In Harvard Yard this April 13th & April 18th:

FROM:

Truly exciting news today, the kind that makes you understand the world is changing.

A group of prominent Harvard alumni just released a call asking people to gather with students and faculty for peaceful civil disobedience in mid-April. We need everyone -- not just Harvard grads -- to take part in the week’s activities, which will almost certainly be the largest climate change demonstrations in New England’s history. Please mark Monday, April 13, and Saturday, April 18, on your calendar -- you don’t have to sit-in, but we need your support one of those days.

The alumni calling for action range from a former Senator (Tim Wirth) and a two-time Reagan appointee to the Securities and Exchange Commission (Bevis Longstreth), to the first president of Students for a Democratic Society (Todd Gitlin) and the designer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (Maya Lin). The list includes activist leaders Dr. Cornel West and Jack Geiger, co-founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility -- as well as prominent New England ministers, including Gloria and Ray Hammond, and Liz Walker.

But famous names aren’t going to win this on their own. What’s important is that the rest of us respond to their call and show up in the kind of numbers that send a clear message to Harvard -- and other prominent institutions -- that continuing business as usual isn’t acceptable.

Why is this happening now?

First, the impacts of global warming are becoming ever more obvious. This winter Boston is Exhibit A for what happens when you mess with the climate, as warming seas have helped power storm after storm. Snowdrifts in Harvard Yard will likely still be melting when we gather in mid-April, a good reminder of why we must fight back. And of course that's the least of it, as our colleagues from sinking Pacific islands, typhoon-hammered seashores, drought-stricken grainbelts and ravaged coral atolls keep pointing out.

Second, we’ve got the fossil fuel industry on the run. Over the last few months everyone from the World Bank to the Bank of England has agreed the vast majority of the world’s coal, oil, and gas reserves must stay underground. Even the Rockefellers, the First Family of fossil fuels, announced one of their foundations is divesting. But Wall St. power brokers controlling the Harvard Corporation are doubling down -- late last year, they disclosed tens of millions of dollars in new investments in some of the dirtiest fossil fuel companies on earth.

Third, Divest Harvard has spent the past three years organizing for justice, mobilizing students, and escalating the campaign. This is a pivotal moment for the student movement. Students and faculty have done their best to persuade the Harvard Corporation, passing referenda, writing letters, and building a strong campus-wide movement for change. But they need all of us -- alums and community members -- to join in. As one of the Northeast’s oldest institutions, Harvard has drawn on the New England community’s support for centuries.

Now we need the University to play its role in the greatest drama of our time -- and we need you to help make that happen. Please R.S.V.P. today.

See you in Harvard Yard,

Bill McKibben & Divest Harvard


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