TO DIVEST FROM FOSSIL FUELS, UEA MUST DIVEST FROM BARCLAYS

Posted on September 8, 2020 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged Barclays, BP, careers events, climate change, climate emergency, Divest Barclays, divestment, education, employment, energy, engineering, ethical investment, featured, fossil free, Fossil Free UEA, fossil fuels, graduates, higher education, Loughborough University, media, norwich, oil, people and planet, Portsmouth University, recruitment, Shell, student activism, students, students' unions, UEA, universities, zero carbon.

By Henry Webb

Higher Education institutions have the power to decide whether the fossil fuel industry lives or dies. The dominant players in the energy sector may seem unstoppable. After all, as long as the oil keeps flowing, they’ll find someone to buy it. Their lobbyists will make sure of that. But these behemoths require resources beyond those of just the raw coal, oil, and gas that we are so dependent on – they need capital. Without investment banks to finance everything from pipelines to offshore rigs, the costly infrastructure needed for fossil fuel extraction just wouldn’t exist.

DIRTY MONEY – HOW ETHICAL ARE OUR UNIVERSITIES’ INVESTMENTS?

Posted on June 30, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged BHP Billiton, BP, business, climate change, curriculum, direct action, divestment, education, energy, energy policy, Erasmus University, ethical investment, ethics, ExxonMobil, fossil free, fossil fuel industry, fossil fuels, global, global community, global warming, growth, higher education, hunger strike, innovation, investment, King's College London, lobbying, local, money, morality, non-profit universities, Norwich University of the Arts, occupation, People & Planet, progress, renewable energy, renewables research, research, research funding, Rio Tinto, Roger Hallam, Rotterdam School of Management, Shell, student activism, students, sustainability, tuition fees, universities, university community, University of East Anglia, venture capital.

by Laura Potts

Each university is different from one another. Moreover, they are very different from most other institutions of all types. On one hand they are educational institutions; on the other they are businesses. As businesses they make investments, though this is not something we would usually think of as a priority of educators. It is worth taking the time to investigate what your university is truly involved with and if their investments are ethical, not only for moral peace of mind but also to have a clearer idea of what your tuition fees are being put toward.

AIR POLLUTION IS A SOCIAL JUSTICE ISSUE

Posted on May 20, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national, Perspectives and tagged air polution, bhopal disaster, Boris Johnson, campaign for clean air, clean air, conservatives, environment, environment audit committee, environmental justice, health, inequality, Labour, niger delta, Parliament, sadiq khan, Shell, social justice, world health organisation.

by Olivia Hanks

The news that Boris Johnson buried a report on air pollution around schools while mayor of London does not exactly come as a surprise. Johnson’s record on air quality was atrocious – despite widespread concern over the issue throughout his eight years as mayor, virtually nothing has been done to alleviate what the World Health Organisation has called a public health crisis. The Campaign for Clean Air in London and the Environmental Audit Committee have been highly critical of Johnson for his inaction. And although London is the worst offender, many UK cities are in breach of EU laws on pollution, with little sign that the problem is being taken sufficiently seriously. Castle Meadow in Norwich has recorded nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels above EU legal limits every year since 2007 – a situation which Bert Bremner, the Labour city councillor with responsibility for environmental issues, described in a BBC Look East interview (interview starts at 4:31) earlier this year as “not dangerous […] the reality is what you feel when you’re there”. This, replicated across the UK, is the attitude that has led to inertia on this issue for so long – the ‘my grandma smoked 80 a day and she lived to 102’ school of argument.Continue Reading

UEA AND SUSTAINABILITY — FAIR WEATHER FRIENDS

Posted on March 6, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Community and tagged BHP Billington, biomass, biomass project, campus, climate change, climate science, colney lane, enterprise centre, environmental science, environmental sustainability, executive team, fossil fuel, generation park, low carbon, low carbon buildings, norwich rugby club, research centre, Shell, sustainability, sustainable building, sustainable economy, UEA, uea sustainability, University managers, yare valley society.

by John Heathcliff

As each day passes, it becomes clearer and clearer that UEA’s relationship with sustainability is one of convenience rather than conviction. Revelations about over £10 million of losses from the failed biomass project on the campus and the recently mothballed ‘Generation Park’ in Norwich have demonstrated the fundamental ineptitude at the heart of decision making at the University. Grand, white elephant projects intended to bring significant reputational benefit to the institution as well as new revenues have become undeniable disasters. National media have run the story, highlighting the amount of public and student money spent on failed projects that could have instead been spent on education and effective research.

Looking at these errors in isolation is bad enough. If you join together the dots, it only becomes worse.Continue Reading

Shell

TO DIVEST FROM FOSSIL FUELS, UEA MUST DIVEST FROM BARCLAYS

By Henry Webb

DIRTY MONEY – HOW ETHICAL ARE OUR UNIVERSITIES’ INVESTMENTS?

UEA AND SUSTAINABILITY — FAIR WEATHER FRIENDS

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