WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
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By Nathaniel Weinzapfel
“When the people rise up, the power comes down,” chant demonstrators at a recent protest from the nation-wide climate change organization called the Sunrise Movement.
Launched in 2017, the Sunrise Movement was founded to, “shift the Overton window on climate policy” and promote strong environmental policies such as the Green New Deal. The movement organizes multiple protests for this cause and has many hubs throughout the country, including in Bloomington, Indiana.
Sunrise Bloomington member Alyson Alde, a student at Indiana University studying Environmental Health, recently spoke with WFHB to help better explain what the Sunrise Movement is and how the Bloomington movement differs:
“The sunrise movement is a nationwide movement led by climate activists. And our goals are to promote sustainability and climate justice. Specifically for our Bloomington hub, we have the goal right now to encourage IU to disclose how much they have invested in fossil fuels, to divest and then to reinvest into sustainable organizations,” says Alde.
As Alyson stated, Sunrise Bloomington seeks to have Indiana University “Disclose, Divest, and Reinvest” and Alyson provides an understanding of what that means.
“Indiana University is a public institution. Where their investments are, is not public information. So our first demand is to disclose. So we want Indiana University to disclose how much money they have invested in fossil fuels. Once we’ve reached that goal. Our next goal is to demand that Indiana University divest from any fossil fuel industries, and then with that money that they have divested we want them to reinvest into sustainable companies and sustainable organizations rather than organizations that are causing the destruction of our planet,” said Alde.
Over the past few years, Sunrise Bloomington and other organizations have sought to have meetings with the Indiana University Foundation to help further their cause. Alyson explained what purpose the meetings hold in the overall goals of Sunrise Bloomington:
“With our meetings we are hoping to meet with the IU Foundation. And by we I don’t just mean the sunrise movement, Bloomington hub. I mean the entire community, the IU community, the Bloomington community, the Indiana community. We want to have an open dialogue with the IU foundation to make sure that the money that we pay with our tuition is going to sustainable organizations rather than to fossil fuel industries. And we want that conversation to be an open and public conversation,” she said.
Back in October, the Indiana University Foundation and Sunrise Bloomington had actually organized a face-to-face meeting to discuss these goals. However, the meeting was cancelled by the IU Foundation due Sunrise’s call for the meeting to be public and for the community to participate. Sunrise was motivated by the need for transparency, with IU hoping for a more private meeting. Despite this setback, Alyson is hopeful for a future meeting:
“I think that the Indiana University Foundation, based off what they’re saying publicly about their goals for sustainability. I think that they are taking the climate crisis seriously. And the next step to prove to us that they are taking the climate crisis seriously is to divest from fossil fuels,” said Alde.
Early this year, Indiana University named Pamela Whitten as the 19th president of the university. After years of unsuccessful calls for the university to divest from fossil fuels, Sunrise Bloomington is optimistic that the change in leadership will finally bring them the opportunity they were looking for:
“You know, I’m really hopeful. President Pamela Whitten recently made a statement about Indiana University’s promise to sustainability, mentioning some things, including IUPUI and how we rank with sustainability worldwide. And like I kind of mentioned earlier, I think that the next step to really fulfilling that promise to sustainability and to climate justice is to divest from fossil fuels. So I personally feel like Indiana University wants to do this,” she said.
While Sunrise Bloomington may seem extremely critical of Indiana University, Alyson explains that this is not the case, and that their concerns come from a place of appreciation for the University as a whole.
“I am really proud to be a Hoosier. I myself am a student at Indiana University, studying environmental health and I’m really proud to be a part of this educational institution. But I do really encourage that Indiana University disclose if they want to stick to their promise of sustainability. The best way to do that is to divest from fossil fuels, nothing can go wrong by divesting from fossil fuels. And in fact, not divesting is going to have a bigger impact on the lives of not only Hoosiers but the rest of the world,” said Alde.
If any listener wants to know more about Sunrise Bloomington, Alyson states that:
“You can find us on Instagram at SunriseBTown. On Twitter at SunriseBTown and on Facebook at Sunrise Bloomington.”
