The event was hit off with a speech by Bill Mckibbens, the Co-founder of 350.org and a pretty well known environmentalist. This was quickly apparent when he left the room cameras and people holding boom mics followed him out the door. He spoke about the success of 350.org, which is an organization dedicated to promoting and encouraging companies with large investments in CO2 emitting industries to divest from these companies. The president of the Rockafeller Brothers Fund spoke about there success in divesting all CO2 emmitting investments in 2014. He explained it was not only an ethical choice (the Rockafeller brothers made there money of CO2 emitting industries) but also a smart economical choice.
The 350.org event felt different then the events I had attended earlier in the week. Those seemed to be more awareness raising, discussing solutions, and addressing difficult problems. The 350 event felt more like a celebration. All speakers made different comments on the importance of divestment, but they also all recognized that large companies are starting to realize that investing in C02 emitting industries, such as the coal industry is actually not a smart business investment.
I was ecstatic to see Bill Mckibben's work, as I have been reading quite a bit of it leading up to the COP21, but I also believe that this is a sign that people have accepted the reality of climate change and are actually deciding to do something about it. Even if divestment in coal is only being done, because it is the smart economical choice, it still means that people are recognizing how climate change will affect them and are changing how they live to prevent something bad to happen. I think this is at the very least a start, if not a great milestone!
One success they promoted of 350.org was there successful campaign in Washington DC which has removed all investments from coal burning industries.
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