A group of students are now on day five of a hunger strike aimed at getting McMaster University to divest from four on-site natural gas-powered generators and from its $30.4 million in fossil fuel holdings.
“We’ve tried dozens of ways to get the university’s attention with protests, letters, teach-ins and murals. And now this,” environmental science student and hunger striker Mila Py said during a rally on Friday.
“They’ve told us they have no intention of divesting.”
Py and four others, part of the McMaster Divestment Project (a.k.a. MacDivest), say their campaign is in protest over generators believed to increase the university’s carbon emissions by 415 tonnes for every 60 hours of operation.
Projected to run for 100 hours each year, MacDivest say that will translate to almost 700 tonnes of carbon annually.
The first of the gas-powered electricity generators arrived at McMaster in mid-December and are situated next to the northwest campus electrical transformer station near Cootes Drive.
Prior to the installation, McMaster executives said the project is necessary to pay for future clean energy initiatives via its Net Zero Carbon Roadmap, an initiative to reduce campus carbon emissions in a plan for reaching net zero carbon by 2050.
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McMaster estimates the gas project will need at least 13 years to pay itself off, resulting in what MacDivest says will be 8,900 tonnes of carbon emissions (the equivalent of driving 22 million miles) during that period.
University spokesperson Michelle Donovan insisted they are committed to addressing climate change and share the same objectives, but need the generators as a stop-gap along the way to reach their targets.
“We share the same goal with MacDivest of a net-zero carbon campus and divesting from investments in fossil fuels, but we recognize we have different timelines and ideas of how to get there,” Donavan explained in email.
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“Fossil fuel companies now make up just 2.7 per cent of McMaster’s investment portfolio, down from 4.5 per cent in 2018.”
The university says using the generators will lower electricity costs at peak times, and eventually allow the university to decrease greenhouse gas emissions.
Prior to activating the new generators, the campus had been emitting around 40,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually with 95 per cent coming from burning natural gas.
It’s also emergency power for the campus to keep critical infrastructure, such as medical research laboratories, in operation.
However, MacDivest say other sustainable clean energy options exist and are comparable to (or even cheaper than) current fossil-fuel projects, and within McMaster’s budget.
Peter Cooper, a former project manager and battery expert from the University of Guelph, says he wants to pitch university execs another solution from a well-known Toronto company he says specializes in clean battery storage and has done work with Metrolinx.
“They believe they can do better or exceed what the turbines can do with the possibility of generating revenue,” Cooper said.
Ward 13 Coun. Alex Wilson joined the rally Friday and accused MacMaster of “presenting false solutions” putting the future of a younger generation on the line.
“They have made decisions to delay. There is no reason when we have alternatives,” Wilson said.
“So thank you everyone for pointing that out and for showing that this is a conversation of money and power, not a conversation about what’s possible.”
Newly elected NDP MPP for Hamilton Centre, Sara Jama, said she was concerned about the students on the hunger strike but supported their fight, saying what they’re doing is “really important.”
“I hope that everyone here continues to push against the administration. Alex and I are with you. Your demand should be met and it is possible,” Jama said.
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