Washington University in St. Louis

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Indigenous Leaders, Mineworkers, & Students Confront Peabody Coal

laurie.ignacio's picture
Posted on April 29
by Responsible Endowments Coalition

This afternoon, a loose coalition of students, frontline community members, retirees of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), forgotten people from Black Mesa, the Powder River Basin Resource Council, and allies converged on the annual shareholder meeting of Peabody Energy in Gillette, Wyoming. Peabody bills itself as the "world's largest private-sector coal company," and we were there to confront them on their horrendous business practices.

Primarily I was there supporting the voices of the people most affected by Peabody: relocated off their ancestral land, cheated out of their pensions and healthcare, menaced by hungry strip mine expansion. But as a student at Washington University in St. Louis involved in the campus campaign for fossil fuel divestment, attending the meeting had a further, more personal significance.

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Divestment
Peabody, United Mine Workers of America, Washington University in St. Louis
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DIVESTMENT RISING: Student #FossilFree Movement Demands 230 Campuses #DivestNow

Mary Schellentrager's picture
Posted on February 4
by Mary Schellentrager, Divestment Campaign Coordinator, Energy Action Coalition

Fossil fuel divestment campaigns on over 230 campuses kicked off 2013 with unprecedented energy and power.  Our movement's rapid growth has inspired endorsements from university presidents, proposals for pension funds, churches, and cities to divest, and even has the fossil fuel industry on the defensive. 

On campuses nationwide, thousands of students have returned from winter break with greater passion and determination to win.  They are holding teach-ins, winning endorsements, rallying, and petitioning their Trustees with unparalleled momentum - and the national media is taking notice.

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Campus Action & Sustainability
american university, bowdoin college, brown university, college of the atlantic, divestment, georgetown university, Harvard University, haverford college, middlebury college, northwestern university, ohio university, sewanee: the university of the south, swarthmore college, uc berkeley, University of New Hampshire, university of north carolina, Washington University in St. Louis, yale university
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Interrupting the President to Interrupt the Pipeline

aklagsbrun's picture
Posted on October 5
by Arielle Klagsbrun, community organizer, Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment (MORE)
WashU Green Action

Yesterday, my friend Ken and I attended an Obama Campaign fundraiser in St. Louis. But we didn’t go there with any ordinary mission. We went to make sure our generation’s demand that President Obama reject the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline was heard.

After waiting over an hour, and with hundreds rallying outside, President Obama took the stage. As he began his speech, Ken and I prepared for our intervention. I unwrapped my shawl, and Ken opened his jacket, which both had our message clearly inscribed “President Obama: Veto the Keystone XL pipeline.”

After President Obama spoke about leaving a better future for our children, we seized the pause and asked “will you veto the Keystone XL pipeline?” Obama didn’t directly respond, but acknowledged us a few minutes later when saying “we’ve got a couple of people here who are concerned about the environment.” Yesterday, we were heard.

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Building Political Power
100actions, Keystone XL, Missouri, Obama, St. Louis, Washington University in St. Louis
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Coal cares? St. Louis students find out otherwise.

kentaro.kumanomido's picture
Posted on May 11
by Kentaro Kumanomido, Washington University (MO)

St. Louis, Mo. – Yesterday afternoon, a crowd of local students and community members gathered in front of Peabody Energy’s world headquarters to protest the harmful effects the coal industry is having on the health of local communities.

The event was planned in recognition of National Asthma Awareness Month; however enthusiasm for the event quickly grew early Tuesday morning when news spread regarding cyber-hoax Coalcares.org. What later turned out to be the work of techno-pranksters Coal Kills Kids, Coal Cares seemed to be a shockingly-uncharacteristic public health initiative from Peabody, offering free asthma inhalers to children living within a 200 mile radius of a coal plant.

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Moving Beyond Dirty Energy
asthma, Coal, coal cares, die-in, dirty energy, Labadie, Maryville University, Missouri, Mo love, Peabody, St. Louis, University of Missouri St. Louis, Washington University in St. Louis

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