The Climate Action Society at UVa hopes to terminate all University investments that support the use of fossil fuels. The campaign, Divest UVa, is gaining speed. The online petition currently has 1,214 signatures as of this month.
In April of 2016, the University of Mary Washington decided to divest after student groups protested the institution’s investments in many companies they found morally problematic. Divest UVa hopes to inspire the Wahoo community to do the same.
“Fossil Fuels and climate change really scare me,” said Climate Action Society member Kendall King. “We’re hoarding the money, keeping it from communities that actually really need it to survive.”
Divest UVa is one of many programs in Virginia seeking to end funds granted to fossil fuel-using companies given the negative environmental impacts.
The Virginia Student Environmental Coalition supports this network of campaigns at James Madison University and Virginia Commonwealth University as well.
