Tufts Climate Action starts next chapter under new moniker

Tufts Divest, a student, alumni and faculty-comprised coalition that advocates for Tufts' divestment from fossil fuels, is starting a new chapter this school year under a new name: Tufts Climate Action.

Senior Evan Bell, a physics major, is one of the club coordinators and has been a leader in the club’s transition.

“We decided we’d give it another shot, we’d rebrand, we’d do something different,” Bell said.

Bell said that the club changed its name with the goal of rebranding to encompass a wider variety of issues related to the climate.

“We said a way we can approach this is by being as diverse as we always are. Tufts Divest was never just about divestment, so Tufts Climate Action, even if in name only, is just understanding that and recognizing that we do varied kinds of work,” he said.

The club is now divided into several working groups, united by the shared goal of contributing to climate justice. Students run campaigns to increase the presence of climate change in Tufts’ curriculum, oppose natural gas projects and examine how Tufts and its students interact with the agricultural industry.

There are about 25 total people in the club, which, according to Bell, is a big increase since the club’s founding three years ago.

“[Tufts Divest] started with maybe eight people gathered in a room in Eaton," Bell said.

He described being one of the first chapters in a now-worldwide movement.

"It was fun being one of the first 12 campaigns or so because each meeting we’d be like ‘We’re one of 12 national campaigns, we’re one of 30 national campaigns, we’re one of 50, one of 100, one of 400 one of 500 global campaigns for divestment," Bell said.

Being part of an international political movement was a big part of what drew Bell to Tufts Divest. After divestment grew bigger, Bell said that the campaign immediately felt different.

"It wasn’t sustainability, it wasn’t personal choice. It wasn’t like, ‘Where are you getting your food from? How much water are you using when you shower?’... it was these bigger questions. It was, 'What is the politics behind this? What’s the economics behind this? What’s socially difficult about doing this work?'” Bell said.

Tufts Divest’s initial goal was to persuade the administration to remove the $70 million the university has invested in the fossil fuel industry. To this end, the club set up a meeting with the Board of Trustees in the spring of 2013. The Board promised there would be a follow-up two weeks later, but no one responded to the club members’ repeated attempts to set it up.

To force the issue, a few members of Tufts Divest went to an information session for the Engineering School and asked for a statement regarding Tufts’ investment in fossil fuels. Parents attending the meeting stood up and threatened the students, who left. A video of the action was posted online, which prompted backlash from the community.

A meeting was finally held with the administration and a task force was established to look into the investments. However, Bell said, it was clear from the beginning that no one was seriously considering divestment, and when the task force submitted its final report, the answer was no.

“That was really hard for our campaign," Bell said. "We all expected it, we knew it was going to happen, and we knew, 'What’s the next step? Well, we’re going to build from here.' But it was hard. Just emotionally, psychologically -- oh no, there’s this wall here now.”

One of the things that has helped the club rally was the influx of committed first-years who joined this fall. First-year Claire Chen, who proposed the agriculture working group, is undeterred by the club's past controversies.

“People keep still associating [Tufts Climate Action] with Tufts Divest, so then a lot of people see it more negatively," Chen said.

Chen said that she regretted the way that the group's demonstration at the info session has colored the community's opinion.

"I personally think the incident at the info session was a bit blown out of proportion by some people. I think it’s really unfortunate that there’s still a bit of a negative view [of the club], but I think there’s a lot of students who support the divestment movement," she said.

Chen said that knowledge barriers for new members aren't that significant, and that members learn together about climate issues.

“To be part of it you don’t have to be super knowledgeable," she said. "I didn’t even know that much about divestment when I went into it, but I’m so much more knowledgeable now. I’m pretty confident to give an elevator pitch about it, and I feel like I’ve learned a lot."

According to Chen, a collaborative culture will be important for Climate Action this semester.

“It’s really important for us to become friends as a group and not just be a bunch of people working together and meeting together to just work on the agenda ... when we present ourselves to the rest of the school, we look more unified, and then people can actually see that this is a cohesive group who cares about each other,” Chen said.

This transition was initially difficult for some of the older members, according to Bell, because of the way that the group has been restructured. 

“In the arc of the campaign, this year really felt like starting over ... which was at once daunting, because it was like, 'We’ve been doing this for two years,'" Bell said.

He said, however, that the changes have ultimately proved positive.

"[It] immediately became the best thing, because suddenly we had the opportunity to really implement the change we needed to see; I personally have learned more this semester than any other semester about organizing, about empowering people, about being in a campaign with others,” he said.

To create a cohesive group, Tufts Climate Action focused on internal building and social events last semester. One of its biggest events was bringing about 100 Tufts students to join the nearly half-million participating in the People’s Climate March in New York Cityon Sept. 20.

“It was really empowering because there were so many people there,” Chen said.

Chen said she noticed that people at the march were advocating on behalf of a huge range of issues.

“So the march was really cool, but also eye opening, a reminder that it’s not just climate change, it’s all these issues underneath [one] umbrella,” she said.

This semester the club will continue to focus on divestment, preparing for Global Divestment Day in mid-February. For the rest of the spring, it is ready to turn outward toward Tufts again and face whatever issues most need attention.

“This semester, definitely expect to see more of us," Bell said. "We have the groundwork to build up the movement at Tufts in a way it’s never been done before. [We will] be growing together, escalating together, doing bigger, badder, things better.”