Although I missed Somerville's Inaugural this year, I read that our mayor had promised, in his speech, that Somerville's pension fund would divest from its holdings in fossil fuel companies. On March 13, 2014, the Somerville Board of Alderman held a hearing on the Resolution regarding Somerville's potential pension fund divestment. I attended and gave the following testimony:

I want to go on record with my strong support for the proposal that Somerville's pension fund divest from holding in fossil fuel companies. I am a co-sponsor of a bill in the legislature (Senate 1225) that would require the state's retirement fund to divest from such holdings, I support this bill and the local resolution because there is a very real risk that the public pension funds could end up holding overvalued stock in fossil fuel companies; sometimes referred to as "stranded assets."

All retirement boards have a fiduciary duty to invest prudently. They must heed the warning signs that particular classes of investment could become toxic, and drag down a portfolio. There are abundant warnings that fossil fuel assets are now overvalued, and have attributes of an investment "bubble."

I'm providing a list of the top 200 companies, worldwide, by amount of carbon reserve. This list could be a guide for the Somerville Retirement Board as it evaluates just which holdings might be vulnerable to precipitous devaluation. I'm also supplying a copy of S. 1225 for use as a model or at least a starting point, for how to structure a divestment program.

I would also encourage the Somerville Retirement Board to use its power as an investor to leverage better climate change practices across industries. Somerville's Retirement Board could help to push other companies to lower their carbon emission especially if it acted in concert with other retirement systems. Investors have requested other companies to take the Carbon Disclosure Program (CCDP)'s survey on climate change, leading businesses across the world to achieve energy efficiencies, save money and enjoy the economic advantages that come from the transition to clean energy sources.

I'm old enough to remember a lot of daunting challenges that we, as a people, have faced and transcended. When I was little, polio epidemics still killed or paralyzed many children, I was in the first generation to receive the highly effective vaccine invented by Dr. Jonas Salk, a man who said that, "our first responsibility is to be good ancestors." We have a perfect opportunity, with fossil fuel divestment, to do that today.