Is divesting from fossil fuels the best tactic for tackling climate change?

Earth Day will see calls on college campuses to pull funds from carbon-producing fuels but activists should consider positive ways to change energy policy

It's April; your taxes are filed (hopefully); the cherry blossoms are out (hopefully), and Earth Day has rolled around once more. And in what is becoming yet another April ritual, on a growing number of college campuses, students are staging protests demanding that their institutions divest themselves of any holdings in companies involved in fossil fuel exploration or production - coal, crude oil or natural gas.

It's all in the spirit of Earth Day. It certainly draws attention to the issue, which is the primary purpose of any divestment campaign.