Today members of Rising Tide Boston set up “Green Coal” marketing tables outside branches of Bank of America and Citibank to highlight these banks high-risk investments in coal power and mining. Emulating the coal industry’s marketing pitch of “clean coal”, activists handed out samples of “green coal” while informing fellow citizens not to expect “green coal” to be clean, safe, or affordable. Rising Tide Boston held this event as part of the Day of Action Against Coal Finance, joining over 50 cities across the country to protest Citi and Bank of America’s investments in the coal industry.
“Although we’ve spent a lot of time and resources researching ways to make coal environmentally friendly, or ‘clean and green’, the best way we found to do it is to paint it green,” said Chris Santara, one of today’s marketers.
As the sun fell on Halloween, the undead victims of mountain top removal coal mining rose up and descend upon Bank of Americas and Citibanks in Boston. It is no coincidence that while Bank of America and Citibank make a killing on coal, coal is killing Appalachian communities that fall prey to dirty energy companies whose interests in profiting from strip mining outweigh the value of lives and mountain communities. In 2006, Bank of America invested twice as much in dirty energy as it did on clean energy projects. In 2006, Citi’s investments in coal were 200 times greater than their investments in clean energy, making them the number one financier of coal worldwide.
Bank of America and Citibank are top investors in coal. Ravenous coal companies, funded billions of dollars by these banks, are literally blowing the tops off of mountains throughout Appalachia to extract seams of coal. Nearly 500 mountains have been decapitated, and over 1200 miles of rivers and steams have been buried with debris and toxic waste. Associated floods, landslides, and explosions have driven communities from their homes while destroying surrounding ecosystems. Burning coal is the nation’s top source of air pollution and toxic mercury, and is responsible for one-third of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. Despite all of this, more than 150 new coal-fired power plants are in various stages of development around the country. If completed, these plants would have a total effect equivalent to doubling the number of cars on our roads. Meanwhile, our government is relaxing laws in order to allow for even more coal mining.
Now’s the time. Dress in your finest gore and living dead attire, and descend on the banks, and if you’re not dead yet, take the future into your own hands and join us at 4PM on October 31st in telling Bank of America and Citibank to…
STOP MAKING A KILLING ON COAL!
COAL IS OVER! FUND THE FUTURE!
On October 7, just past noon, four activists chained themselves to the front entrance of the Citi branch in Harvard Square, Cambridge. The action started as a protest in front of the Bank of America branch a block away before marching down the street to Citibank, where the four activists had already chained themselves to the front door, closing the bank for a period of time. Over 150 people attended the protest, while many more onlookers gathered in Harvard Square.
MASS PROTEST!
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7TH
12 NOON
BANK OF AMERICA
HARVARD SQUARE
-Climate Crisis
-Housing Evictions
-Wall Street Bailouts
-War in Iraq
NOT WITH OUR MONEY!
Follow the money trail. Big banks are funding destruction and injustice worldwide. From dirty coal plants and mountain top removal to risky investments that leave working families homeless, bankers and CEOs are profiting big from this so-called economic crisis.
Info: notwithourmoney@gmail.com
INVITE EVERYONE!
You’re invited even if you have an existing Bank Of America account.
Boston, MA – Copley Square, April 1, 2008. April Fools! As of 9:00AM, in conjunction with a downtown rally, four activists have locked themselves to the front entrance of the Bank of America branch in Copley Square. They are protesting the bank’s funding of coal and energy companies who are among the worst contributors to climate change, and directly responsible for innumerable human rights abuses in communities where coal is extracted and burned.
Update: Four arrests in Boston, some lock boxes were cut, but others were loaded into the police wagon still locked to each other.
Please support legal costs for this action! (more…)
Strengthening Our Communities and Building Our Resistance!
By Evan Greer
Riding off the energy of the U.S. Social Forum, and drawing inspiration from social movements all around the world, the Climate Justice movement is gaining momentum in the Northeast. With the most credible predictions saying we have less than ten years to radically reduce our CO2 emissions in order to prevent devastating runaway climate change, communities everywhere are resisting the fossil fuels industry, preparing to respond to climate disasters, and standing in solidarity with those who will be most affected by the climate crisis. (more…)