cross-posted from the San Francisco Chronicle
Photo Credit: Mary Spadaro
‘It’s spectacular’: Climate activists paint stunning mural on two blocks of Montgomery St.
Climate activists painted a two-block-long stretch of San Francisco’s Montgomery Street Wednesday, creating a stunning mural of patterns and colors.
The mural is part of protest called the “Strike for Climate Justice” that has taken over the Financial District and is calling for urgent action on climate change and demanding companies stop supporting the fossil fuel industry.
“The mural is painted on the street, curb-to-curb, all along the entire width of Montgomery Street between Sacramento and Pine Streets,” Mary Spadaro, who watched the mural being painted from her office in a building on Montgomery. “It’s pretty spectacular. Somebody had to plan this out pretty carefully and measure it. It’s incredible how quickly they painted this.”
The mural features 14 separate designs, each meant to convey a vision of a “resilient, sustainable, and safe world necessary for survival,” according to the “Strike for Climate Justice” website.
Demonstrations started at 7 a.m. and are expected to continue until 5 p.m. At least four major intersections will be blocked throughout the day and
motorists are advised to avoid the Financial District.
In addition to painting the mural, protestors also blocked traffic and stood outside of banks holding signs demanding that banks divest from the fossil-fuel industry and invest only in companies focused “on technologies that have ecological renewal,” according to KRON-TV.
Demonstrators’ signs featured messages reading “Leave the oil in the soil” and “Stand up to big oil.”
The protest comes after Friday’s worldwide youth-led Climate March with thousands of students walking down Market Street.
Amy Graff is a digital editor for SFGATE. Email: agraff@sfgate.com