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 (MCERS) 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. This 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!

 The MCERS needs to 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. The fossil fuel industry has overwhelming political influence, 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 climate. Through divestment, we can tell the world that we do not want to profit from this dangerous and destructive industry. We can strip it of that illusion of respectability. 

Divestment makes oil and gas companies into financial  pariahs. Politicians will find it more and more embarrassing to be associated with fossil fuel companies. The influence of these companies will decline, and our chances for essential legislation will strengthen. At the same time, fossil fuel companies may finally respond by working to develop renewable energy sources.

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.

Even as extreme weather events like hurricanes, floods, droughts and fires threaten to overwhelm local budgets, federal action to solve this crisis is woefully inadequate. 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. If it's wrong for fossil fuel companies to wreck the planet with their destructive business plan, then it's wrong for our County to profit from that plan as well.

Let's do this in Montgomery County! Please: sign and share this petition with friends, co-workers and family.