Tell dirty banks: “Cut it out, or we’ll cut up our cards!”

by Garret Whitney and Michael Gilbreath

The climate crisis is real and impacting millions of people worldwide every day. We know what and who, is causing it, and how we’ll end up if it continues. But where is the public outrage? Abolition, womens’ suffrage, the right to vote, and the right to marry who you choose, all required mass movements for their victories. It’s time to reclaim the “public square” and demand change now to stem the crisis that is reshaping our lives daily. 

Chase, Citibank, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo fund polluters for profit.

Despite their transparent “greenwashing,” our biggest banks remain huge funders of coal, gas, and oil companies. In the seven (!) years since the Paris climate accords, they have given more than three trillion dollars in loans to these companies for NEW coal, oil, and gas projects — even as scientists tell us, with increasing urgency, that we must stop our reliance on fossil fuels now.

Engineering progress in recent years has made solar and wind the cheapest sources of power on our planet. Why, then, do big banks keep loaning money to the fossil fuel industry? Because the profits are quick and easy. But those profits come at the expense of everyone who comes after us.

Ending these loans will speed the energy transition — and all of us have a part to play. The truth is, Chase, Citibank, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo need us more than we need them. Our bank accounts, the interest we pay on credit cards, our retirement accounts, and the fees merchants pay add up to billions of dollars that banks can funnel into climate-killing fossil fuels.

Third Act, founded by climate activist and author Bill McKibben, is calling for a National Day of Action to put these banks in the spotlight. On March 21, activists around the U.S. will urge customers to move their money away from institutions that do most of the lending to fossil fuel corporations. 

Join the Lexington Climate Action Network (LexCAN) from 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM to tell the Lexington branch of Bank of America at 1761 Mass. Ave. — in person — that it’s time to stop backing climate chaos. For more information please RSVP. There will be additional events throughout Massachusetts. 

Want to do more? Sign Third Act’s Banking on Our Future Pledge and tell climate-killing banks they must stop! Additional information on banks and the fossil fuel industry is available in this report.

It’s time to tell bankers and other corporate elites that if they aren’t done with fossil fuels, then we are done with them!

Garret Whitney and Michael Gilbreath are members of the Our Revolution Massachusetts (ORMA) Climate Crisis Working Group, which promotes the Green New Deal and other environmental initiatives.