Hurricane Sandy Haunts CEOs at Economic Outlook Conference

As Bank of America Co-Chief Operating Officer, David Darnell, and outgoing Duke Energy CEO, Jim Rogers, met behind closed doors to forecast 2013′s corporate profits—a storm was brewing in Charlotte. Immediately before the heavily guarded economic summit was set to begin, an inconvenient visitor arrived and demanded to be let into the meeting: Hurricane Sandy. Buoyed [...]

Continue reading...

Tell Banks to Stop Financing the Destruction of Blair Mountain

A Guest Blog by Brandon Nida, Organizer—Blair Mountain Heritage Alliance Many people have not heard of the Battle of Blair Mountain, let alone a place called Adkins Fork in Logan County, West Virginia. But in 1921, the Adkins Fork area was the scene of an intense battle between miners attempting to organize and a private army [...]

Continue reading...

Guest Blog: Earth Quakers Deliver Toxic Water to PNC Banks

A Guest Blog by Amy Ward Brimmer, Executive Director—Earth Quaker Action Team On December 1, Earth Quaker Action Team (EQAT) put PNC Bank on notice: the campaign to stop PNC from financing mountaintop removal coal mining is powerful, growing, and rapidly spreading across the bank’s geographic territory. Last Saturday saw the largest single-day protest against [...]

Continue reading...

America’s Worst Ecological Disaster, Brought To You By Bank of America

“This dusty old dust is a-gettin’ my home,  And I got to be driftin’ along.” -Woody Guthrie, “So Long, It’s Been Good To Know Yuh” This past weekend I watched Ken Burns’ new PBS documentary, “The Dust Bowl,” a great, insightful documentary drawing parallels to the dust bowl of the 1930’s and today’s environmental and [...]

Continue reading...

Patriot Coal to End Mountaintop Removal Mining

Good news for Appalachia: Patriot Coal recently announced its decision to end mountaintop removal (MTR) coal mining. Rainforest Action Network has been talking for many years about why this egregious form of mining needs to be ended immediately. For anyone who might want a reminder about what MTR is, watch this: This is significant news. [...]

Continue reading...

“Coal Blooded”: New Report Says Coal Plants Disproportionately Impact Communities Of Color

A new report from the NAACP called “Coal Blooded: Putting Profits Before People” (co-authored by former RAN staffer Adrian Wilson) paints a grim picture. Grim, but not surprising. Of the 378 coal plants across the country, 75 are considered to be the most toxic and receive an “F” on the report’s environmental justice report card. [...]

Continue reading...

Live Update: Nine Activists Shutdown Four Bank of America Branches in Coal Protest

This morning, nine activists interrupted business as usual at four Bank of America branches across the city of Charlotte, NC. The activists, most of whom were Charlotte locals, were there to protest the bank’s massive financing of the U.S. coal industry. The day ended with nine arrests, a swarm of media attention and hundreds of [...]

Continue reading...

BREAKING: “Risking Arrest for My Granddaughter”

“My husband and I are BofA shareholders, but I am a grandmother first, foremost, and forever.” – Patricia Moore, Bank of America shareholder and grandmother Today in Charlotte, NC., nine people are risking arrest at sit-ins coordinated at four different Bank of America branches. Among those risking arrest is Patricia Moore, 75, of Charlotte, a [...]

Continue reading...

“Stop Financing Nightmares and Begin Financing Dreams”

I’d like to introduce my friend, Paul Corbit Brown. Paul is an exceptional individual, a human rights photographer who has spent his lifetime traveling the world documenting injustice. Paul is a native West Virginian, who grew up and lives in the heart of the Appalachian mountains where coal mining companies are systematically destroying mountains, communities [...]

Continue reading...

Financed emissions: A big problem for banks, and a bigger problem for the climate

What is the total greenhouse gas footprint of Citigroup, Bank of America, or UBS? Right now, we don’t know, and that’s a major problem for both banks and the climate. Banks emit greenhouse gases to power their offices and branches, but they also finance the emissions of other companies through their loans, investments, and other [...]

Continue reading...