Why I Oppose the MRTI Report

by Ashley Bair

MRTI writes in their report that the most efficient way to discourage the burning of fossil fuels is to aggressively engage and challenge companies to reduce their carbon footprint.

If we agree that climate change is real and that human consumption of fossil fuels is the cause, then shareholder engagement is a mute point. Because the product is what is killing our people and our future. We need to get out of it now. We have decided as a church not to put our money in alcohol or tobacco or firearms or pornography - because we know better than to expect that the manufacturers would engage us in reducing or changing their harmful, destructive, deadly goods. It is not the company, it is the product. 

Knowing that wetlands are disappearing, communities are dislocated, oil and gas are clogging our air and water, disease is rampant and deadly - We do not have until 2020 to make a decision on which select companies to leave, we need to say no. It is the product of fossil fuels that are deadly and from that we must faithfully choose life and divest. Now.