UW students chain themselves to power plant, seeking climate action - The Seattle Times
UW students chain themselves to power plant, seeking climate action | The Seattle Times
As the temperature dropped overnight and ushered in a chilled, gray morning, four University of Washington students awoke chained to the campus’s power plant. Sunday marked nearly 36 hours and counting that a small group of student activists have used their bodies to protest the university’s continued investment in fossil fuels.
The demonstration followed a rally and march through the campus Friday evening.
The students are seeking a commitment that UW will achieve 95% decarbonization by 2035, and a concurrent emissions reduction, by replacing the fossil fuels used to heat the campus with geothermal energy and heat pumps. The university now has a goal to meet this target by 2050, but as one of the state’s top greenhouse gas polluters
“We will remain here until our demands are met,” said Brett Anton, an organizer among the students chained to the fence Sunday, a group that had grown to six by midmorning.
Anton said Ana Marie Cauce, the university’s president, has been receptive and met with the activists three times already over the weekend to negotiate terms. She also has agreed not to have the protesters arrested or impeded, as long as they remain peaceful and nondestructive, though this will be reassessed Monday morning based on whether the students’ presence impedes power plant operations.
Cauce told the group they could expect an update on the university’s commitment on climate goals at the November Board of Regents meeting.
The campus, which has been relying on fossil fuel generation since the 1890s, produced nearly 90,000 metric tons of climate-warming greenhouse gases in 2021, The Seattle Times reported in February. UW anticipates it will pay up to $5.2 million a year for its emission allowances as part of the state’s newly launched carbon pricing scheme, which allows large emitters to buy and sell carbon, essentially paying to pollute.
However, in order to meaningfully replace fuel sources campuswide, Anton said the university will need to undertake significant construction to alter piping systems. Alongside the climate commitment, the group is also seeking a pledge to upgrade the school’s accessibility for students with disabilities during this construction. Moving throughout UW, he said, is now prohibitive for many students with disabilities.
Alongside a handwritten banner hung in front of the power plant’s looming, black smoke stack, were a display of orange block letters reading “Fracked Gas Is a DEAD End.”
Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:
- Catastrophic weather events — hurricanes, floods, droughts, high temperatures — are more frequent and more extreme. The cost can be measured in both the initial damage caused and the longer-term impact on the economy.
- Vulnerable communities are increasing climate-related investments, hardening infrastructure and taking other protective measures.
- Investment in carbon capture and storage technologies is increasingly rapidly.
- Governments are making investments and crafting regulations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”