Op-ed: If Mack Clapp doesn’t take bold action, we will

Campus Activists are Prepared to Step Up Their Game
By: Simon Dykstra, Co-president, Reinvest Montana

In a Kaimin editorial published February 17th titled, “It’s time for campus activists to step up their game,” an anonymous author illuminated three student groups with the ability to take substantial enough action to address the current crisis facing UM.

One of the student groups mentioned as having “gained enough momentum” to “ping the radar,” on the institutions lack of transparency and willingness to factor student opinion into decisions is Reinvest Montana. According to the author, the group’s response to the UM Foundation’s (UMF) “swatting down” of divestment hasn’t matched the severity of the crisis in question.

As a member of Reinvest, I can agree that students need to take serious action to demand that the University sever ties with fossil fuel companies. Since its inception two years ago, Reinvest has been pinging the radar on chairman of the UMF investment committee, Mack Clapp’s, complicity in funding climate injustice, and the need for students to unite to hold the University accountable.

The vote that swatted down divestment came after Reinvest met with the Fossil fuel subcommittee, which was tasked with examining divestment. Mack Clapp was responsible for creating this committee, but he conveniently hand-picked people tied to the fossil fuel industry (such as Julie Baldridge, owner of oil and gas exploration company Kootenai Resource Corporation) to be on it.

In Reinvest Montana’s most recent action, a mock wedding between the UM Foundation and the fossil fuel industry, we revealed a banner stating, “We Call for a Re-Vote. Mack Clapp, Whose Side are You On?” Although symbolic, as the author pointed out, the wedding was both an invitation and a warning.

So far, we have focused on building support for divestment and negotiating through institutional channels. That being said, the UM Foundation’s ties to the fossil fuel industry are largely why these channels turned out to be “faux-democratic channels,” and why they have gotten us nowhere.

Following the mock wedding, Reinvest is giving Mack Clapp one last chance to act. On the week of March 21st, we will be delivering a contract to the UMF offices asking for a re-vote on divestment. Mack Clapp can choose to stand with students on the side of a financially sustainable University as well as a just and livable future. If he chooses not to stand with us, we have over 40 students and community members prepared to take direct action.

Reinvest Montana is not alone in their commitment to escalate the campaign to see their University stand on the right side of history. Students in campaigns across the country are preparing to take coordinated direct action for a just transition away from an extractive economy.

Mack Clapp can choose to stand with students on the side of a financially sustainable University as well as a just and livable future. If he chooses not to stand with us, we have over 40 students and community members prepared to take direct action.

The current budgetary crisis at UM (which has cost many people their livelihoods), combined with the increasing financial risk of investing in fossil fuels, also demands attention. Mack Clapp has consistently highlighted the UM Foundation’s obligation to uphold the financial sustainability of UM. Now, with the coal market already on its way out, and the oil market seeing similar declines, fiduciary responsibility requires divestment.

It is true that Mack Clapp and the fossil fuel committee “swatted down” divestment by voting no in September. But they also swatted down the opportunity to act financially responsible, to do their part to protect our future as young people, and to uphold our mission statement. They swatted down the opportunity to add the University of Montana to the list of colleges and universities across the country already committed to divestment. They swatted down the student voice, and with it our right to have a say in how we want our University managed. What they didn’t realize was that students wouldn’t be turned away that easily.

Bring it Home Fundraiser Speech: Fighting the bad, building the new

Hello gardeners, activists, students, bikers, mechanics, artists, and everyone who is here to support our efforts,

I’m co-president of Reinvest Montana and i’m going to talk a little bit on how 1,000 New Gardens, Blue Sky Stewardship and Reinvest Montana are connected. All of these groups are working towards a new economy, but in different ways. 1,000 New Gardens and Blue sky Stewardship are helping build a local food economy while Reinvest Montana is working to divest the UM Foundation of fossil fuels and get them to reinvest in local climate solutions.

Economy means “management of home.” Right now, the way we humans manage our home is primarily through large-scale extraction, where resources are unsustainably taken out of the earth and used to generate a profit. Forests are cut down, coal is dug up, water is siphoned out of rivers and aquifers, oil is sucked out of the earth and on and on – all to fund the growth of the extractive economy. We extract to make money, to extract more, to make more money. This system of extraction monopolizes production and distribution of basic human needs – especially food. Industrial agricultural giants, like DuPont or Monsanto, harvest unhealthy mono-crops in large, heavily polluted farms and then sell it in corporate outlets like Walmart or Albertson’s. This is a food system owned by corporations, not the people, and it is a system made possible by the use of fossil fuels.

The fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides that blanket these huge, industrial farms are primarily derived from oil. The crops are harvested by diesel-fueled machines that then transport the food to be processed in facilities powered by coal and gas. After being processed, they are transported by fossil-fueled trains, trucks, ships, and planes to your friendly neighborhood corporate food outlets. But these giant food businesses aren’t neighborly or very friendly. They provide unhealthy food to people who can’t afford healthier alternatives and the money raised at places like Albertson’s gets funneled right to their corporate headquarters, rather than locally.

On top of all of this, the entire industrial agricultural system is propped up by fossil fuels, which, as we all know, are causing climate change.
Climate change has its own, but strongly related set of injustices. It disproportionately affects those who are least responsible for the issue – people of low income and people of color to name but two constituencies. Climate change increases the severity and length of wildfire seasons and droughts worldwide. It is linked to increased chances of violent conflict. I could go on, but you get the idea. Each system is linked and each system’s injustice leads to another.

We need to talk about the issues with the way we manage our home, and then use what we know to work towards a new economy. But while we offer solutions, we must fight the systems that are causing the issues. Fighting the bad and building the new are mutually reinforcing actions. That’s why I consider Reinvest Montana, 1,000 New Gardens, and Blue Sky Stewardship, and even Freecycles, to be in the same movement – the movement to shift our extractive economy to a sustainable one. 1,000 New Gardens, Blue Sky Stewardship, and Freecycles are all providing tangible solutions to our fossil-fuel based economy. This means providing better access to sustainable transportation, it means going around town and building gardens so people can start growing their own food, it means transporting local food with bikes, it means working towards food sovereignty through food forests and skill sharing. Reinvest Montana is combating the fossil fuel system that underlies our economy by drawing social power away from that system and putting it to building a just society. Combating that system means dropping all investments in fossil fuels, stopping all support of our fossil fuel based economy and the injustices it perpetuates, and reinvesting in local solutions.

Each group functions in the same movement to build a society where our values are realized. Thank you for supporting our efforts to work towards food sovereignty, local economy, and social and environmental justice. This is the movement to provide a just society where life is valued over money, and we need everyone’s help if we are to succeed. Thank you.

~Simon