UBC students go on hunger strike to push for fossil fuel divestment

UBC students launch climate hunger strike A group of UBC students started a hunger strike Monday, vowing to continue until the university commits to a full divestment from fossil fuels.

VANCOUVER — A group of students is vowing to go hungry until the University of British Columbia divests from fossil fuels.

Eight students who are part of the climate activism group Extinction Rebellion started the strike Monday.

The activists threatened the strike a month ago following UBC's declaration of a climate emergency.

At the time, the university committed to moving 22 per cent of its $1.71 billion endowment into a fossil fuel-free fund by April 2020.

But members of Extinction Rebellion UBC said that wasn't good enough — pushing for a full divestment from the fossil fuel industry.

"It calls itself a climate leader and says it champions the climate crisis and the fact of the matter is that it doesn't," Brendan O'Callahan of Extinction Rebellion UBC told CTV News.

"They've done some great things but there's so much more to be done."

Laura Sullivan, a student organizer for Extinction Rebellion UBC, said its members threatened a hunger strike as a means to show that the climate and ecological crisis takes precedence over their own individual needs.

"We will be putting our healthy bodies on the line. We will enact starvation so that this institution can visualize the real life consequences of its failure to act," Sullivan said in a previous news release.

The students are striking under medical supervision and say they will continue for as long as it takes until UBC commits to a full divestment.