Squinting at Some Good News

We can make a difference!!

Dear Third Act Mainer,

Plans are well underway in many cities throughout the country for Third Act’s first nationwide bank protest on March 21st. Here in Maine, we will be gathering at 3 pm in Portland in the large open space in Monument Square, home to both Chase Bank and Bank of America. We intend to fill the Square with hundreds of people from Third Act and partnering organizations, including:

Center for an Ecology-Based Economy (CEBE)

Maine Climate Action Now (MCAN)

Maine Youth Action Network (OR Maine Youth for Climate Justice?

Peace Action Maine

Physicians for Social Responsibility

Sierra Club

Veterans for Peace

Maine Providers Standing up for Healthcare

We want to let the banks know we find their continued funding of new fossil fuel projects to be a heinous and violent act which threatens all life on this planet. We want them to know that we are prepared to withdraw our funds from their banks and to encourage our friends and family to do the same. Together with hundreds of organizations and thousands of people all over the country will be asking the 4 Bad Banks to commit to stop funding all new fossil fuel investments.  Now.  

Mark your calendars! Invite your friends! Let’s raise our voices, meet one another, have fun–and make a difference! If you’d like to help make this rally a success, email us at ThirdActMaine@gmail.com.

Nicholas Kristof, the New York Times Opinion Editor, recently wrote a piece in that paper which argues that in the last year technological strides like flexible solar panels, battery storage and green hydrogen give us some reason for optimism.  “Climate change remains an existential challenge. What’s new is that if you squint a little, it is now possible to plot a path ahead in which we manage–barely–to avoid calamity.” 

Let’s join Nick Kristof and squint for a minute as well at the rise in investments in green projects in the last year. The financing of green projects is, finally, exceeding that of the fossil fuel industry for the first time! 

There is good news in this data.  The trend over the past nine years for green lending is significantly upward. This is not government money. It is all private money and it shows that the banks know a good investment when they see it. We can celebrate that. The bad news is that the downward trend line for fossil fuel investment is not very dramatic. If you compare the worst year (2014) to the current year (2022) it's down about 25%. And yes, it's the big banks doing most of the investments in fossil fuels.

There is still fat money to be made in the fossil fuel industry with big year end bonuses for the bank executives.  Without a solid commitment they will continue to lend while at the same time doing three loads of greenwashing a day.  But we can help force that commitment.

Fossil fuels need to stay in the ground. The banks need to listen to us and follow the lead of the largest bank in Europe, HSBC, which announced in December that it would no longer finance new oil and gas fields. 

Prepare your signs! Here are some ideas (and we’d love to hear yours!)

            Divest from Climate Chaos

            Don’t Bank on Fossil Fuels

            If Chase (or BOA) doesn’t quit fossil fuels, I will quit Chase! (or BOA)

            Stop the Money Pipeline: Start Banking on Our Future

            Cut the Connection between CASH and CARBON

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