(photo: 350 Seattle and hundreds of climate activists tell Biden:
“COME ON, MAN, END FOSSIL FUELS” – credit Fossil Free Media)
(LIVE IMAGE DATABASE INFO BELOW)
UNITED STATES, April 23, 2022 – 350.org, the international climate action organization, along with state, regional and local 350 groups across the country, took action on Earth Day 2022, to draw attention to the Fossil Free Federal Reserve campaign, and engage citizens nationally around the ever-pressing climate crisis. One highlight was an action in Seattle, where activists held a banner clearly seen as President Biden passed a demonstration in The Beast.
The Federal Reserve – the United States’ Central Bank, fueled the climate crisis by lending billions of dollars to fossil fuel companies. People across the country mobilized to stop the financial flows to fossil-fuel spewing oil and gas companies. This year they are bringing their message to the Federal Reserve: “Time to fund win-win solutions for climate and economy.”
Brooke Harper, 350.org Campaign Manager, stated:
“On April 22nd, Earth Day, at Federal Reserve branches across the country, we sent a clear message to the incoming Federal Reserve Board of Governors: The Fed must make concrete progress to keep global warming below 1.5 celsius. It is time to approve President Biden’s nominees, and for the Fed to stop bailing out fossil fuels, to fund a Green New Deal, and to pave the way for an equitable COVID recovery.”
Today saw numerous protest actions with art, people in the streets, and climate solutions in practice. Actions included protesting the Federal Reserve in Washington DC, and regional branches in Denver, St. Louis, Madison and many more. Activists created art installations in the Bay Area imagining our Earth in 2050, advocating for electric buses in Minnesota, marching across the state of Wisconsin to protest a pipeline, and demanding the Governors of Colorado and New Hampshire to declare Climate Emergencies.
May Boeve, 350.org Executive Director, stated:
“The Federal Reserve is duty-bound to act in the interest of the public. This means addressing climate change, as laid out by the scientific report released by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on April 4, when UN Secretary-General António Guterres explained that governments must reprioritise their energy policies, or else the world will become uninhabitable. 350.org local groups took action this Earth Day to create the world that we all want to live in.”
The main goals of the 350.org #FossilFreeFed Campaign call for the Federal Reserve Bank to:
- Exclude fossil fuels from their own portfolios
- Regulate commercial banks’ lending to fossil fuel producers (make lending prohibitively expensive, or expressly restrict such lending)
- Address the financial system’s failure to put a price on climate risk.It is expected that the new Federal Reserve Board of Governors will be appointed on Monday, April 25, 2022.
In light of this, 350.org is promoting a petition calling on them to take strong action on climate:
https://350.org/fed-letter
To organize interviews with spokespeople or local climate action leaders, or to receive a complete 350.org Media Pack, contact 350 US at: [email protected]
LIVE IMAGE DATABASE:
Professionally shot photos and video of the climate actions nationwide are available in this Google Drive folder:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/10TXtRdyjY4Ll8q1nEy2XCC-itfZNeHjd
Images are available free of charge to press.
Please credit © Photographer / 350.org, as indicated in the photo title
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Press contact:
Jason Kirkpatrick, US Communications Specialist, [email protected]