{"id":158,"date":"2019-08-20T23:24:09","date_gmt":"2019-08-21T02:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/?p=158"},"modified":"2019-08-21T01:13:58","modified_gmt":"2019-08-21T04:13:58","slug":"divest-or-not-divest-why-is-this-still-the-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/2019\/08\/20\/divest-or-not-divest-why-is-this-still-the-question\/","title":{"rendered":"Divest or not divest: Why is this still the question?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"400\" src=\"http:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/DivestOrNOT.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-159\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/DivestOrNOT.png 900w, https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/DivestOrNOT-300x133.png 300w, https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/DivestOrNOT-768x341.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 1362px) 62vw, 840px\" \/><figcaption>Divest or Not Divest: Why is this still the question?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Bambi\u2019s third post is a quick reflection on an interview\nwith Ms. Tina Oh, our former Mount Allison divest star ?, published in NB Media Coop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-wordpress wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-nb-media-co-op\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"HTC5gV9J32\"><a href=\"http:\/\/nbmediacoop.org\/2019\/08\/19\/challenging-mount-allison-universitys-complicity-with-the-fossil-fuel-industry-tina-oh\/\">Challenging Mount Allison University&#8217;s complicity with the fossil fuel industry: Tina Oh<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe title=\"&#8220;Challenging Mount Allison University&#8217;s complicity with the fossil fuel industry: Tina Oh&#8221; &#8212; NB Media Co-op\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" src=\"http:\/\/nbmediacoop.org\/2019\/08\/19\/challenging-mount-allison-universitys-complicity-with-the-fossil-fuel-industry-tina-oh\/embed\/#?secret=HTC5gV9J32\" data-secret=\"HTC5gV9J32\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The article entitled \u201c<em>Challenging\nMount Allison University\u2019s complicity with the fossil fuel industry: Tina Oh<\/em>\u201d\nis signed by Mr. Abram Lutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mr. Lutes is a member of\nthe <em>Young Communist League Fredericton <\/em>(<a href=\"http:\/\/theaquinian.net\/young-communist-league-fredericton-voicing-the-radical-vision\/\">http:\/\/theaquinian.net\/young-communist-league-fredericton-voicing-the-radical-vision\/<\/a>).\nObviously, he is free to endorse any ideology, even a totalitarian one to the\nleft (some may be more attracted by totalitarianism to the right, mind you). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mr. Lutes is also a student\nresearcher with \u201c<em>RAVEN (Rural Action and Voices for the Environment)<\/em>\u201d,\nwhich \u201cis an activist research project working with rural champions for the\nenvironment in New Brunswick\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ironically, RAVEN is funded by public funds, *partnering* with agencies from both the provincial and federal governments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From their website (<a href=\"https:\/\/raven-research.org\/about\/\">https:\/\/raven-research.org\/about\/<\/a>),\nwe can read the following: \u201cOur partners are the NB Media Co-op (NBMC) and the\nJoint Economic Development Initiative (JEDI).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>RAVEN was launched in September 2018 with secured funding until 2022 from\nthe Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and the\nNew Brunswick Innovation Foundation (NBIF), and with in-kind contributions from\nthe project partners NBMC and JEDI as well as Frictive Pictures, a New\nBrunswick film production company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>RAVEN is an associate member of the New Brunswick Environmental Network, an\numbrella network linking more than 100 grassroots and other NGO organizations\nacross the province\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mmm\u2026 What kind of weird country do we live in where Governments (through people\u2019s tax money) fund initiatives like this one to ruin one if its now formerly vibrant sectors of the economy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I do not know if I should\nsmile or cry, thinking of where Canada has headed. Why are we doing this to\nourselves? Is capitalism that bad? Crony capitalism and wild capitalism are not\ngood\u2026 but why would capitalism in a socially-oriented country be bad? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Without a free market in my birth country, my dad (= parents) could have not lifted us from low-income to the middle-class through his innovative entrepreneurship. He is a decent self-made man. My hero!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wouldn\u2019t it have been more productive and constructive\nto fund research on renewable energy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the article above, it is written that faculty members of Mount Allison University are very supportive of Divest Mount A. False. Some of the faculty members are VERY supportive. Others, like myself, are unsupportive. Yet others do not care either way.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Why am I not supportive?  Well, although I may be wrong, I doubt that the removal of fossil fuel investments from a university endowment<em> <\/em>will make a difference for oil firms (it would only lower the university\u2019s endowment). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Same for pension plans. The article below explains it better than I would, although I tried on many occasions to explain my point to colleagues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The article in question is entitled \u201c<em>Fossil fuel divestment doesn\u2019t damage oil firms, just pension funds<\/em>\u201d and this is exactly Bambi\u2019s take on the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bambi thinks that any divestment of any pension plan\nshould be perhaps made optional: Those of us who want to divest and live poorer\nin our older age can do it. Those of us who prefer to pass would remain \u201cfree\u201d to\nchose where they wish to invest their pension funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-wordpress wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-capx\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"zwHph0DHYx\"><a href=\"https:\/\/capx.co\/fossil-fuel-divestment-doesnt-damage-oil-firms-just-pension-funds\/\">Fossil fuel divestment doesn&#8217;t damage oil firms, just pension funds<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe title=\"&#8220;Fossil fuel divestment doesn&#8217;t damage oil firms, just pension funds&#8221; &#8212; CapX\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" src=\"https:\/\/capx.co\/fossil-fuel-divestment-doesnt-damage-oil-firms-just-pension-funds\/embed\/#?secret=zwHph0DHYx\" data-secret=\"zwHph0DHYx\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This being said, Bambi is by principle against the idea of imposed boycott. Bambi prefers personal boycott, if we must. Regardless of the topic or issue. This applies to all issues in her mind. Do not boycott politicians you do not like. Do not boycott food from countries that have occupied yours (I have said so many times, if I do so, I would end up eating only \u201cpoutine\u201d ?). Do not allow yourself to impose boycott on arts, on institutions, etc. Boycott yourself, if you wish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our Canadian public companies may not be perfect (does\nperfection exist?). They surely remain MORE ethical than other oil companies\nelsewhere. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Until we find a better, realistic, sustainable alternative to oil to heat our houses, fuel our airplanes and cars, this is all what we have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, innovations in vehicle technology (i.e., hybrid cars) are promising\u2014even if our province\u2019s electricity is too expensive to make such choices. In contrast, bravo to Qu\u00e9bec; it seems to be the province with the highest number of electrical cars on its roads. I must add here: bravo to our current federal government. Its &#8220;purchase incentive program for electric vehicles&#8221; may be one of its rare good achievements, according to Bambi\u2019s non-expert citizen opinion; if only for that, Bambi does not regret her past vote\u2026even if her forthcoming one may be different.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bambi\u2019s third post is a quick reflection on an interview with Ms. Tina Oh, our former Mount Allison divest star ?, published in NB Media Coop. The article entitled \u201cChallenging Mount Allison University\u2019s complicity with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":178,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158\/revisions\/178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}