Since climate change is already affecting people around the world, we need to step up as a community and take action. By divesting from fossil fuels, we can invest in other technologies that will help fuel the future without destroying the planet. In Oak Ridge, we have the power and resources to develop and implement these technologies, so we must lead the way by taking a stand against the fossil fuel industry.

Our local government has a responsibility to divest from an industry that’s destroying our future, and reinvest in solutions to climate change. We can not count on the federal government, even as extreme weather events like the record rain fall in the Duluth area last Spring overwhelm local budgets. We have the solutions, but we won’t see any political progress on the issue until we can weaken the power of the fossil fuel industry. The bottom line is this: divestment is the only moral choice for governments that care about their citizens. Solving the climate crisis is the only practical choice for governments that care about their solvency. It's time to divest from fossil fuels now!

We need to eliminate our support for the use of fossil fuels in order to reduce the coming climate catastrophe due to global warming. For example, Palo Alto is close to sea level and a rise in sea levels will lead to massive flooding. We have made a good start by going carbon neutral in our electricity supply. Let's take the next step by defunding fossil fuels.

The nations of the world (including ours) have pledged to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) - because any warming beyond 2 degrees will recklessly endanger human civilization. Regrettably, they are struggling to develop a meaningful plan by which to make good on this pledge. Meanwhile, the world's fossil fuel companies already have assets in hand (i.e., coal, oil and gas currently in the ground, awaiting extraction) that -- if extracted and burned -- will make it impossible to limit the warming to 2 degrees. In fact, their assets in hand are 5 TIMES MORE than can be safely used if we are to limit the warming to 2 degrees. The Board of Investment Trustees for the Montgomery County Employee Retirement Plans recently stated that, as of December 31, 2014, over $65 million in the pension funds it oversees are invested in 65 of the top 200 fossil fuel companies. The current fossil fuel portfolio of the MCERS includes over $10 million invested in such oil and gas companies as BP, Chevron, Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips, and millions more in companies engaged in mountain-top mining of coal such as ArcellorMittal and Arch Coal. Montgomery County can do better. Studies show that divestment will not adversely affect the pension fund yields. Moreover, because people are likely to wake up at some point and put the brakes on fossil fuel use, most of today's vast known fossil fuel reserves will remain in the ground, causing a significant drop in company valuation. Thus, divestment not only makes moral sense, but financial sense as well. Our aim is to have Montgomery County sell off its multi-million dollar fossil fuel investments. Why? Because divestment works. For example, in the 1980s divestment was a major factor forcing South Africa to abandon apartheid, a previously immovable object. Similarly, the fossil fuel industry has overwhelming influence in Congress, preventing our representatives from passing crucial laws to limit climate change. The industry wears the guise of respectability, despite the fact that their business plan seeks profit from the destruction of our environment. Through our divestment campaign, we are announcing to the world that we do not wish to be associated with the fossil fuel industry. We can strip it of that illusion of respectability. Our goal is to make that industry a pariah. Our Members of Congress will become sensitized and will find it more embarrassing to be associated with fossil fuel companies. With that, the influence of these companies will decline, and our chances for essential legislation will strengthen. At the same time, fossil fuel companies may finally decide to develop renewable energy sources. Even as extreme weather events like Hurricane Sandy, floods, droughts and fires threaten to overwhelm local budgets, federal action to solve this crisis is all but stalled. We have the solutions, but we won’t see any political progress on the issue until we can weaken the power of the fossil fuel industry. The bottom line is this: Divestment is the only moral choice for institutions that care about the planet and its residents. Solving the climate crisis is the only practical choice for governments that care about their solvency. Let's do this in Montgomery County! Please: (1) sign the petition; (2) encourage other adults in your household to sign; (3) broadly share the petition with other MC residents via Facebook, list serves, etc.; and, most importantly, (4) target at least five of your like-minded friends via a personal contact to sign the petition and ask them to do the same with their friends.

This is essential to the survival of the planet and the survival of San Luis Obispo. All the things that this unique community love and depend on are threatened by climate collapse. Our shores are threatened , our tourist industry is threatened, and the future of our students is threatened. We must act now to do what we can to turn this around before it is too late and divestment is apart of that solution.

We believe divestment from fossil fuels to not only be ethical, but also financially prudent. The commitment to maintaining global temperature rise well below 2 degrees, in line with the Paris Agreement, would see much of the current assets of fossil fuel companies becoming stranded- a serious risk to the fund. This has been supported by numerous financial institutions, including the Bank of England. Camden Council has a proud history of divesting from the apartheid regime in South Africa, and has led the way on climate by holding the UK's first Citizens' Assembly. We want Camden to properly honour this heritage by securing a divestment commitment that would resonate on a national scale, rather than undermine our borough's progressive values by providing for the fossil fuel industry a home.

