Skip to main content
Popular Press
Do the Maths: Bill McKibben calls for Divestment
The Conversation (2013)
  • Matthew Rimmer, Australian National University College of Law
Abstract
In June 2013, author, activist and academic Bill McKibben is visiting Australia and New Zealand as part of the Do the Maths tour. He has been discussing the carbon bubble, fossil fuels, climate change, civil disobedience, and how we can get away from investing in coal.
His call for divestment has been picked up by the Greens, with Christine Milne asking the Future Fund to stop its “risky investment” in coal industries.
On Monday, McKibben appeared on an unruly episode of the ABC’s Q & A, defending climate science against sceptic politician, Cory Bernardi. On Tuesday he appeared at the University of Sydney; on Wednesday, he presented at the Australian National University; and on Thursday, he discussed climate change in an address to the National Press Club.
In this presentation, Bill McKibben observed: “The fossil fuel industry are outlaws against the laws of physics.” He contended that the fossil fuel industry needed to lose their veneer of respectability, the way the tobacco industry has. “If it is wrong to wreck the climate,” he said, “then it is wrong to profit from that wreckage”.
Keywords
  • Ethical Investment,
  • Fossil Fuel Divestment,
  • Climate Change,
  • Carbon Budget. Oil,
  • Coal,
  • Gas,
  • Education,
  • Religion,
  • Government.
Disciplines
Publication Date
June 7, 2013
Citation Information
Matthew Rimmer. "Do the Maths: Bill McKibben calls for Divestment" The Conversation (2013)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/matthew_rimmer/155/