350 Group Targets UW Foundation Oil Holdings

A national advocate for fighting pollution that leads to climate change will be in Madison tonight.One target will be the University of Wisconsin’s investments in fossil fuel companies.

Bill McKibben is an author, who’s also an activist for the group 350.org. He’s making a 20 city swing through college towns, and when in Madison, McKibben is expected to call on the UW-Foundation to take all of its nearly $3 billion in assets out of any large companies that mine and process fossil fuels. 350.org spokesman Daniel Kessler says he understands that universities want to make money to support student and academic programs, “Yes it’s true, but don’t invest in companies wrecking the planet.”

Whether “wreck the planet” is what the UW’s dollars help do may be disputed, but a UW-Foundation spokesman said there’d be no comment. Meanwhile 350.org says McKibben will be speaking to nearly 1,000 people in Madison, and that the event is sold out. McKibben says Unity College in Maine has agreed to divest its portfolio from fossil fuel.