Anthony Gronowicz testimony before the Fossil Fuel Divestment Forum February 29, 2016, at the

Legislative Office Buildi,g, Albany, New York

My name is Anthony Gronowicz. I have a PhD in New York City political and social history from
the
University of Pennsylvanias History Department. As a member of the Social Science Depart
ment of the
Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC), I serve as elected faculty advisor
to BMCCs student
government. I am also elected faculty advisor to CUNY Divest from Fossil fuelsthe studen
t group that
has passed more than 15 resolutions over 2 years. This past tall at the annual banquet of the
CUNY
University Student Senate that represents 500 thousand CUNY students, Hunter college
Nursing
graduate Ana Paola White who is seated here, accepted the award on behalf of CUNY
Divest from fossil
fuels for the 2015 student organization of the year for lobbying the CUNY Board of Trustees
to divest
these poisons from its endowment. She was also at my side in March 2014 when I presen
ted a formal
resolution before the Delegate Assembly of my union, the Professional Staff Congress
of the City
University of New York (PSC), calling on our union to support divestment from fossil fuel
companies. The
PSC passed that resolution, and thereby became the first union in the nation to do so.
The resolution called for immediate action regarding the climate crisis, evidenced
by recent events like
Superstorm Sandy, the melting of polar ice, and other extreme weather events like
unprecedented
floods, droughts, and storms in many parts of the world.
It noted that we have already exceeded the 350 ppm limit of safe carbon dioxide levels in
the
atmosphere andwithout a major policy changewe are already on track to reach a temper
ature
increase of more than 2 degrees Celsius in the next 15 years (Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate
Change), a devastating level which the 2009 Copenhagen Accord agreed to stay under.
...

It quoted from a 2006 report, the Stern Review: The Economics of Climate Change, that showed that
the cost of climate change is equivalent to a loss of 5% of Global Gross Domestic Product (GOP) every
year, now and forever, and could be as much as 20% of Global GOP annually, while the costs of
solutions to climate change could be as little as 1% of Global 61W annuallyan amount roughly equal to
the $674 billion which fossil fuel companies spent on exploration in 2012.
Noted in the resolution was that the CUNY long-term investment pool invested in mutual funds that
own shares in the top 200 fossil fuel companies supports continued degradation and destruction of the
planet.
Therefore PSC-CUNY urged the CUNY Board of Trustees to divest its long-term investment funds from
the top 200 carbon-dioxide polluting fossil fuel companies, freeze future investments in those
companies, and reinvest 5% of the long-term investment funds in companies promoting solutions to
climate change. It resolved to encourage its members to join the CUNY Divest campaign by organizing
climate change forums and educational events on local CUNY campuses, and by passing divestm
ent
resolutions in campus governance bodies.
Eleven days ago, I heard Richard Kauffman, a member of Governor Cuomos cabinet and the Chair of
the Governors newly formed Energy Finance Sub-Cabinet, give a presentation before Columbias School

of International Affairs Center on Global Energy Policy. He unequivocally stated, Clean energy means
higher cost. Its just not true. And, in fact, the renewable energy sector has the potential for explosive
growth.
The costs of renewable energy have plummeted. In a February 1st piece in the New York Times, Paul
Krugman noted, The numbers are really stunning. According to a recent report by the investment firm
Lazard, the cost of electricity generation using wind power fell 61% from 2009 to 2015, while the cost of
solar power fell 82%. These numberswhich are in line with other estimatesshow progress at rates
we normally only expect to see for information technology. And they put the cost of renewable energy
into a range where its competitive with fossil fuels.
As the honorable members of the legislature know, fossil fuel divestment is now a full-fledged studentled movement at over 400 US colleges and universities, nine of which have committed to divestment
(among them Stanford University, Green Mountain College, Hampshire College, San Francisco State
University Foundation, and unity College); and at CUNY the university student Senate has three times
passed divestment resolutions between October 2013 and May 2015, as well as the Graduate Center
Doctoral Students Council, and the student government associations at Hunter College, Baruch College,
Brooklyn College, Medgar Even College, the College of Staten Island, the New York City College of
Technology, the Borough of Manhattan Community College, Bronx Community College, and Hostos
Community College.
Global warming has accelerated in the new millennium, and differentially affected our students based
on race and class. We need to redouble our efforts to get out of the pension funds that pour fossil fuel
poisons into our air, water and earth.
In my role on the executive council of my union, I have submitted a resolution to that effect. Hopefully it
will be passed very soon.
For years, we have been warned through scientific studies based upon exhaustive and compelling data
that the situation would grow inexorably worse if nothing was done to halt the use of fossil fuels, yet the
responsible duly elected government officials have not acted to preserve our public health and the
environment in general.
Why have they not done the right thing?