divest mum
TRANSCRIPT
Divest MUM From Fossil Fuel Investments
Supporting Alternative Investment Options for a Sustainable Future - By the Juicy Joules
What is an endowment?
● A savings account that is put into stocks, bonds, or other investments
● Profits we make from our investments help pay for various university expenses - potentially scholarships, salaries, upgrading/repairing facilities
Divestment:
“...is the opposite of an investment – it simply means getting rid of stocks, bonds, or investment funds that are unethical or morally ambiguous.”The purpose is to remove financial support from morally and socially irresponsible companies in order to discourage the extraction and burning of fossil fuels.
Why divest?“The logic of divestment couldn’t be simpler: if it’s wrong
to wreck the climate, it’s wrong to profit from that wreckage.”
Bill McKibben
How divesting works
Campaign Divest Reinvest
You guys rule
The best known example of divestment occurred in the 1970s and ’80s in response to the apartheid regime of South Africa. Retirement funds, mutual funds, and investment institutions across the country sold off the stocks of companies that did business in South Africa. Divestment greatly increased public visibility surrounding the injustices of South Africa’s apartheid government.
History
As of September 19, 2014, 181 institutions and local governments and 656 individuals representing over $50 billion in assets have pledged to divest from fossil fuels.
Successes
Rockefeller Brothers Fund
A notable foundation that has pledged to divest is the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
Their fortune was built on oil by John D. Rockefeller
The philanthropic organization is worth $860 million
Sterling CollegeCollege in Vermont that specializes in environmental education.
13% percent of their endowment was invested in fossil fuels prior to divesting. Sold off all of its stocks invested in the fossil fuel industry within 3 days last year.
Student enrollment increased by 26% after divesting.
They gained support and their endowment surged to $1 million dollars after divesting
OUR EXPERIENCES
Meetings:Stuart ValentineDavid Todt and Tom Brooks
MUM’s Endowment
Utopia Park
Cash Money~$2 Million
Stocks (incl B.H.) CD’s
~$10 Million Value
~6% Return
Our Petition/Campaign
“Maharishi University of Management desires to invest in companies whose business conduct is consistent with its goals and beliefs. Therefore, the committee and/or its investment managers will use their best efforts to avoid holding securities of any company known to participate in businesses the Board deems to be socially or morally inconsistent with University objectives. The Committee will provide investment managers with a statement of University mission guidelines and restrictions.
This Section shall not be deemed to restrict investments in mutual funds, exchange traded funds, or other commingled entities where individual holdings that would otherwise be restricted by this section make up a small part of the total holdings of the entity.”
MUM Investment Policy
The Authenticity of Consciousness
Greater ClarityRewrite the Investment Policy to reflect MUM’s core principles to greaten our consciousness.
Alternative Investment options
Solutions
Work with Stewart Valentine from Centerpoint InvestingInvolve Students, Faculty and Alumni in Decision Making
Accomplish/ed
Spreading awareness through education
Continued Communication
Activism within the student body
“Fundamentals of Creating Heaven on Earth”
What You Can Do to Divest
Research
Look into the reality of companies
Stay Informed
Dive into your belief structures
Analyze your Subscriptions
ActChange your lifestyle
Choose new banks
Speak out
Campaign
Support those making changes
Sequester Carbon
Embody
Empower yourself by making conscious decisions that support your individual purity and ideals for a greater world where the truth of heaven is made to sustain all of Earth in heaven. But really.
Jai Guru Dev
Rockefeller: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/27/rockefeller-fund-chairman-moral-duty-divest-fossil-fuels
Resourceshttp://www.endowmentethics.org/resources-for-students
https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.350.org/images/Reivestment_Guide.pdfhttp://insideclimatenews.org/news/20032015/map-tracking-academias-fossil-fuel-divestment
http://350africa.org/2014/12/04/what-is-divestment-and-why-is-it-important-for-africa/http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20032015/map-tracking-academias-fossil-fuel-divestment http://www.occupy.com/article/climate-change-economics-and-global-fossil-fuel-divestment-movement
http://www.yesmagazine.org/climate-in-our-hands/these-three-colleges-stopped-investing-fossil-fuels-endowments
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/22/us/heirs-to-an-oil-fortune-join-the-divestment-drive.html?_r=0
http://www.iop.harvard.edu/does-divestment-work