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Our Fossil-Fuel Economy Destroys the Earth and Exploits Humanity – Here’s the Shift We Need to Be Sustainable

Communities around the world are rewriting the rules of their economies and building something beautiful.

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Photo Credit: Romolo Tavani/Shutterstock

I am a Mexican immigrant and a senior at Columbia University who’s been organizing around fossil fuel divestment since freshman year. Two years ago, I had a bit of a crisis. I suddenly felt disillusioned with the movement—not with the tactic of divestment, but rather with the fact that national campaigns were solely focused on taking down the fossil fuel behemoth. Don’t get me wrong; it’s extremely satisfying to hear of another divestment win, to see the fossil fuel industry take a hit. But I began to realize that while we need people to fight the bad in this world, we also need people creating the society we do want to live in. I want to be one of those people.

That summer, as a 350.org Fossil Free Fellow, I was introduced to the reinvestment campaign. I learned about a way that we, as students, can build off the successes of the divestment movement to fight for what we want. This campaign is one tactic we can use to facilitate the transition out of our current economy into a regenerative economy. But before we talk about where we want to go, let’s talk about where we are now.

Jihan Gearon, Black Mesa Water Coalition; Deirdre Smith, 350.org; Ed Whitfield, Fund for Democratic Communities; and Gopal Dayaneni, Movement Generation discuss reinvestment at the Richmond Our Power National Convening, August 2014 (photo credit: Reinvest in Our Power Network)

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