As of July 2014, over 12,500 people from New York State have signed petitions calling upon Comptroller DiNapoli to divest the NYS Common Retirement Fund from all fossil fuel holdings. Over the past 5 years, diverse NYS citizens and stakeholders have expressed strong, informed opposition to hydro-fracking. Hydro-fracking is a form of extreme energy production which causes significant, irreversible harm. Simultaneously, citizens and stakeholders have called for rapid, full investment in and transition to truly green, renewable energy sources. We are extremely concerned about climate disruption (which is already negatively impacting NYS) and the future of all species on this fragile planet. The NYS Comptroller is responsible for administering the New York State and Local Retirement System (the Common Retirement Fund) for public employees. This System has more than one million members, retirees and beneficiaries and more than 3,000 employers; The NYS Comptroller acts as the sole trustee of the $164 billion Common Retirement Fund. NYS is one of the largest institutional investors in the world. "The State Comptroller is responsible for ensuring that the taxpayers’ money is being used effectively and efficiently to promote the common good." We formally request that no tax dollars held within the Comptroller's Office promote climate disruption, environmental degradation and suffering. We request that our tax dollars directly "promote the common good." We applaud the Comptroller for the Green Strategic Investment Program which invested $500 million over 3 years in clean technology and green energy. We ask for complete, rapid divestment from all fossil fuels. Divesting now, will immediately bring positive change.

Climate change is upon us, and Somerville, along with many surrounding communities, is now having to deal with the problems associated with it. As storms become more frequent and severe, it does not make sense for us to continue to fund corporations who are contributing directly to this problem. Somerville has already taken steps to fight climate change. By divesting from the fossil fuel industry, we can get to the root of the problem, and take a firm stance against fossil fuel extraction. The top 200 publicly-traded companies hold the vast majority of the world’s proven coal, oil and gas reserves. Our demands to these companies are simple, because they reflect the stark truth of climate science: They need immediately to stop exploring for new hydrocarbons. They need to stop lobbying in Washington and state capitols across the country to preserve their special breaks. Most importantly, they need to pledge to keep 80% of their current reserves underground forever, since they currently have 5 times the reserves that we know is safe to burn.

As a city on the San Francisco Bay, rising sea levels will endanger property, transportation, and community. As a diverse city, our citizens have family and friends around the world, and they will be impacted, too. No one is immune from the impacts of climate change. It's wrong to wreck the climate. It's wrong to profit from wrecking the climate. Fremont should divest from the number one industry that is wrecking climates world-wide: the fossil fuel industry. Divestment from fossil fuel companies will: a) drive public awareness of the incalculable damage being done by the fossil fuel industry as it generates huge immediate profits in exchange for an uninhabitable future; b) build public recognition of the urgent need to drastically and rapidly reduce humanity’s dependence on fossil fuels; c) call widespread attention to the consequences of continuing a “business as usual” approach to extracting, marketing and burning fossil fuel; d) lead to inspiring an urgent, accelerated and popular commitment to leave untapped 80% of the known carbon reserves,while developing renewable energy resources capable of meeting humanity’s needs – thus making it possible that life as we have known it might continue on earth. You can read the Carbon Tracker list at http://www.carbontracker.org/

Newton was the first community in the Commonwealth to adopt the Stretch Code for building efficiency, and now it is time for Newton to lead again by divesting the city from companies producing fossil fuels. Divesting puts a stop to the status quo - promoting new fossil fuel exploration. Doing nothing equals promotion of fossil fuel infrastructure, like the Keystone XL pipeline, and the new pipelines delivering Fracking gas to Massachusetts. Divesting will not lead to a collapse of our fossil-fueled society, because we still pay at the pump, in our grocery stores, and for our home utilities, providing plenty of profits for fossil fuel companies while we move our investments toward truly clean, non-fossil energy.

Today, March 22, 2013, Mayor Villagrossa is announcing that the City of Los Angeles will not receive any of its electrical power from coal by the year 2025. That is good news, but it alone is not a significant enough step to avoid the worsening climate catastrophe. From the acidization of the seas, to the recent droughts in the midwest, to super storms such as Sandy, to the streak of 336th consecutive months that global temperatures have risen above 20th century averages, our civilization is in peril and we must act, now! There is a movement, spearheaded by gofossilfree.org, on over 300 college and university campuses across the nation calling for fossil fuel divestment. Four schools have already commited to divest and more are sure to soon follow suit. Yet students cannot be the only ones leading the fight for a just and sustainable future, our local governments must join the phalanx confronting our would be destroyers, the fossil fuel corporations such as Exxon-Mobil, British Petrolium, and Shell. Our governments must recognize them as the most abhorrent villans in the ongoing tragedy of the commons. The City of Los Angeles must not profit from the devastation of its citizens, currently enduring ailments from cancer and asthma. The City of Los Angeles must divest its holdings from the 200 companies listed in the Carbon Tracker report "Unburnable Carbon." Divestment in Los Angeles is not without precedent. The boards of our public pension plans have addressed divestment from South African securities, tobacco stock, and the securities of firms conducting business in Sudan and Iran. The boards adopted a Sudan policy in March of 2007, a policy addressing social, political and human rights issues in May of 2007, and and Iran policy in April 2010. They are currently considering a divestment from firearms related securities. The suffering to human health and well-being caused by fossil fuel companies is in no way less noxious than the crimes of the entities from which Los Angeles has previously divested. Additionally, the divestment from fossil fuel stock is in accord with stated fiduciary duties and applies a "costlessness" standard. The bottom line is this: divestment is the only moral choice for governments that care about their citizens. Solving the climate crisis is the only practical choice for governments that care about their solvency. It's time to divest from fossil fuels now!

The global climate crisis is harming individuals, families and communities around the world -- and that includes Vancouver. The crisis was created by, and is perpetuated by, the extraction of carbon deposits and their use as fossil fuels. The fossil fuel industry is literally destroying our planet. And it is wrong for civic institutions to profit from this destruction. Vancouver has long been a leader in municipal climate action, but the Greenest City needs to include our investments too.