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Hey You! Welcome back to Burlington! Most of you are here for wild parties, strong academics, rad skiing, gorgeous Vermont and hopefully because youÕre down with social justice.

As IÕm sure you have already heard, the best thing you can do in college is get involved in something.

But when youÕre looking at the very extensive list of Student Goverment Association approved clubs, or wandering around an endless activities fair, it can get a bit overwhelming.

Sometimes itÕs easier to just call off the search, get high and watch Netflix.

Chances are I canÕt hold you back from that.

Before you kick off your shoes, get involved in one of the most grave issues confronting the world right now: get involved in the fight for climate justice.

This specific divestment campaign began just last year.

For those who are unfamiliar with this term, divestment, in plain terms, is when an institution takes out its investments in a company or a sector and re-invests somewhere else.

In this specific instance, the divestment campaign, which has received an unprecedented level of support from the community over the last year, is demanding the board of trustees and the University of Vermont to divest from most of the fossil fuel industry.

There have been several divestment campaigns in the past, and there are more than 350 of them going on right now on college campuses alone.

After years of student organizing, UVM divested from all companies tied to South African Apartheid in 1985.

When talking about any divestment campaign, it is important to clarify divestment as a tool within a greater struggle.

Divestment at UVM is about far more than taking UVMÕs money out of these vile, irresponsible, and destructive corporations.

ItÕs about acknowledging the climate crisis we are in and changing the acceptable social norms that allow us to support an industry that, at its best, releases an exorbitant amount of CO2 levels into the atmosphere driving climate change.

At its worst, it destroys entire ecosystems across the globe, as well as the lives and livelihoods of millions of people worldwide through its devastating extraction procedures.

As university students in the United States, climate change will not affect us as harshly as it will populations living in impoverished countries of the third world.

Though it does not affect us all equally, it does affect us all.

If youÕre fortunate enough to have a voice to move $3.5 million out of this industry in solidarity with those who are silenced by injustice on the daily, you had better do so.

It is our absolute responsibility and moral obligation to use whatever powers we posses to fight against climate change, an opponent that is destroying the ecological services we rely upon for survival.

We arenÕt going to prevent climate change or devastation at this point in time.

The best we can do now is work within our power to fight for a better world, and minimize violent destruction to as great an extent as we can.

If these words reach you, and you are moved to work in solidarity with your peers and community to end a perpetually destructive and violent system, you should join Student Climate Culture.

The revolution is being planned on Monday nights at 8 p.m. in Lafayette.