Letters to the Editor

We must divest now

Dear Editor,

Students at UMass, Harvard and Yale and all around the country have it right.  It’s time to demand action on divestment from fossil fuel companies – both for moral and financial reasons.

As a taxpayer who believes our state is obliged to give its’ retirees the best pension it can by properly investing their money, it bothers me knowing that since 2014, as the math and the news clearly report, the Massachusetts state pension fund has been losing money heavily from investments in fossil fuels.  And health-wise I worry for my granddaughter’s future knowing the predictions on how much sea levels will rise and knowing the air is unhealthy even now as our asthma rates are sky high.  Not divesting this money from fossil fuels that are killing us is morally wrong.   I demand that we divest these funds now and instead invest in renewable energy.

And divestment is not just a moral issue anymore.  With the fund losing a half billion dollars in one year from fossil fuel investment, it is time to conclude that investing in them is a bad financial investment.  News in the last month continues to highlight the disastrous market for fossil fuels with articles such as Oil investors see $7.4 billion in dividends vanish in Bloomberg Business, Stress in oil credit market is now at record levels in Marketwatch, Pension funds should drop high carbon investments “very quickly” in Investments and Pensions, Europe, Biggest wave yet of oil defaults looms as bust intensifies in Bloomberg Business, US oil takes biggest losses as stockpiles grow in the Wall Street Journal and on NPR, US Coal Giant Peabody Energy Files for Bankruptcy.

Our state representative for Winthrop, Speaker Robert DeLeo, is known to be in favor of passing the commission divestment bill H.2372, which would create a divestment commission to report on the advisability of divesting by the end of this year.  The bill to just begin divesting of all fossil fuels was dropped.  Please ask the Speaker to support H. 2372 with amendments to get coal divestment started right away (whereas coal companies are all bankrupt or in the process) and to ensure that the composition of the commission is balanced.

Carol Walker

 

 

Thank you to participants

To the Editor,

Thank you to the following for helping out with the Spring Cleaning on Saturday.

Mary Kay (Sunscreen Skin Care); Playmakers; Petite Boutique; Cervizzi’s; Parks & Recreation; For Kids Only; East Boston Health Center; WPD K9 Dog; WPD Prescription Take Back Box; WPD Explorer’s Program (Volunteers); WPD Seat Belt/Car Seat; CASA; Jen Noonan-Nutritionist; Food Pantry; Plaster Time; Healthy Streets; Senior Center; Oceanside Pilates & Yoga; Farmers Market Committee; Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation; Office of Consumer Affairs; Crossfit Tradewinds; Mass Division of Banks; Medical Reserve Corp; Winthrop Market Place (Donated Waters & Fruit); RPM Fitness; Jessica Paulson (Whole Foods Chef); Yoga Lounge; Michelle Cataldo; Hockey Equipment Swap; Winthrop School Performing Arts and the Winthrop Fire Department.

LeighAnn Eruzione

Community Liaison

Community Action for Safe Alternatives (CASA)