What an inspiring week of action to end the era of fossil fuels!
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During the 2024 “Summer of Heat,” activists are gathering in New York City every week to shut down business as usual at one of the biggest banks financing the fossil fuel industry. Last week was our turn: Faith Week. And people of faith showed up!
Critically, we leaned into joy. Not a blind joy, but a joy of resolve to be together in this fight for a just and livable future for all people for generations to come. A brass band played klezmer music. Lu Aya from the Peace Poets led us in a moving song. We ate ice cream and popsicles to beat the heat of the hottest summer in recorded history.
Together, we felt the power of our moral might and our conviction that we must demand an end to fossil fuels to slow carbon emissions and mitigate the heating of our climate.
As one activist noted, “It was extremely beautiful — just really, really moving to be there.”
On Monday, we gathered with allies and partners for an art build to create signs for the rallies.
On Tuesday, we rallied at Citi Plaza alongside leaders of all faiths as we prayed, sang, and blockaded the doors of Citibank.
Citibank has poured more money into new fossil fuel projects than any other bank since the passage of the Paris Climate Agreement. But it’s not too late for it to change course.
On Thursday, Dayenu activists joined 250 people of all ages and faiths to send the message loud and clear to Citibank: we have no faith in fossil fuels.
We held four minutes of silence – one for each $100 billion the bank has poured into fossil fuels – and called on Citi to stop putting short-term profit above the long-term well-being of our communities and the planet.
Throughout the week, courageous activists from the Gulf South led the way in exposing how their communities are suffering the worst impacts of Citi’s financing of dirty fracked gas and petrochemicals. Leaders came from Rise St. James, For a Better Bayou, Habitat Recovery Project, Texas Campaign for the Environment, Mossville Environmental Action Network, and more.
Ms. Sharon Lavigne, founder of RISE St. James, shared how more than a dozen industry plants in her area have led to devastating rates of cancer and asthma. “We either move or we die. But we have chosen to live.”
Rabbi Stef Kolin, of Congregation Beth Elohim in Brooklyn, shared that she was here for her daughter and for all our children who will inherit the earth we leave.
On Friday, Dayenu showed up alongside Gulf South leaders at the headquarters of Formosa Plastics, one of the most destructive petrochemical companies polluting communities in Louisiana and around the world.
Photos: Diego Henriquez / Traverse Productions (@JustTraverse)
