To: Takoma Park City Council

Divest Takoma Park From Fossil Fuels

Our city government in Takoma Park clearly does a great job of looking out for the public good. Like most of public institutions, the city invests money in stocks and bonds. That being so, our city government has a responsibility to divest from any industry that’s destroying our future, and reinvest in industries that are delivering sustainable solutions.

Even as extreme weather events like Hurricane Sandy, floods, droughts and fires threaten to overwhelm local budgets, federal inaction 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.

We're asking the City of Takoma Park to:

1. Immediately freeze any new investments in fossil fuels.
2. Divest from direct ownership and any commingled funds that include fossil fuel public equities and corporate bonds with 5 years.

Why is this important?

Most people would probably choose a clean, sustainable, non-destructive energy source if they could, don't you think? Really. Would people insist on driving gasoline powered cars if there were an infrastructure built around electric battery operated vehicles? Would they choose to destroy our mountains and poison our water for coal and naturel gas, if they could keep the porch light on with energy captured from the wind, sun and tides? Right now, fossil fuel energy provides our only choice. That's not good enough. We need a healthy choice and there's only one way to get it. We have to demand it.

Takoma Park, MD

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