Divest Harvard: Climate justice, higher education, and fossil fuel divestment

On the 19 November 2014, seven Harvard students — the Harvard Climate Justice Coalition — have brought a legal action against Harvard University to compel it to withdraw its investments from fossil fuel companies. The plaintiffs include the Harvard Climate Justice Coalition; Alice Cherry, a law student; Benjamin Franta, a physics student interested in renewable energy; Sidni Frederick, a student of history and literature; Joseph Hamilton, a law student; Olivia Kivel, a biologist interested in sustainable farming; Talia Rothstein, a student of history and literature; and Kelsey Skaggs, a law student from Alaska interested in climate justice. The Harvard Climate Justice Coalition also bringing the lawsuit as ‘next friend of Plaintiffs Future Generations, individuals not yet born or too young to assert their rights but whose future health, safety, and welfare depends on current efforts to slow the pace of climate change.’ The case of Harvard Climate Justice Coalition v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, is being heard in the Suffolk County Superior Court of Massachusetts. The dispute will be an important precedent on the ongoing policy and legal battles in respect of climate change, education, and fossil fuel divestment.

Sketch of the Irish code, entitled "Laws to prevent the growth of popery:" but really intended, and with successful effect, to degrade, debase, and enslave the Roman Catholics of Ireland, and to divest them of their estates: with a brief notice of some of the penal sanctions of that Code still in force.

Mode of access: Internet.

Prison-made merchandise : hearings before the Committee on Labor, House of Representatives, Seventieth Congress, first session, on H.R. 7729, a bill to divest goods, wares, and merchandise manufactured, produced, or mined by convicts or prisoners of their interstate character in certain cases. February 7, 8, 9, 17, 18, and 27, 1928.

William F. Kopp, chairman.

Fossil free Stanford: Universities, climate ethics, and fossil fuel divestment

There has been an international movement led by 350.org, Bill McKibben, and student groups to encourage schools, universities, and educational institutions to divest their endowments of fossil fuel stocks. The decision of Stanford University on coal divestment should an inspiration for elite universities around the world.

Norway's sovereign wealth fund, ethical investment, and climate change

This year, there has been great debate over whether Norway’s Sovereign Wealth Fund should invest in renewable energy; divest from fossil fuels; and engage in ethical investment...

Can the Gates Foundation be convinced to dump fossil fuels?

This week, The Guardian newspaper has campaigned for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to divest its fossil fuel investments – which the newspaper claims are worth US$1.4 billion. The foundation can and should address the climate crisis, particularly given the threat it poses to food security, public health, human rights, and the development agenda.

Doctors for divestment: Climate change and public health

On the Global Divestment Day on the 13–14 February 2015, doctors and health professionals were at the forefront of the campaign for fossil fuel divestment. In Australia, medical professionals have pushed for fossil fuel divestment, climate action, and re-investment in renewable energy. Professor Fiona Stanley has been a key leader in the debate over public health and climate change, delivering a Monster Climate Petition to the Australian Parliament. In the United Kingdom, the British Medical Association has led the way, with its decision to divest itself of investments in coal, oil, and gas. The landmark report Unhealthy Investments has provided further impetus for the United Kingdom health and medical community to engage in fossil fuel divestment. In the United States and Canada, there is a burgeoning fossil fuel divestment movement. At an international level, there has been a growing impetus for climate action in order to address public health risks associated with global warming.

Investing in the future: Norway, climate change, and fossil fuel divestment

The fossil fuel divestment movement has undergone explosive growth over the last few years - expanding from encouraging educational institutions to adopt ethical investment policies to focusing upon cities, pension funds and philanthropic charities. The fossil fuel divestment movement has attained global ambitions - challenging sovereign wealth funds and national governments to engage in fossil fuel divestment, and pushing for fossil fuel divestment at international climate talks - such as the Paris Climate Summit in 2015. By exploring and analysing a key campaign to 'Divest Norway', this chapter considers the efforts to globalise and internationalise the fossil fuel divestment campaign. Part 1 explores the origins of the fossil fuel divestment movement, and the application of such strategies in a variety of contexts. Part 2 looks at the campaign to divest Norway's sovereign wealth fund of fossil fuel investments. There has been much discussion as to whether the bold decision of Norway to engage in coal divestment will encourage and inspire other sovereign wealth funds to engage in fossil fuel divestment. The conclusion considers the efforts to introduce fossil fuel divestment as a policy initiative for nation states as a policy option in international climate law.

