although we urge them to choose investments more reflective of the values of the university.
Q: Is it even legal to divest?
Faculty FAQ
Will I violate state laws if I sign this petition as a faculty/staff member?
Answer
If you sign this petition, you are solely expressing your personal private views and not those of an institution. The petition asks for your relationship to the UW only for identification purposes. Signing is not considered lobbying as FFU does not aim to specifically influence state legislation, rules, standards, or rates. Therefore, using UW resources such as a UW email or computer to sign the petition is not a violation because it is not a political matter. If you wish to endorse our initiative on behalf of a group please use our “signing as a group” dropdown.
Why me?
Answer
We are asking that faculty take action as they are one of the most respected groups on campus: by everyone, including ICA. However, there are also specific reasons ICA believes faculty should get involved. First, UW retirement funds (through the UW Retirement Plan) often invest in Fossil Fuels. This process can be muddied and faculty who desire to invest sustainably may often not know where their money is going; part of the FFU Campaign is therefore directed towards clearing this process up. UW faculty therefore have a more direct stake in the FFU Campaign than many students.
Second, faculty are a great mouthpiece for a campaign such as this. With access to large numbers of students and reputations well-earned across the UW, your voice reaches more people in a more effective way than ICA could without your help.What Can I Do?
Answer
If you don’t support endowment funds from UW going to Fossil Fuels, if you don’t want your personal retirement money going to Fossil Fuels, and you think UW should be setting a better example for the students you work so hard to educate than to collaborate with Fossil Fuel companies like Halliburton for job fairs, promotional events, and public advertising, there are a few ways we’d like to have your support.
First, sign on to our and our Departmental Demand for your department. Just having your name on the list is a boon.
Next, sign up for our faculty-led working group. The group isn’t too much of a time-commitment, and you can choose how much work you’d like to put in. If you’re interested, send us an email back and we’ll send you more details.
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