While it’s important to celebrate our victories, and keep a positive momentum, we know that the fight is far from over. Bank of America’s new “coal policy” is nothing more than a PR ploy, and we must not be distracted.
A message, from the core of Rising Tide Boston:
Rising Tide Boston not fooled by Bank of America’s “Coal Policy”; plans to break up with them this Valentine’s Day
Contact: info@risingtideboston.org
Rising Tide Boston wishes to announce that the group will continue its part in the widespread campaign to pressure Bank of America to drop its involvement with the coal industry, despite the bank’s recent release of a new “Coal Policy”. We view this so-called policy as a PR gimmick intended to distract the public from Bank of America’s ongoing funding of the coal industry. Bank of America’s Coal Policy fails to commit to a timeline or any concrete action to halt their financing of mountain top removal coal mining, and the alternatives the bank pledges to support are not solutions at all.
Bank of America claims that they will “phase out financing of companies whose predominant method of extracting coal is through mountain top removal.” Without having any sort of schedule, there is no way to know that Bank of America actually intends to follow through on their stated plan. If the bank’s intention is a “phase out” over a number of years, what does that mean for places being bombed or covered in toxic sludge every day? If and when Bank of America does drop companies like Massey Energy, we hope they would extend this action to all companies wreaking havoc on ecosystems and coalfield communities through strip mining.
Bank of America says that they will promote technologies that “capture carbon from fossil fuel plants and then sequester that carbon in geologic reservoirs,” which is also problematic. At a period in history when climate-related disasters have become a reality for communities around the globe, there is no longer any time for putting our hopes in pie-in-the-sky solutions like carbon capture and storage. CCS technology will not be available to implement on a large scale for years, and with unnatural disasters increasing in frequency and intensity, we need to drastically cut our consumption – not wait for technological quick fixes.
Somebody should let Bank of America know that a completely free and reliable form of carbon capture and storage already exists! It’s produced by two powerful forces: biological (capturing carbon in the form of living organisms) and geological (transforming carbon into a very stable form underground and inside of mountains). It’s called coal. If Bank of America wants to demonstrate their commitment to carbon storage, we recommend that they promote the practice of leaving fossil fuels inside the Earth where they belong.
Rising Tide Boston also wishes to remind Bank of America that our concerns are not limited to “the environment” and that throwing us a bone like the “Coal Policy” won’t distract us from the bank’s practice of evicting our neighbors who have been hit hard by predatory lending and the mortgage crisis. Perhaps when we’ve heard conclusively from coalfield residents that strip-mining has stopped, when people stop being evicted from their homes across the U.S., and when Bank of America stops making a profit off industries that create climate chaos, we’ll “phase out” our campaign against them. In the meantime, we’ll be promoting February 14, 2009 (Valentine’s Day) as a major day of Bank of America account closures. Along with organizations resisting the current wave of evictions, Rising Tide Boston invites anyone who cares about a habitable planet and a livable community to join us in dumping Bank of America this Valentine’s Day. For more information about Rising Tide Boston, please visit: www.risingtideboston.org. Stay tuned for updates about February 14th.
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“We are here to make a better world. No amount of rationalization or blaming can preempt the moment of choice each of us brings to our situation here on this planet. The lesson of the 60’s is that people who cared enough to do right could change history. We didn’t end racism but we ended legal segregation. We ended the idea that you could send half-a-million soldiers around the world to fight a war that people do not support. We ended the idea that women are second-class citizens. We made the environment an issue that couldn’t be avoided. The big battles that we won cannot be reversed. We were young, self-righteous, reckless, hypocritical, brave, silly, headstrong, and scared half to death.
And we were right.”
Man, what is with you Libs and time lines? Is it really necessary that the bank sets a time line? No. Look at what happens when Bank of America with all due diligence to its shareholders, associates, and customers phases out relationships with poorly managed companies like Republic Doors and Windows.”
that’s right!
Right on, folks. Nice post. Keep it up!
“The big battles that we won cannot be reversed.”
Laws can be enacted, constitutions can be revised.
Be careful of complacency. The truth is, racism still exists, soldiers are currently fighting a war that is against popular support, women are still treated as second class citizens, and the environment is still greatly endangered.
It is good to celebrate our victories, but we can never let the feeling of success distract us from our goals.