A University of New Mexico professor used her acceptance speech for a prestigious award Wednesday to call on UNM to stop investing in the fossil fuel industry.
Associate Professor Tema Milstein was chosen as UNM's Presidential Teaching Fellow for 2015-17. She took the opportunity during her acceptance speech to urge the university to stop using higher education money to fund fossil fuel production.
"If we stay invested in fossil fuels," Milstein said, "we give our financial clout to those companies who fund the climate-denial industries and pollute our earth and our political process."
There is a growing movement to push universities, cities, churches and other institutions to divest from fossil fuels—gofossilfree.org lists nearly 30 universities around the world that have done so already.