Climate First!'s Earth Day Fundraiser
Climate First! is holding an online fundraiser this coming Earth Day, Monday, April 22, 2024. Please donate to the nonprofit as we continue our fight to save the climate. All donations, up to a certain amount, will be matched.
Image: Potomac State Forest is an 11,535-acre
state forest in western Maryland. Source: msa.maryland.gov.
Major U.S. banks are continuing to invest massively in climate-wrecking fossil fuels despite the world's warming recently exceeding, for the first time ever, 1.5 degrees Celsius over a 12 month period. While limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius was one of the main goals agreed to by nearly 200 nations in the Paris Climate Accord in 2015, it seems that the large U.S. banks have chosen to ignore it.
Over the last few years, Climate First! and other groups talked to high-level employees in the major banks in an effort to convince the lenders to start reducing their funding of fossil fuels. Unfortunately, the activists in the meetings nearly always heard just constant greenwashing, while the banks helped the U.S. oil producers set a record for U.S. oil production in 2023.
As a result, Climate First! is now busy revising its strategy vis-a-vis the major banks. We are now pushing the climate-polluting banks towards green banking (AKA "ethical" banking), or encouraging institutional clients of the lenders to demand them to do "right by the climate", when we are not "calling them out" in protests for their unprecedented amounts of funding in dirty energy.
To continue our critical work, Climate First! needs your financial help to cover expenses involving communication, travel, as well as office equipment and rent. Any donation amount (which will be matched up to a certain amount) is appreciated.
Image: Sharing information on green banking at
TH!RD ACT'S national "Day of Action" event
in Washington, D.C.; 3-21-23.
Please give generously to Climate First! on Earth Day, Monday, April 22, 2024 at this link:
https://www.climatefirst.us/donate . Thank you.
Help Us End the Massive Climate Pollution of Wall Street Financiers!
Throughout history, sustained, disruptive nonviolent campaigns have delivered justice around the world, including movements involving U.S. civil rights, apartheid policies in South Africa, and Indian independence. Recently in October 2023, the Dutch government began the process of phasing out fossil fuel subsidies after a month-long blockade of a major motorway. With around 14 percent of Americans currently willing to engage in nonviolent civil disobedience to fight the climate crisis, the opportunity to build a mass climate movement is growing.
Climate First! will part of the two bank actions this coming Wednesday and Thursday. These two April actions will likely be the "spark" for the "Summer of Heat" campaign, an all-summer direct action campaign vs the financiers of the climate crisis. The plan is to hold multiple disruptive nonviolent direct actions against Wall Street climate polluters, including major banks, insurance companies, and investors, all in an effort to get the polluters to stop financing coal, oil, and gas. After years of trying to convince U.S. financial institutions to end their massive investments in fossil fuels without much success, the climate movement now is moving towards incorporating more civil disobedience in its actions to end the era of fossil fuels.
DETAILS:
What: Two nonviolent direct actions, involving civil disobedience, against one of the world's largest funders of fossil fuels.
When: This coming Wednesday, April 24th and Thursday, April 25th, 7:30 to 10 am, each day.
Where: Manhattan, NY. The exact location will be shared with each person after they RSVP.
Misc: To join the actions, fill out and submit the form at bottom of this page. Once submitted, an organizer will be in touch.
Also, you can join one or more of the in-person training and other events that are scheduled around the two actions. View details for all of the pre-action trainings, briefings and meetings here. In addition, you can learn about the upcoming Summer of Heat campaign by attending a Zoom meeting here.
Hope to see you at the events and/or actions as we try to save the climate.
Climate First! Board of Directors Meeting
On Monday evening, May 6, 2024, Climate First!, Inc. will hold its monthly Board of Directors meeting online. If you wish to see the inner workings of a small nonprofit working on the most critical issue on earth, and/or you want to consider serving as a Board member for the organization, join us. Please contact Ted Conwell, Board President, at least three days ahead of the scheduled meeting. After receiving your contact information, he will email you a Zoom invite link and other necessary things for the meeting. See "details" below.
Image: Ivan Frishberg, Chief Sustainability Officer at Amalgamated Bank,
giving the keynote talk at Climate First!'s online Annual Meeting; 2-25-24.
DETAILS
What: Climate First!'s Board of Directors meeting.
When: Monday, May 6, 2024, at 7:30 pm EDT, for about one hour, 45 minutes.
Where: The meeting will be held via Zoom.
Misc.: To attend the Board meeting, please contact Ted at [email protected]. In
addition, if you have other questions or issues, please don't hesitate to contact him. Guests, of course, can
leave the Board meeting whenever they want to.