Today: National Day of Action Against Coal-Funding Banks

Rainforest Action Network has declared yesterday and today, November 15th, as national days of protest against Citibank and Bank of America for their consistent support of the coal industry and its impact on global warming.

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Yesterday people stretched “Global Warming Crime Scene” yellow tape across ATM’s in dozens of American cities to discourage bank customers from using the machines, and Ideally, to persuade people transfer their money to a different bank or credit union.

Some activists also plastered stickers onto ATM screens that give users such transaction choices as “Melt the Polar Icecaps” and “Destroy Community Water Supplies.”

The organization has provided a detailed fact sheet (.PDF format) about the impact banks have on the environment through their unquestioned funding of coal plant projects. According to the sheet, coal backers are pushing for 150 new coal plants. However, with the recent EPA ruling, they could have to go back to the drawing board.

Anyone can join today’s protests by adopting a branch in their neighborhood at www.dirtymoney.org.

Photo Credit: Rainforest Action Network

2 thoughts on “Today: National Day of Action Against Coal-Funding Banks”

  1. We need to have an open and honest discussion on how coal fits into the long term energy plan. We have such vast resources that can serve to counterbalance the need for oil imports, yet the harmful effects on the environment cannot be discounted.

    But are we going to walk away from this resource, or figure out how to utilize it properly? I think we can take the lead in pursuing a cleaner version of coal use and educate the rest of the planet. If done right, coal can still play a part in the overall mix while pushing ahead as quickly as possible on wind, solar, tides, geothermal…

  2. I am in complete support of clean air, water and a clean environment.
    Coal has major problems with pollution, no question about this. What are you going to do about China using dirty coal? The nasty toxic dark clouds over Asia are heading to the U.S.

    Please inform the public what you recommend to replace coal for use in generating electricity? Coal is used to produce at least 50% of the electricity in the U.S.

    We can protest all we want, but we need to get the message out to U.S. citizens about how coal is harmful to the environment and the problems using coal causes in the environment by other means of communication Protesting at a person’s bank will only piss off the customers and result in people not changing their banks. I ask again: if coal was replaced today, what would means of energy would you replace it with?

    Who is going to pay for the cap and trade program in the U.S. to regulate emissions and CO2? The U.S. taxpayer and if the current bail out of the financial institutions fails, the U.S. taxpayer will have to worry about surviving and I doubt they will be interested in protests to get them to change their banks over power companies using coal to produce energy.
    Your efforts are to be saluted, but there are better ways to reach the public.

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