Divest mum

Divest MUM From Fossil Fuel Investments

Supporting Alternative Investment Options for a Sustainable Future - By the Juicy Joules

What is an endowment?

● A savings account that is put into stocks, bonds, or other investments

● Profits we make from our investments help pay for various university expenses - potentially scholarships, salaries, upgrading/repairing facilities

Divestment:

“...is the opposite of an investment – it simply means getting rid of stocks, bonds, or investment funds that are unethical or morally ambiguous.”The purpose is to remove financial support from morally and socially irresponsible companies in order to discourage the extraction and burning of fossil fuels.

Why divest?“The logic of divestment couldn’t be simpler: if it’s wrong

to wreck the climate, it’s wrong to profit from that wreckage.”

Bill McKibben

How divesting works

Campaign Divest Reinvest

You guys rule

The best known example of divestment occurred in the 1970s and ’80s in response to the apartheid regime of South Africa. Retirement funds, mutual funds, and investment institutions across the country sold off the stocks of companies that did business in South Africa. Divestment greatly increased public visibility surrounding the injustices of South Africa’s apartheid government.

History

As of September 19, 2014, 181 institutions and local governments and 656 individuals representing over $50 billion in assets have pledged to divest from fossil fuels.

Successes

Rockefeller Brothers Fund

A notable foundation that has pledged to divest is the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

Their fortune was built on oil by John D. Rockefeller

The philanthropic organization is worth $860 million

Sterling CollegeCollege in Vermont that specializes in environmental education.

13% percent of their endowment was invested in fossil fuels prior to divesting. Sold off all of its stocks invested in the fossil fuel industry within 3 days last year.

Student enrollment increased by 26% after divesting.

They gained support and their endowment surged to $1 million dollars after divesting

OUR EXPERIENCES

Meetings:Stuart ValentineDavid Todt and Tom Brooks

MUM’s Endowment

Utopia Park

Cash Money~$2 Million

Stocks (incl B.H.) CD’s

~$10 Million Value

~6% Return

Our Petition/Campaign

“Maharishi University of Management desires to invest in companies whose business conduct is consistent with its goals and beliefs. Therefore, the committee and/or its investment managers will use their best efforts to avoid holding securities of any company known to participate in businesses the Board deems to be socially or morally inconsistent with University objectives. The Committee will provide investment managers with a statement of University mission guidelines and restrictions.

This Section shall not be deemed to restrict investments in mutual funds, exchange traded funds, or other commingled entities where individual holdings that would otherwise be restricted by this section make up a small part of the total holdings of the entity.”

MUM Investment Policy

The Authenticity of Consciousness

Greater ClarityRewrite the Investment Policy to reflect MUM’s core principles to greaten our consciousness.

Alternative Investment options

Solutions

Work with Stewart Valentine from Centerpoint InvestingInvolve Students, Faculty and Alumni in Decision Making

Accomplish/ed

Spreading awareness through education

Continued Communication

Activism within the student body

“Fundamentals of Creating Heaven on Earth”

What You Can Do to Divest

Research

Look into the reality of companies

Stay Informed

Dive into your belief structures

Analyze your Subscriptions

ActChange your lifestyle

Choose new banks

Speak out

Campaign

Support those making changes

Sequester Carbon

Embody

Empower yourself by making conscious decisions that support your individual purity and ideals for a greater world where the truth of heaven is made to sustain all of Earth in heaven. But really.

Jai Guru Dev

Rockefeller: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/27/rockefeller-fund-chairman-moral-duty-divest-fossil-fuels

Resourceshttp://www.endowmentethics.org/resources-for-students

https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.350.org/images/Reivestment_Guide.pdfhttp://insideclimatenews.org/news/20032015/map-tracking-academias-fossil-fuel-divestment

http://350africa.org/2014/12/04/what-is-divestment-and-why-is-it-important-for-africa/http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20032015/map-tracking-academias-fossil-fuel-divestment http://www.occupy.com/article/climate-change-economics-and-global-fossil-fuel-divestment-movement

http://www.yesmagazine.org/climate-in-our-hands/these-three-colleges-stopped-investing-fossil-fuels-endowments

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/22/us/heirs-to-an-oil-fortune-join-the-divestment-drive.html?_r=0

http://www.iop.harvard.edu/does-divestment-work