It’s immoral to consciously cause great harm for greed. What is now abundantly clear, unless we choose willful ignorance, is that intense global warming is destroying life; much of wildlife is threatened with extinction; drought and floods force people to leave homes; water is becoming scarce, hurricanes more extreme. Earth’s biodiversity — the source of all life — is endangered. New and expanded investment in fossil fuels are not the path for progress but of death, increasing carbon dioxide and methane, which will destroy life. Four banks — Chase, Citibank, Wells Fargo and Bank of America — are “climate criminals” that since 2015, have invested $1.2 trillion in the fossil fuel industry accounting for one quarter of all fossil fuel financing. They are the “pipeline.” But we who invest in them are complicit. Rabbi Heschel speaking about social injustice said: “We are not all guilty, but we are all responsible.”
On March 21 in Albany and around our country, there is a Day of Action to Stop the Money Pipeline — a coalition of Green Faith (different religious faiths), McKibben’s Third Act, trade unions declaring “if you don’t move money out of fossil fuels, we will move our money out of your banks.” There will be marches to the banks, people tearing up their credit cards, speeches, rocking grannies … all naming as “criminal” those choosing profit over life.
People are also reading…
Those in power often misname the “criminals”: indigenous people protecting sacred land from drilling; women helping women access health care; trans people seeking to live authentically. What is “criminal” are legislatures in Alabama, Mississippi drawing voting districts consciously limiting votes of black and poor; legislatures demanding banks not consider climate change as part of investment strategy; removing regulations protecting our air, water, earth from toxins, banks from fraud, trains from derailment. And politicians wanting power, claiming a free, fair election “stolen.”
Bernice Mennis
West Fort Ann
Source: poststar.com
