February 28, 2024: Who’s behind the destruction of Brazil’s Cerrado?
In “Who’s Behind the Destruction of Brazil’s Cerrado?” The authors trace the sudden global land rush that drew investors to gobble up farmland after 2007, leading to massive deforestation and monocropping.
The Cerrado, historically, has been rich in trees and shrubs with thick roots that channel water into acquifers and store billions of metric tons of carbon. Now millions of acres of this biodiverse vegetation have been replaced by sugar plantations, cattle fields, and soy.
The process by which TIAA has obtained its land in the Cerrado is itself sinister. According to Sax and Angelo, there is a great deal of land in Brazil that is in the public domain, inhabited by traditional communities and small farmers, who have a legal right to the land but often do not have official deeds. “Those seeking to claim that land — often business owners or corporations — reportedly hire armed men to intimidate and run off residents. They then clear the land of trees or native vegetation, either seeding pasture for cows or preparing it to grow crops like soy, cotton, or corn.
According to leaked documents, TIAA knew full well that they were buying deforested and stolen land from known criminals—and they went ahead anyway.
September 1, 2023: TIAA must stop funding fossil fuels and climate destruction
June 5, 2023: How climate activists are working to shift trillions of dollars away from fossil fuels and into renewables
May 25, 2023: Scrubbing TIAA’s fossil fuels off our hands: The decision to divest
May 11, 2023: Environmental GPA: An open letter on Princeton’s retirement plans and fossil fuels
May 8, 2023: Students, Faculty Protest TIAA Fossil Fuel Investment
April 27, 2023: Faculty and students speak out against TIAA investments in fossil fuels
March 7, 2023: How Harvard Can Help Solve TIAA’s Climate Problem
By William E. McKibben and Naomi Oreskes, Contributing Opinion Writers
Feb. 21, 2023: Retirement funds for Penn faculty managed by company with billions in fossil fuel investments
Dec. 27, 2022: UN investment initiative rejects complaint against teachers’ pension fund
10/27/22: Faculty Wants Pensions Out of Fossil Fuels
10/19/22: Academics’ complaint seeks to push retirement manager TIAA to divest from fossil fuels
10/19/22: Teachers allege greenwashing at TIAA Nuveen
10/19/22: Pension Fund TIAA Faces Scientist-Led Climate-Washing Complaint
10/19/22: Financial services firm TIAA faces academic backlash over energy holdings
7/19/22: American Federation of Teachers calls for fossil fuel divestment
4/28/22: TIAA-Divest: Teachers Call for Climate Consciousness
12/9/21: UM faculty votes to divest from fossil fuels
5/21/21: Retirement fund for educators should reflect our values (Guest Opinion by Karleen West)
UAlbany faculty wants pension fund to divest from fossil fuels
Activists finally seeing movement on fossil fuel divestment
Divestment Gap Emerges
SUNY faculty and staff push for retirement fund to divest from fossil fuel investments
College Senate Seeks SUNY Fossil Fuel Divestment
farmlandgrab.org
Three Saturday protests demand TIAA divest from fossil fuels, land grabs