It’s the beginning of the second semester, and over at Fossil Free we’re kicking it off with style.

It’s the beginning of the second semester, and over at Fossil Free we’re kicking it off with style. At over 230 campuses, students are hitting the ground running, planning action-packed semesters of divesment campaigning. In just the last two weeks students at schools like Harvard, RISD, Tufts, the Claremont colleges, and many others have met with key administrators and Trustees to push for fossil fuel divestment.

We’ve garnered big spreads in The New York Times and Boston Globe, and we’re working with partners to organize convergences and activist trainings across the country. It even seems we’ve ruffled a few feathers in the fossil industry itself: Big Oil front group API released a study last week showing that oil stocks are good investments. Check out our rebuttal here (pdf).

But even as we continue to make the case for divestment on campus, we’re connecting to the larger fight for a safe climate: fossil free activists in Massachusetts and Texas continue to take courageous direct action to stop the Keystone XL pipeline, and thousands gathered in Portland, ME over the weekend to stop a tar sands pipeline through New England.

Just as pushing for fossil fuel divestment on campus is a key tool in our toolbox, coming together for mass actions—like the #ForwardonClimate rally in Washington, DC, next month—will help hold our elected leaders responsible for climate action too. Click here to join us in Washington on February 17th, and stay tuned for more on how to connect with other divestment activists while you’re there.

We don’t have much time: Sir Nichloas Stern, a top climate economist who wrote a widely-read report in 2006 had this to say: “I got it wrong on climate–it’s far, far worse.” [1] That’s why over the next few months, we need to go big. We need as many students, alumni, faculty, and staff as possible signed onto campus campaigns; we need to push for fossil fuel divestment at even more campuses, as well as through other kinds of institutions like houses of worship and municipal governments.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be rolling out a bunch of new tools at gofossilfree.org, from powerpoint presentations to reports on alternative investment to easy-to-read climate factsheets and guides. And, we’ll be working with our partners to run workshops across the country where you can build your organizing, media, and direct action skills.

We have a lot of work to do. This is our moment to go big. Are you in?

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