Tag: climate crisis

SF and NYC: Climate Fighters Disrupt Private Equity Event Demanding End to Fossil Finance!!

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cross-posted from Oil and Gas Action Network

Climate fighters in the Bay Area crashed the “Responsible Investment Forum” in San Francisco – demanding that Private Equity and ESG stop funding the Climate Crisis.

In New York City, more climate and social justice fighters showed up at private equity conference demanding that retirement funds for teachers, nurses and firefighters NOT be used to fund fossil fuel projects.

 

From the Private Equity Stakeholder Project:

“Private equity is buying up excessive amounts of fossil fuel assets – oil wells, pipelines, power plants, operating them out of the public eye and exploiting gaps and loopholes in regulation.

The billions of dollars private equity firms are spending to drill, frack, and burn fossil fuels stand in stark contrast to what scientists say is necessary to avoid catastrophic climate change. The health and well-being of communities of color are particularly affected by the environmental harms of their polluting fossil fuel assets right now.

To make matters worse, private equity is investing in climate chaos using the retirement money of millions of workers – including teachers, nurses, and firefighters in public service jobs – putting the retirement savings of ordinary people at risk as society seeks to move beyond fossil fuels to a clean energy economy.

As other financial actors like banks, insurance companies or utilities attempt to shed polluting assets, private equity asset managers have bought them and operated these fossil fuel assets out of the public eye and beyond the oversight of financial regulators.”

51 Just Stop Oil supporters jailed after mass civil resistance in court

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cross-posted from Just Stop Oil

51 ordinary people who took action at Kingsbury Oil Terminal on Wednesday were remanded to prison for at least a week by high court judges in Birmingham and London today after they refused to comply with court proceedings. [1]

This included 30 Just Stop Oil supporters who appeared at the Queen Elizabeth Court in Birmingham before Her Honour Judge Kelly and 21 supporters who appeared before Mr Justice Lavender at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.

The Just Stop Oil supporters refused to comply with proceedings in a variety of ways:

El Lytton stood on the court furniture, while Ruth Jarman, of Christian Climate Action, refused to recognise the court’s authority, saying she was accountable to a Higher Power.

Tez Burns and Sheila Shatford turned their backs on the judge while Gerard Latimer, Mary Adams and Charlotte Kirin refused to stand for the judge and talked over her to explain their reasons for non-compliance.

Darcy Mitchell took off his shirt to reveal the words “SHAM JUSTICE KILLS KIDS” written on his body, while Rajan Naidu held up a copy of “The Uninhabitable Earth” by David Wallace-Wells and recommended it to the court before promising to break the injunction again if bailed.

Many of those appearing today had taken action with Just Stop Oil earlier in the year, but for Sheila Shatford it was her first arrest.

During the Birmingham hearings, the following statements were made:

‘I will just go and do it again, and again, and again. What else can I do?’ – Diana Hekt.

‘The judiciary is colluding with people destroying life on earth. I will break the injunction again – I have a moral duty to do so’. – Zoe Cohen.

‘’This court upholds the law in favour of corporations causing genocide and ecocide’ – Pam Williams.

“This court is complicit in crimes against humanity’ – Sue Sidey.

“I don’t accept the authority of this court. I will go and do it again if I’m released. I will not return to this court” – Gillian Bird.

In London, those attending court spoke bravely and calmly. Michelle Cadet Rose spoke about her family in Barbados and how they will either drown or become climate refugees, and we know what happens to climate refugees with dark skin, she said. Victoria Lindsell questioned the judge on his complicity and asked if he made any emotional connection to the case.  He said his job was to judge this legal question. Theresa Norton told the judge that he does have a choice, that he could throw the case out and take a moral stand. All stated that if released they would return immediately to break the injunction.

The 51 remanded today join 3 other Just Stop Oil supporters currently held in prison without trial. Since April 1st when supporters of Just Stop Oil first began blocking oil terminals there have been over 1350 arrests. [2]

As the government doubles down on fossil fuel energy by “ramping up supply” and breaks its manifesto commitment on fracking, Just Stop Oil supporters will continue to take nonviolent direct action to demand an end to this genocidal death project. We accept the consequences of our actions and we don’t need you to feel sorry for us, we need you to step up and join us.  [3] [4]

This is the moment to come together and resist. We are not prepared to just watch while they destroy everything we love. We’re done with begging. Voting has changed nothing. We are going to stop new oil whether those in power agree or not. As citizens, as humans, as parents and children we have every right under British law to protect ourselves and those we love. This is the moment, we are the last generation that can solve this. Will you step up and join us? If we all come together we can do this. We can Just Stop Oil. Join us on October 1st in Westminster.

