The ultimate goal of Fossil Free Mac is to encourage Macalester to take steps towards aligning their investments with the college's values. The immediate issue that we are currently focusing on is the $40 million in private partnerships that Macalester has with the oil and gas industry. These investments help fund fossil fuel development projects that threaten our already fragile environment and disrupt the land of historically disadvantaged communities. This is an issue that concerns the future of the planet the pursuit of environmental justice.

In the long term, we hope to achieve a holistic vision of sustainability at Macalester, both on campus and in our investing strategy. Macalester has been a regional leader in on-campus sustainability initiatives, and making our financial portfolio more sustainable is an obvious next step if we are to take this global problem seriously.

An increasing amount of evidence shows that fossil fuel investments are becoming increasingly risky as the fiscal performance of clean energy companies continues to improve. This can be clearly seen through an Arabella Advisors Global Divestment Report, which found that over the past 10 years, the largest 100 coal and the largest 100 gas reserve owners found a median cumulative return of negative 10 percent. In the same period of time, the 200 largest public clean energy companies experienced a return of 106 percent. We have asked Macalester for a financial impact analysis of divestment but they have yet to perform one for us.

One threat that this may pose to Macalester's financial security is the very real possibility of our current investments becoming stranded assets — a situation that becomes more likely as time goes on. As Professor Lord Stern of the London School of Economics put it, "Smart investors can see that investing in companies that rely solely or heavily on constantly replenishing reserves of fossil fuels is becoming a very risky decision."

In essence, the sooner divestment is achieved the lower these financial risks become. As such, we encourage Macalester's administration to reallocate our investments to safer long-term options.

We meet every Tuesday at 9pm in room 206 in the campus center (second floor). Everybody is welcome to join this amazing group of people and help fight for a great cause. There's a place here for everyone, no matter what your skills are. You can click here to get directions to where we meet.

Any changes to our typical meeting location will be communicated through our mailing list, which you can join by filling out the text box at the very bottom of this page.

Fossil Free Mac regularly holds events on campus to address the issue, attends and promotes environmental justice events and groups, works with the administration to advance the goal of a responsible investment portfolio, and much more. We are highly receptive to the ideas of group members and their thoughts on how to best achieve the goal of divestment.

In late 2017, we submitted our proposal to Macalester's Social Responsibility Committee, outlining the reasons why we believe divestment to be the most prudent course of action. The more members we have, the better chance we have of achieving our important goal.

The private nature of the partnerships that Macalester has with the oil and gas industry means that we cannot see the specific companies or projects that they are invested in. This lack of transparency makes it difficult to answer questions about the details of their investments. Simply put: we don't know because they can't tell us.

However, we do know the tremendously negative impact that the fossil fuel industry has had on our planet. And as climate change is an issue that disproportionately impacts the poor, it is the most vulnerable among us that will suffer the most. Macalester's investments directly support this injustice and as such must be redirected towards causes that support their stated mission of social responsibility and global citizenship.