Molly McGuire (in white sweater) and Gabby Arnold (pink jacket) set the tone for the coming Divestment March through Stevens Point, WI Friday November 12 2021, with the student-led 350-Stevens Point coordinating the march. Besides the goal of getting the University of Wisconsin system to divest its endowments and foundations from fossil-fuel corporations, the goal of the march also is to focus on the Chase Bank, at the local office in Point, for them being the single largest investor in fossil-fuel companies. The march went from Debot Center at UW-Stevens Point, through the downtown, to the Chase Bank office on the Wisconsin River.

(intro para for the chants)

BELOW: Gabby Arnold, President of 350-Stevens Point, the climate-change focused organization, a chapter of 350-Org the national organization led entirely by UW-Stevens Point students, leads the Divestment March in a quick Chants 101 course.

BELOW: The climate-change focused group 350-Stevens Point (chapter of the big national group 350-Org) with the local group having all elected leaders from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point student body, held a march for Divestment from fossil fuels, both by the University of Wisconsin system, but also from the Chase Bank, the largest single investor in fossil fuels which has a large office building in Stevens Point, right on the Wisconsin River. Here’s the crew moving along Isadore Street.

BELOW: 350-Stevens Point member Allison Plesha brings the case against Chase. Her first sentence was missed, in which she calls out Chase Bank and then goes on to say the rest.

Note that there is a bit of a Dialogue that occurs between a member of the Stevens Point off-campus community and the marchers. I think 350 Vice-President Molly McGuire does a good job making clear that this Divestment movement is NOT about “individual guilt,” not guilt-tripping a community because of our dependence on fossil fuels. As she points out, in this country we are so dependent on fossil fuels that it’s a matter of survival. You have to use them because there’s no other choice, for most people. Banks such as Chase assure there’s no other choice, by not investing in the alternative energy systems that the nation will require in order to have a chance at survival.