ENDS

Press contact: 07762 987334

Press email: juststopoilpress@protonmail.com

High quality images & video here: https://juststopoil.org/press-media

Website: https://juststopoil.org/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JustStopOil/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/just.stopoil/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JustStop_Oil

Youtube: https://juststopoil.org/youtube

Notes to Editors

[1] The 51 are charged with contempt of court for breaking the North Warwickshire injunction. They will now spend at least a week in prison ahead of their committal hearings scheduled for 20th and 21st of September.  https://www.northwarks.gov.uk/downloads/file/9139/injunction_order

[2] Still being held without trial for taking action with Just Stop Oil are: Joshua Smith, 29 from Manchester and Louis McKechnie, 21 from Weymouth, who have been on remand since July 7th and are expected to face trial in February 2023.  Chris Bennet, 31 from Bristol, who occupied one of the Essex tunnels near the Navigator oil terminal. In addition one person is in prison for resisting the Southampton- Heathrow pipeline.

[3] https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-liz-trusss-opening-speech-on-the-energy-policy-debate

[4] https://www.carbonbrief.org/factcheck-why-fracking-is-not-the-answer-to-the-uks-energy-crisis/

About Just Stop Oil

Just Stop Oil is a coalition of groups working together to demand that the government immediately halt all future licensing and consents for the exploration, development and production of fossil fuels in the UK – set for substantial expansion under the premiership of Liz Truss.

We must urgently end our reliance on fossil fuels to avoid irreversible changes in the earth’s climate system. We cannot continue to burn fossil fuels in the belief that future developments in carbon capture and storage and other so-called “unicorn technologies” will allow us to suck vast quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

The UK must begin this process immediately. It starts by calling a halt to any further fossil fuel projects on the UK Continental Shelf. That would give us eight years of fossil fuel production left in which to rapidly transition to a zero carbon economy.

Everyone knows we have to engage in massive changes. Just Stop Oil is a coalition of groups demanding the no-brainer things be done immediately – actions that will reduce the demand for fossil fuel energy dramatically such as insulating our homes, rethinking how we travel, getting on with renewable energy and making sure no-one is left behind.

We either come together as humanity or we die. Youth know which they choose. They have already chosen. They are in the streets to demand a future. We are all in the streets to make sure they get it. It’s as basic as that.

Further information about Just Stop Oil and our demands here: https://www.juststopoil.org

NorCal: Urgent Call for Statewide Support for Threatened Coastal Forests & Tribal Sovereignty

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cross-posted from Save Jackson Forest

Urgent Call for Statewide Support for Threatened Coastal Forests & Tribal Sovereignty

Please join The Coalition to Save Jackson at a  “30×30” Kick Off Rally on September 28th, 2022! The rally begins at 11 am, outside of the California Natural Resources Agency’s 30×30 Kick Off Event at 715 P St, Sacramento, CA 95814.

Our Coalition is supporting the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians as they negotiate co-management of the Jackson Demonstration State Forest (JDSF) in their Pomo homelands. Establishing co-management and ending commercial logging in Jackson, the largest state-owned forest, are necessary if California is to enact the goals of reconciliation with Tribal people and reach its 30×30 goal of preserving lands to slow climate change. Governor Newsom established the 30×30 goal of protecting 30% of the state’s lands and waters by 2030. Scientists have advocated a similar global goal, in the face of accelerating climate change and declines in global biodiversity.

Supporting this campaign has statewide impacts because the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians is negotiating with the State based on Governor Newsom’s little-publicized directive to state agencies to co-manage lands with the Tribes of California. What happens in Pomo Homelands can affect Tribal co-management in all of California. Please join us!

Tribal Chairman Michael Hunter said “For co-management to succeed, it must be a government to government relationship that creates equal decision making powers. I worry that the State does not understand the importance of the words they are using. We must ensure that co-management creates an equal relationship between the State and the Tribes with equal decision making authority.” At the rally we are going to amplify Tribal Elder Priscilla Hunter’s call for “No More Broken Promises” because, after halting logging, road building, and pesticide operations for seven months during negotiations with the Tribe, CalFire and CNRA are attempting to resume these operations before negotiations with the Tribe are complete.

The Tribe and Coalition protest that the State is desecrating Pomo and Coast Yuki Sacred Sites and cultural resources with their logging operations in JDSF. Furthermore, the State is squandering one of its best tools for fighting climate change by logging mature coast redwoods. “Redwood forests have amazing climate mitigation potential and management needs to maximize that potential,” said Sara Rose, a youth activist with Mendocino County Youth for Climate and member of the Coalition. “My generation will have to live with what the planet becomes if we don’t save it. We have to face the reality of climate change.”

Please join us in Sacramento, please share this call for support, and please send us your organization’s  logo if you support the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians and the Coalition to Save Jackson in this campaign. If your organization can write a letter supporting our campaign, thank you. Please click here to sign a petition to shame CAL FIRE’s deception and protest logging in Jackson Demonstration State Forest! For more on this campaign read this background info, check out Savejackson.org, follow @savejacksoncoalition on Instagram, and like Coalition to Save Jackson The People’s Forest on Facebook!

