Scott Vrooman, a comedian and graduate of Queen’s University and Dalhousie University, said he will rip up both of his degrees in protest of the schools’ refusal to divest from the fossil fuel industry.
Vrooman, who has appeared on This Hour Has 22 Minutes and Conan, said he believes divestment is important because climate change is an urgent matter.
“There really is no bigger issue that humans face at this time,” Vrooman said. “If you believe scientists, we need to leave the vast majority of fossil fuels in the ground and invest in renewable energy. And we need to do it right now.”
Currently, Dalhousie has no plans to divest from the fossil fuel industry, according to Vrooman.
Similar to how individuals generate income through stocks, bonds and other investments such as mutual funds, schools such as Dalhousie, Queen’s, and the University of Toronto invest in the fossil fuel industry through different portfolios.
Queen’s is looking into the possibility of divesting from the fossil fuel industry, according to the school’s media relations office.
Last year, a student pro-divestment group lobbied the school to divest its endowment and investment fund from companies engaged in fossil fuel extraction and distribution, Queen’s media relations said in an email.
“Principal [Daniel] Woolf struck an Advisory Committee on Divestment of Fossil Fuels, including student, faculty, staff and Board of Trustees representation, to review the [request] and make recommendations to him on what further action should be taken, if any,” media relations said.
The recommendations will be brought to the school’s investment committee for a final decision.
Some experts say they are skeptical as to what kind of results the divestment movement would yield.
“While sympathetic to the spirit that is driving the divestment campaign, I am worried that fossil fuel divestment is missing the target,” said Werner Antweiler, a business professor at University of British Columbia.
Antweiler said divestment “will have no discernible effect on what fossil fuel companies do as long as we put gasoline in our cars’ tanks and heat our homes with natural gas and oil.”
“I also find the debate about fossil fuel divestment somewhat hypocritical. The more important concern is that governments fail to adopt more stringent carbon policies, ideally carbon pricing,” he said. “That policy deficit should be the target, not the fossil fuel companies.”
Regardless of criticism, Vrooman said he is still very passionate about the issue.
“The fossil fuel industry has actively fought this change, because it would destroy them. We cannot have both a future for humans and a fossil fuel industry,” he said. “One of them must go.”
“As far as practical limitations go, I don’t think there are that many. The demand is very clear: divest the school’s endowment from the top 200 companies involved in the exploration, ownership or extraction of fossil fuels,” he added.
When asked where he plans to rip up his degrees, Vrooman said he had a couple of places in mind.
“If Queen’s doesn’t divest in the fall, and Dalhousie hasn’t changed their position at that time, I will rip up both my Queen’s and Dal degrees on camera in a video for the Toronto Star,” he said. “Or I may go directly to Kingston and Halifax. I’m still planning with the campus-led movements on that.”
