The push toward divestment at UM found its legs last year and has since blossomed into a coalition of community supporters, many of whom participated in Tuesday’s rally.

“People are not able to acknowledge – our leaders are not able to acknowledge – something that you all know,” said state Sen. Dick Barrett, D-Missoula. “We will not – we cannot – address the problem of climate change without reducing the use of fossil fuels.”

Barrett added that the livelihood of many Montanans remains tied to resource extraction and the fossil fuels industry. The state’s economy remains tied to fossil fuels, he said, creating a dependence not easily broken.

“All of our fortunes are based on the health of the fossil fuel industry,” Barrett said. “That degree of dependence that we have is what prevents us from actually grappling with the problem we have, and it puts us in a state of denial.”

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While most at the rally stood in support of divestment, not all students back the movement, including Lauren Meyer, who quietly held a sign reading “I Love Fossil Fuels.”