On Oct. 29, 2018, Gov. Roy Cooper established the Climate Change Interagency Council as part of Executive Order No. 80, North Carolina’s commitment to address climate change and transition to a clean energy economy. The council was created to help cabinet agencies work together to achieve the goals set out in EO80. These agencies include the NC Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), Transportation (DOT) and Commerce (DOC), among others.

EO80 set goals for the state to strive to accomplish by 2025. Cooper’s administration’s main goals are:

• To reduce statewide greenhouse gas emissions to 40% below 2005 levels

• Increase the number of registered, zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) to at least 80,000

• Reduce energy consumption in state-owned buildings by at least 40% from 2002-2003 levels.

Coinciding with a whole week of Global Climate Strikes, where a record 7.6 million people took to the streets in cities around the world to strike for climate action. The council met on Sept. 27, 2019 to unveil the plans they have been developing over the last year. While the strike here in Raleigh was focused on Climate Action, it chose to immediately target and critique the plans being presented at the Climate Change Interagency Council meeting for E080.

Environmental activists gathered outside of the Museum of Natural Sciences in the hours before the meeting with signs reading “El poder de la gente,” (the power of the people), “no ACP no Enviva”, and “break free from fossil fuels.” Also seen were signs asking Gov. Cooper to defend North Carolina and suspend the Atlantic Coast Pipeline construction, reminding him that N.C. counties are under attack by the ACP. The attacks come in the form of possible pipeline explosions, methane gas leaking into the air we breathe and into our waters, affecting approximately 320 rivers, creeks, and streams.

The meeting was open to the public, and once the doors opened, both environmental activists and agency members filled the room. There was a strange tension between the secretaries in ironed suits, and the constituents they allegedly serve. After the governor spoke, there was a coordinated deviation from the scheduled program, where activists in the crowd advocated for a more prosperous future than that imagined by the council, while identifying how Cooper and the council are guilty of climate hypocrisy. Among many chants, heard was “we are in a climate emergency” and “climate leaders do not approve pipelines.”

After the disruption, Cooper sarcastically replied “I love public input,” yet chose to leave during the public comment period. This action indicates their perception of the public comment period. It is permitted as an imaginary tool of accountability for our elected officials, yet they willingly choose to ignore our pleas and prioritize ‘green capitalism’ over our environment.

Many of the activists present detailed the shortcomings of the EO80 plans, such as adding more infrastructure for electric cars or investing in the green economy. While these actions preserve utility profitability and encourage modifications to individual forms of consumption, the activists wonder why profitability still holds space in a discussion that requires an urgent and immediate end to the environmental destruction that is presently occurring, regardless of whether it is profitable or not.

The EO80 begins by stating that North Carolina residents “deserve to be better educated, healthier, and more financially secure so that they may live purposeful and abundant lives” and that this “requires the conservation, protection, and preservation of state lands and waters in public trust”. Contrasting their initial message: Fracking, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, methane emitting natural gas extraction, wood pellet facilities and coal ash dumps are all conveniently omitted from the council’s plans for sustainability. As Amanda Robertson, a climate activist who helped organize the protest and disruption said to WRAL “if these issues cannot be included in the plan, then it’s really just a sham.”

Citizens of North Carolina are questioning why the governor of the state is ignoring these larger issues, while simultaneously imploring him to do more. Students at NC State should be empowered to ask the same questions and demand action of the university administration. Why are they ignoring their $43 million investments in the fossil fuel industry?

The students at the Climate Reality Project are doing just that. While we recognize the steps NC State has taken, such as the $50 million Park Scholarship fund that is utilizing a socially responsible framework, we are here to tell them that they aren’t going far enough. We believe all of NC State’s endowments can follow a sustainable model of investment, and that starts with divesting from the fossil fuel industry.

If you want to urge NC State’s administration to do more for the sustainability of our campus and our state, you can start by signing our petition. Get involved further by joining the Climate Reality Project Campus Corps.