From Fordism to neoconservatism : free trade and Canadian industrial policy in an era of globalism /

Nothing today affects the lives of people in countries throughout the industrialized and developing world as much as international trade. Nowhere is this more true than in Canada. Canada's involvement in international trade has a long history dating back to 1854 when it was a British colony. As a major trading country, Canada has always adopted a proactive industrial policy which has been largely responsible for its relative economic prosperi ty. But, wi th businesses now free to invest and divest under the terms of the CUFTA and the NAFTA, the most fundamental concerns for Canadians, in a borderless world, are what powers will the Canadian government have to shape industrial policy, and to what extent can Canada continue as a viable nationstate if it can no longer control its national economy? These are important concerns because, in world without borders, the adjustment process becomes more volatile and more difficult to manage. The CUFTA and the NAFTA not only create the rules for conducting trade, but they also establish a set of new rules for the Canadian government that will diminish its power. As a member of a new North American trading bloc, Canada will find itself subject to a set of forces requiring analysis beyond participation in a conventional free trade area. Because many of the traditional levers of government will now be subject to external control imposed by these agreements, Canada will not be able to mount certain policies in the future that it has relied on in the past. This reality limits the pro-active role of the Canadian state to use policies and programmes for the country's immediate national development. What this thesis attempts is an examination of the evolution of Canadian industrial policy, in effect, the transi tion from Fordism to Neoconservatism, and an assessment of Canada's future as a nation-state as it tries to find security and improved access in a free trade arrangement. Unless Canada takes steps to neutralize the asymmetry of power between itself and the United States through adjustment programmes, it is the contention of this thesis that its economic future is anything but stable.

Changing community perceptions of 'place'

In May 2002 the Australian Department of Defence announced its intention to divest the Defence land at Portsea on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria. At the same time nominations were invited for membership of the Community Reference Group (CRG) established as part of the Portsea Defence Land Master Planning Project. The author actively participated in this voluntary advisory group which provided input on matters of interest to the community relating to the project, provided a medium for information sharing and addressed the sometimes competing needs of different stakeholder groups (such as government, business and residents). A major role of the CRG was to provide a focus for community input on aspects of technical issues, particularly in relation to the planning for the future use of the site, flora and fauna issues, infrastructure provision, traffic and access management, heritage and archaeology, and the integration of the site with both the natural environment and existing community facilities, including the township of Portsea. The author's professional background in art and architectural history, in teaching and in research specifically in heritage related areas; her record of community work both in hands on work and in leadership positions, in Melbourne and on the Nepean Peninsula, enabled her to make a significant and useful contribution to the CRG in contributing to the understanding of the rich, diverse, multilayered cultural and natural heritage of the entire site.

Using this specific example, this paper examines the process of participating in Australian society through engaging communities - engaging women. It examines the invitation to participate, the nomination and selection process, the brief given to the community reference group, the development of the consultative process over the six months of deliberations, and the important role that women played in the project. It looks at what can be learned from the experience: how women in particular led the way in changing perceptions of place within the local community, and consequently in the broader framework of the project. It examines the success of the outcomes both in terms of the specific task of writing the Master Plan for the Portsea Defence site and of the process of community participation: the dynamic inter-relationships in the group; between the group and the consultants; between the group and the Department of Defence and between the group and the Federal Government. It comments reflectively and critically on the effectiveness of the whole process.

Timing and frequency data for passenger divesting at Melbourne domestic airport

The data covers the timing and frequency for divesting in the passenger screening process at Melbourne Airport, Victoria. Divesting is defined as the process of removing items from one's person before going through the screening process and placing them and cabin luggage onto the X-ray conveyor. This may also include removing items from bags to assist in the screening process.

Timing and frequency data for passenger divesting at Sydney domestic airport

The data covers the timing and frequency for divesting in the passenger screening process at Sydney Airport, New South Wales. Divesting is defined as the process of removing items from one's person before going through the screening process and placing them and cabin luggage onto the X-ray conveyor. This may also include removing items from bags to assist in the screening process.

Timing and frequency data for passenger divesting at Adelaide domestic airport

The data covers the timing and frequency for divesting in the passenger screening process at Adelaide Airport, South Australia. Divesting is defined as the process of removing items from one's person before going through the screening process and placing them and cabin luggage onto the X-ray conveyor. This may also include removing items from bags to assist in the screening process.

Organisational memory and the propensity to mentor

In many countries, people are retiring earlier than ever before and the retirement of the baby boom generation over the next two decades further intensifies this trend. Accompanying this phenomenon is the potential loss of organisational knowledge and memory and with it, potential loss of the organisation's competitive advantage. Organisations, while recognising that older workers possess valuable organisational memory, seem to assume these same workers will readily divest themselves of their knowledge, if given the opportunity. Furthermore, offering experienced workers the opportunity to act as a mentor to pass on their knowledge is often mentioned in the management and related literature as a way of attracting and retaining these workers. While the relationships between age and the possession of organisational memory has been supported through age's positive relationship with organisational tenure and rank, past research on mentoring reveals a negative relationship between age and willingness to mentor. Employees, especially older workers in the possession of considerable organisational memory may, or may not be willing to divulge that information to others for a number of reasons. Their willingness to act as a mentor may be constrained by awareness of possible costs involved in the mentoring relationship. This paper investigates the relationship between an individual's estimated level of organisational knowledge and memory, and their inclination to mentor others. In doing so, it considers the expected costs and benefits of mentoring. It also investigates the role of mentoring in the psychological adjustment to retirement for older individuals, and discusses the rationale for a research agenda to address these issues and the likely variables of interest. The proposed research aims to go beyond the prescription of "mentoring others" as a general panacea for utilising the skills and experience of workers while ensuring the transfer of potentially threatened knowledge within organisations, by suggesting other motivations that may be operating when employees are invited to share or volunteer their prized knowledge.