Bozeman Magazine

World-renowned environmentalist, author and journalist Bill McKibben will speak virtually at Montana State University on April 6 from 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. on “The Future of University Investing.”

The free, public event, organized by MSU students, will discuss the movement to divest from fossil fuels and its potential implications for universities like MSU. McKibben will be joined by Daniel Ingram, senior vice president of Wilshire Associates, along with student moderators.

McKibben has written extensively on the impact of global warming. His 1989 book “The End of Nature” was one of the first books on climate change aimed at a general audience, and his writings appear regularly in outlets such as the New Yorker and Rolling Stone. He is the founder of the nonprofit environmental advocacy group 350.org and organized protests against the Keystone XL pipeline project. He is the Schumann Distinguished Scholar in Environmental Studies at Middlebury College and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has received the Ghandi Peace Prize and the Right Livelihood Award and was named to Foreign Policy’s 2009 list of the world’s 100 most important global thinkers.

Ingram, who advises institutions on integrating Environmental Social and Governance, or ESG, criteria into their investments, previously worked as the head of responsible investment for the BT Pension Scheme, the largest company pension program in the United Kingdom, and as a policy analyst for the UK’s treasury ministry.

“We are so excited to host McKibben in order to foster an educational moment surrounding how and why institutional change is so important to achieving meaningful progress with regard to addressing the climate crisis or any large movement,” said student organizer Zach Knoll.

The event is sponsored by the student-led MSU Campus Climate Coalition and the MSU Leadership Institute’s Changemakers Program. Additional sponsorship comes from the MSU Office of Sustainability, the MSU Department of Political Science, the Montana Institute on Ecosystems, Sustainability Now, Gallatin Sunrise, the University of Montana Climate Change Studies Program and the UM Climate Response Club.

Student organizers include Atticus Cummings, majoring in environmental design and interdisciplinary studies; Zach Knoll, political science; Jacob Northcutt, history; Hailey Sinoff, political science; and Jessica Thompson, environmental engineering.

Registration is required and is available at montana.edu/communitydevelopment/mckibben.html. A public viewing location will be available at Inspiration Hall in Norm Asbjornson Hall with light refreshments served.