[ Flooding in Pakistan is the latest in a long line of climate
disasters. Now the 150,000 residents of Jackson, Mississippi were
ordered to evacuate as flooding hit the city. This weekend,
temperatures in California are projected to hit 115°F. ]
[[link removed]]

AS THE WORLD FLOODS AND BURNS, IT’S TIME TO HOLD WALL STREET TO
ACCOUNT  
[[link removed]]


 

Alec Connon and Arielle Swernoff
September 1, 2022
Common Dreams
[[link removed]]


*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ Flooding in Pakistan is the latest in a long line of climate
disasters. Now the 150,000 residents of Jackson, Mississippi were
ordered to evacuate as flooding hit the city. This weekend,
temperatures in California are projected to hit 115°F. _

"It's essential that people connect the dots between the extreme
weather events harming communities and the corporations fueling the
climate crisis," say organizers behind the new Blame Wall Street
campaign, , "and bold activism and organizing is our best shot at
making that happen."

 

PAKISTAN IS RESPONSIBLE FOR around 0.3%
[[link removed]] of
the total greenhouse gas emissions in our atmosphere. Yet, that nation
of 220 million people is currently experiencing what is undoubtedly
a "climate-induced humanitarian disaster
[[link removed]]."
Much of the country is under water. At least 1,100 people are dead.
One million homes have been damaged or destroyed. An estimated 40
million lives have been impacted.

It's a situation that highlights the tragic truth at the heart of the
climate crisis: It's those who have done the least to cause the
problem that are bearing the brunt of the impacts.

In the face of such tragedy there are several morally commendable
responses. One is to help however you can. If you're in a position to
do so, making a donation
[[link removed]] is
a small but important act you can take. Another legitimate response is
anger.

It's those who have done the least to cause the problem that are
bearing the brunt of the impacts.

The flooding in Pakistan is only the latest in a long line of climate
disasters. Three days ago, the 150,000 residents of Jackson,
Mississippi were ordered to evacuate
[[link removed]] as
flooding threatened the city. This weekend, temperatures in California
are projected to hit 115°F. Last month, dozens died in flooding in
Kentucky
[[link removed]].

These climate disasters—as well as Europe's worst drought in 500
years [[link removed]],
China's vanishing rivers and lakes
[[link removed]],
and the heat waves that have exacerbated a global food crisis
[[link removed]]—are
not happening by chance. They are not natural disasters. They are
happening because of a political and economic system designed to make
some (mostly white, mostly male) people exceptionally rich from
extracting and burning fossil fuels, while the rest of the world is
left to suffer.

As journalist Emily Atkin has put it, "Climate change is not something
that is happening to us. It's something that's being done to us
[[link removed]]." And when
something is being done to you—and that something is causing you,
your family and community harm—anger is a legitimate response.

There are plenty of people to be angry at: fossil fuel companies,
which exist to make massive profits off of poisoning our air, water,
and planet. Politicians, who are bought and sold by wealthy tycoons,
and whose climate policy—years in the making—was still riddled
with giveaways to the fossil fuel industry
[[link removed]].
And finally: Wall Street.

Since the Paris Agreement was adopted in 2015, US banks have
provided $1.4 trillion [[link removed]] in
financing to fossil fuel companies. Every new fossil fuel project
requires insurance. Without it new oil pipelines and gas terminals
cannot be built. And US insurance companies are among the world's
largest providers of insurance to coal, oil and gas companies
[[link removed]]. The world's two largest investors in
fossil fuels are two US asset managers: BlackRock
[[link removed]] and Vanguard
[[link removed]].

These companies could stop the flow of money to fossil fuels today,
but they are choosing greed instead. When we look around at the
devastation caused by heat, flooding, hurricanes, and climate
disaster, and we think about who to blame, Wall Street should sit at
the top of the list.

And we can't forget that by funding climate disaster, Wall Street is
consigning communities of color to bearing the worst impacts. It's no
accident that the maps of Wall Street's redlining, and the maps of
communities most vulnerable to heat
[[link removed]] and flooding
[[link removed]], are
the same. It's also no accident that when Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib
asked the CEOs
[[link removed]] of
the largest banks in the country if they knew what environmental
racism was they each responded: no.

This is why, as climate disasters ravage communities around the globe,
the Stop the Money Pipeline coalition is launching a a new campaign:
Blame Wall Street. [[link removed]]

THIS FALL, WE'RE CALLING FOR A WAVE OF ESCALATED ACTIONS ON THE BANKS,
INSURERS AND INVESTORS FUNDING THE CLIMATE CRISIS. It's essential
that people connect the dots between the extreme weather events
harming communities and the corporations fueling the climate
crisis—and bold activism and organizing is our best shot at making
that happen. 

Wherever you live—and regardless of whether you're new to activism
or have been organizing for years—we want to support you in
organizing to hold the funders of climate chaos accountable.

There are already actions being planned in New York, San Francisco,
Philadelphia, Chicago, LA, and Portland. If you live in a city where
an action is already being planned, we encourage you to sign up to
join in. [[link removed]]

Wherever you live—and regardless of whether you're new to activism
or have been organizing for years—we want to support you in
organizing to hold the funders of climate chaos accountable. Over the
next few weeks, we will provide training on Action Planning,
Non-Violent Direct Action, and How to Use Arts in Your Action
[[link removed]]. If you sign up
to organize an action, you'll receive 1:1 coaching from an experienced
action practitioner. We'll also provide a number of action grants to
help cover the costs associated with your action, and we'll provide
you with movement art and song for your actions
[[link removed]].

We cannot sit idly by as the world burns. We're running out of time to
avert catastrophe beyond what most of us are capable of
imagining. It's time to get angry, take to the streets and hold those
responsible for the climate crisis responsible.
[[link removed]]

_[ALEC CONNON [[link removed]] is
the coordinator of the Stop the Money Pipeline coalition
[[link removed]], a coalition of over 160
organizations working to stop the flow of money from Wall Street to
the fossil fuel industry. He is also a writer. His first novel, The
Activist [[link removed]], was published in 2016._

_ARIELLE SWERNOFF is an organizer, strategist, and facilitator based
in New York City. She is the Stop the Money Pipeline US Banks Campaign
Manager.]_

_Licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to
republish and share widely._

* Climate Crisis
[[link removed]]
* Climate disaster
[[link removed]]
* Climate Change
[[link removed]]
* Global warming
[[link removed]]
* floods
[[link removed]]
* extreme weather events
[[link removed]]
* greenhouse gases
[[link removed]]
* fossil fuels
[[link removed]]
* Pakistan
[[link removed]]
* China
[[link removed]]
* Kentucky
[[link removed]]
* Jackson Mississippi
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]

Manage subscription
[[link removed]]

Visit xxxxxx.org
[[link removed]]

Twitter [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]