Students at Prestigious Universities Rise Up Against Fossil Fuel Money
( Shell's $3 million donation to renovate MIT's Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences building is part of the greenwashing practices that fossil fuel companies have engaged in for decades.)
Jared Rodriguez / Truthout
Published
December 16, 2019
When a university sells naming rights to something it owns — a building, venue, department, or lecture hall, for instance — it’s largely selling two things: exposure, and the reputation of the institution itself. So, when MIT recently sold the naming rights of the lecture hall at the bottom of its Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS) building, it was really selling, in part, the legitimacy and objectivity of the university.
It sold those honors to oil giant Shell.
MIT will use Shell’s $3 million donation to renovate the EAPS building, ironically also known as the Green Building after philanthropists Cecil and Ida Green. In exchange, the lecture hall, known previously as 54-100, is slated to be called the Shell Auditorium.
This renaming is part of the greenwashing practices in which oil and gas corporations have been engaging for decades, which are especially pernicious in higher education. Companies like Shell, Chevron, BP and Exxon have spent billions trying to convince not only the general public but also government officials and academics that they are good faith actors; that they can be objective about the climate; that they, too, can be a significant part of a clean energy future. In the past three years alone, according to InfluenceMap, five of the largest oil and gas companies have spent $1 billion on lobbying and climate-related branding.
Fossil fuel corporations have launched large, visible greenwashing efforts like lobbying Congress members and endless misleading advertising campaigns. And, increasingly, they’re pushing their greenwashing into ever-smaller corners of supposedly objective institutions like universities and the news media. Climate stories and newsletters from influential publications like The Washington Post, Politico, and Axios have been sponsored by the likes of Chevron and Exxon.
https://truthout.org/articles/students-at-prestigious-universities-rise-up-against-fossil-fuel-money/
