Bill McKibben's Do the Math Tour comes to Boulder
Jim Pullen

Environmentalist and author Bill McKibben says that the road to environmental destruction can be expressed through three numbers: 2 degrees Celcius, 565 gigatons, and 2795 gigatons. To stop global temperatures from rising another 2 degrees, we can only dump 565 billion more tons of carbon in the atmosphere. Unfortunately, we've dumped more than half of that into the atmosphere already. But there are almost 3000 billion tons of proven reserves on the books of the fossil fuel companies. And since the value of those companies depends on the proven reserves they control, they will develop them. Unless they are compelled to stop.

McKibben advocates a solution that was effective in stopping the apartheid government in South Africa in the 1980s: divestment. He's calling on universities, churches and other groups to stop investing in fossil fuel companies.

To promote this solution, the founder of 350.org, traveled by bus to campuses throughout the nation. On December 3rd, 2012, the tour came to Boulder. He spoke to a packed audience at CU's Glenn Miller Ballroom. KGNU was there, and brings you his complete talk. During the program, McKibben was joined on-stage by Native American rights activist Winona LaDuke and punctuated his talk with a film clip by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and an appearance by filmmaker Josh Fox, who played the banjo.

Student leaders take up divestment on Colorado campuses
Jim Pullen

KGNU continues to look more carefully at divestment. KGNU news Co-Director Joel Edelstein talked with three local activists, who are encouraging their schools to take their money away from fossil fuel companies: Simon Mostafa, from the University of Colorado in Boulder, Kate Josephson, from Naropa, and Mark Chavez, a Community College of Denver student. That conversation aired December 19th, 2012, on KGNU's Morning Magazine.

The Moral and Economic Arguments for Divestment
Jim Pullen

350.org says that the value of the proven reserves is 25 trillion dollars. What can this movement do to counter this vast sum? To look more closely at the compelling moral and economic arguments for divestment, KGNU producer Jim Pullen spoke with two experts who are involved in the campaign. Dan Apfel is the Executive Director of Responsible Endowments Coalition, which is helping to organize the student movements. And our other guest was Bob Massie, President and CEO of the New Economics Institute, who was involved in the South African divestment campaign. That conversation aired on KGNU's Morning Magazine January 3rd, 2013.