We're breaking up with fossil fuels for Valentine's Day, writes Rosemary Penwarden.
Congratulations to Royal Dutch Shell for winning a special award at the UN Climate talks in Lima recently - the Sly Sludge Award - for a deft bit of last minute name-cleansing; removal of the word ''divest'' from the talks' side-panel discussion.
Divestment is making the fossil fuel industry nervous. The global movement to stop investing in coal, oil and gas is growing fast. At last count, 697 campaigns, 34 cities, the World Council of Churches, Stanford University, the Rockefeller Brothers' Fund, as well as the New Zealand Anglican church and Victoria University were among 700 investors, worth more than $50 billion, committed to divesting from fossil fuels. Even the World Bank's head advises governments and businesses to consider withdrawing funding from oil, gas and coal companies.
In 2012 Bill McKibben, author and founder of climate movement 350.org wrote ''Global Warming's Terrifying New Math'' in Rolling Stone magazine. It brought home that we can't burn most of the coal, oil and gas already discovered and keep global warming to the 2degC limit agreed to by world governments.
A study in Nature magazine says a third of all oil reserves, half of gas reserves and more than 80% of coal reserves should stay in the ground to give us a 50% probability (far from reassuring) of keeping to below 2degC. But what can we do in the face of these corporate giants whose business plans will take us to 5degC-plus of warming this century; a degree of warming that, in James Hansen's words, is ''Game over for the climate''? McKibben calls the fossil fuel industry a rogue industry. It is the new tobacco, only instead of killing individuals these companies are killing off our children's future.
The fossil-fuel lobby's misinformation machine, straight from tobacco's public relations guidebook, is in full swing. We in Dunedin appear to have our very own industry front group, Pro Gas Otago, to confuse well-meaning people into believing gas is good.
Don't be fooled. Gas still causes global warming, releasing around 75% the emissions of crude oil. Gas is the filter-tipped cigarette of the fossil fuel industry which still gives you cancer; just more slowly. And as the Nature article points out, half of the already discovered gas reserves must remain unburned, so why on earth are we spending millions looking for more in frontier regions like our Canterbury and Great South Basins?
McKibben's call is simple. One third to one half of Shell's and the others' known oil and gas reserves are stranded assets. Worthless, because they can't be burned if we are to have a safe, liveable world. It makes sense, then, not to put our money there.
What can we do? Individuals can make a difference by taking part in the global divestment campaign. If you have a bank account, a mortgage, a KiwiSaver account, belong to a church, go to a university, or live in a city, you can participate in the global movement to divest, help reign in this rogue industry and take back control of everyone's future.
In November 2013 hundreds of Kiwi Westpac customers cut up their credit cards and moved accounts because Westpac is funding Bathurst Resources, the coal company poised to destroy the beautiful Denniston Plateau.
Shell's little misstep in Lima was one sign of the industry's nervousness about divestment. In Australia they're bringing out the heavies. Australia National University was threatened with legal action while Sydney University had the NSW Minerals Council head Stephen Galilee suggesting the divestment campaign might be illegal. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has called divestment ''stupid''. Remember, this is the guy who said coal was good for humanity.
Dunedin is on the divestment map, thanks to the Dunedin City Council's preliminary vote to divest from fossil fuel extraction in our Waipori Fund. A final vote is expected this month. The University of Otago has minimal investment in fossil fuels. What a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate fiscal responsibility for the academic security of their students, as well as for their future wellbeing in a climatically chaotic world, by choosing to divest.
Dunedin leaders need our encouragement to do the right thing. And we must encourage reinvestment in the kinds of industries, infrastructure and education that will give us a fighting chance of retaining a safe and vibrant place for our kids to thrive in a climate-changing world.
February 14 is Global Divestment Day. It's also Valentine's Day and Shell and the others are right to be nervous. We're breaking up with them. Oil Free Otago and 350.org are saying goodbye to the fossil fuel industry, and moving in with our new sweetheart, a clean city run on renewable energy, criss-crossed with safe cycle ways, served by affordable public transport and brimming with sustainable businesses, home-grown jobs, and healthy people.
- Rosemary Penwarden is a Waitati grandmother, freelance writer and member of Oil Free Otago and Coal Action Network Aotearoa
