以下是我交給兩位畢業生評議會主席的公開信：

To The Standing Committees of the HKU Convocation & CUHK Convocation,

An Urgent Call for our two Universities (and subsequently all universities in Hong Kong) to Divest from the Fossil Fuel Industry in order to Combat Global Warming and Climate Change

The adverse impacts of human-induced global warming and climate change are growing stronger day by day. Over the past century, global average temperature has risen by 0.9 degrees Celsius, and mean sea level by 20 centimetres. This has already led to significant shrinkage of the Arctic ice cap and extensive melting of glaciers world-wide. Severe droughts, heat waves, wild fires, and super-storms are becoming more and more frequent. Biological habitats are being destroyed and the rate of species extinction ( a loss which is irrevocable) has reached an unprecedented level.

According to the latest assessment report released by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2012, if we continue on our present course, the global temperature will rise by a further 5 degrees, and the sea level by 90 cm by the end of this century. Many scientists consider these projections to be too conservative, fearing that the actual consequences would be far worse.

International efforts to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide – the main culprit behind global warming via the greenhouse effect – has failed miserably so far. With the failure of the 2009 Copenhagen International Climate Conference the expiry of the Kyoto Protocol in 2012, people the world over have come to the realization that this is an issue too important to be left to the politicians. We the people must stand up and take the lead in this fight for our own future – a fight which we cannot afford to lose.

Initiated by the organization 350.org, the Global Divestment Campaign launched earlier this year is exactly such a citizens’ action to turn the tide. It is a call for all individuals as well as organizations to divest from the fossil fuel industry, thus giving a clear signal to society-at-large that any further extraction and burning of fossil fuel like coal, oil and natural gas is a crime against humanity.

The organizations targeted by this campaign include all types of NGOs, charity and humanitarian organizations, as well as various religious organizations such as the Vatican. And yet the leading organizations must surely be the universities, the custodians of knowledge and wisdom in our societies. True to their mission, universities such as Stanford University and University of Glasgow have committed themselves to divestment. However, resistance in many universities is strong. As a result, students all over the world are pressing their universities – most notably at Harvard and Oxford – to do the right thing.

I am a HKU BSc graduate of 1978, and have been working hard to raise the awareness of the people in Hong Kong to the threat of global warming for over ten years – with public lectures and radio/TV shows, university GE courses, as well as a book on this topic published in 2011. Recently, we have formally registered as the Hong Kong chapter of 350.org.

I deeply believe that both the HKU and CUHK Convocations are uniquely positioned – the popular phrase nowadays is “those chosen by history” – to take up this challenge. I sincerely hope that after due deliberation, the Standing Committees of both Convocations will start a dialogue with the top management of both universities, and work together to realize the goal of divestment from all fossil fuel businesses. This will send out a clear signal to our society that our only hope lies in the “de-carbonization” of our economy, a move which could not be started too soon.

To help you understand the nature of the campaign as well as the enormity of the challenge we are facing, I have prepared a number of appendices. I would be more than willing to join your meetings and explain the science in detail if required.

Your Sincerely,

Dr. Eddy LEE Wai Choi

各位朋友，如果你也是香港八大院校的在學學生或畢業生，而且也認同我的呼籲，懇請你們聯絡你們的同學／校友，對這個課題作出討論，並進而向你們的母校呼籲甚至施壓，令它們盡快作出「去碳撤資」的承諾！