Sustainable, ethical sources of funding are not an outlandish ask – and possibilities are already emerging

• Tom Jeffreys is a writer who also organises with Fossil Free Books

When I became involved with Fossil Free Books in March, I did not anticipate how toxic the name Baillie Gifford would become, or how quickly. The firm, once thought of as a benevolent supporter of the arts, is now better known for its investments in environmental destruction. Nine literary festivals and three art galleries are no longer receiving funding from Baillie Gifford. Such shifts may not feel like victories, but in several important ways they are.

Fossil Free Books came together last summer after Greta Thunberg announced she was pulling out of the Edinburgh international book festival amid concerns over the fossil fuel investments of its sponsor, Baillie Gifford. At the time, Baillie Gifford stated that its investments in fossil fuels were 2% compared with an industry standard of 11%. Which raises the obvious question: if these investments are so low, then surely divestment is not so hard to achieve without denting profits?

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© Photograph: Shannon Galpin/Fossil Free Books

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© Photograph: Shannon Galpin/Fossil Free Books

UK campaigner who fronted lawsuit on future impact of fossil fuel projects says she fears for future despite ruling

Sarah Finch considers herself an early adopter of environmentalism, even if she is not quite sure what the initial spark was. “I was only ever interested in the environment,” she says. “That’s all I wanted to do.”

She never expected her name to become part of legal history. Last week, the supreme court handed down a landmark ruling in a lawsuit that Finch fronted, ruling that the climate impact of burning coal, oil and gas must be taken into account when deciding whether to approve projects. It set an important legal precedent and threw doubt on the approval of new fossil fuel projects in the UK.

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© Photograph: Carl Court/Getty Images

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© Photograph: Carl Court/Getty Images

[Social media] is terrible at organizing us in the kind of leadership-driven, hierarchical fashion that would be ideal for channelling masses of people into collective, unitary projects. (SLAftermath)

The article is the introductory chapter to the (still on preorder even though it's a few days past its release date) book Log Off: Why Posting and Politics Almost Never Mix by Katherine Cross, which received a mentioned in a recent small press book roundup.