Logos, questions and RSVPs can be emailed to Showing Up for Racial Justice Mendo Coast chapter, a member of the Coalition to Save Jackson: surjmendocoast@gmail.com

You can register for the State’s 30×30 event for free here if you would like to go inside the event and make your presence known.  Our rally will be outside the event.

 

San Francisco: Action and March at Wells Fargo HQ and BlackRock Offices

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photo credit: Brooke Anderson

cross-posted from Diablo Rising Tide

Livestream link: https://www.facebook.com/INMSolidaritySF/

San Francisco: Hundreds Demand Wells Fargo Ceases Funding the Climate Crisis; Demand Ousting of Its Board Chair Charles Noski over Failure of Leadership

Broad coalition of hundreds of Indigenous, youth, grandmothers, and other climate activists to block streets, hold rally, jointly painted giant mural outside Wells Fargo HQ to call out megabank for continuing to fuel the climate crisis

Groups are calling for accountability from Wells Fargo leadership, who continue to fail frontline communities, the planet, and future generations

From Wells Fargo HQ, they will march to BlackRock offices to demand the asset manager votes out Charles Noski during shareholder season

San Francisco — On Friday morning, hundreds of activists will take to the streets of San Francisco to demand Wells Fargo takes responsibility for its role in the climate crisis by immediately changing course. The broad coalition of groups are united in a call for Wells Fargo to defund the Line 3 pipeline and hold its leadership to account for failure to act on climate, beginning with the removal of Board Chair Charles H. Noski.

The action will be led by Indigenous, youth, seniors, labor, and other climate advocates, with groups involved ranging from NDN Collective and Idle No More to 1000 Grandmothers for Future Generations, Earth Guardians, Mennonites, and Silicon Valley Climate Action Now. The groups call for urgent climate action, a halting of the Line 3 Pipeline’s construction, and the termination of any corporate leaders not taking definitive measures to reverse their companies’ contribution to global emissions and fossil fuel expansion, on the grounds that they are not only incompetent, but a threat to future generations. The participating groups will jointly paint a 200’ X 25’ banner on Montgomery Street, outside of Wells Fargo HQ.

Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/282846953288589

photo credit: Arthur Koch

The action began with a blockade of Montgomery Street outside of Wells Fargo Headquarters, where ten or more groups will paint large street murals demanding the defunding of Line 3, the firing of Noski, and the defense of land, water, and Indigenous rights. The murals will be surrounded by hundreds of socially distanced people, many holding signs with photos of younger relatives or friends, with the urgent call to “Protect Future Generations.” After a rally with numerous speakers, the groups will continue to BlackRock’s San Francisco Headquarters, where they will again block the street and hold a second rally, calling on the world’s largest investor (as well as Wells Fargo’s second largest shareholder) to use its voting power this shareholder season to vote out Charles Noski for his failure to incorporate climate change into his leadership of the bank.

Background: Wells Fargo has been the world’s third worst banker of fossil fuels since the adoption of the Paris Climate Agreement, with $223 billion in lending and underwriting between 2016 and 2020.  It is the world’s leading funder of fracked oil and gas.

Instead of taking the necessary action to end its funding of fossil fuel expansion, Wells Fargo continues to invest in and profit off the industries fueling climate change. That includes continuing to fund and advise Enbridge on its construction of the Line 3 pipeline, which would pump tar sands, the dirtiest form of oil, from Alberta, across Minnesota and Wisconsin.

The pipeline’s route endangers the Great Lakes, home to one fifth of the world’s fresh water, and some of the most delicate soils, aquifers, and pristine lakes in northern Minnesota, It also threatens critical resources on Ojibwe treaty lands, where tribal members retain the rights to hunt, fish, gather, hold ceremony, and travel. The pipeline would have a climate impact equivalent to bringing 50 new coal plants online or adding 38 million gasoline cars to the road. Line 3 and its route have seen escalating Indigenous-led dissent and pressure, with groups on the ground struggling to defend the land, water, and Indigenous sovereignty.

Because of Wells Fargo’s failure to respond to the struggle against Line 3, to stop funding climate chaos, or to realign its fossil fuel financing and policies to limit global warming to 1.5°C, groups like BlackRock’s Big Problem and Majority Action are calling on investors of Wells Fargo to vote hold Wells Fargo’s leadership accountable, beginning with the firing of Charles Noski.

The physical and financial risks posed by climate change to long-term investors are systemic, portfolio-wide, unhedgeable and undiversifiable. Therefore, companies like Wells Fargo that fail to align their business with limiting warming to 1.5°C pose risks to the financial system as a whole, and to investors’ entire portfolios.

Last year, groups demanded former oil man and climate-denial maven Lee Raymond be removed from the JPMorgan Chase board of directors. After a strong no vote, Lee Raymond left the board.

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