Welcome back to another Movement Mondays in which we discuss all things climate and then typically take a quick action or two (today’s suggestions from Stop the Money Pipeline will be to donate, make a phone call, and send personalized emails) in support of frontline communities, those enduring the worst of the climate crisis.

With record-breaking heat happening around the country, along with a whole lot of wildfires currently burning, it could be said that every single one of us lives in a frontline community. Here’s today’s wildfire map from FIRMS US/CANADA (Fire Information for Resource Management System US/Canada):

Each of those orange flame icons represents a current wildfire. And it’s precisely for this reason that last week, Stop the Money Pipeline launched their Summer of Heat campaign (scroll down at link for details and lots of good info, including this):

The clock is ticking. That’s why during the Summer of Heat, we’re taking joyful, relentless nonviolent direct action to end fossil fuel financing. 

Wall Street is bankrolling the coal, oil and gas companies that are polluting our communities and killing our planet. But we’re going to stop them.

We’re going hard all summer long. Week after week. Month after month. We’re taking the party to the streets and we won’t stop.

The following comes from the Stop the Money Pipeline newsletter sent last night:
It’s been quite the first week here in New York. We organized civil disobedience actions at Citibank’s global headquarters four days in a row: On Monday we blockaded every entrance with 150+ people. On Tuesday, we did it with a giant pod of orcas. On Wednesday, it was the turn of the scientists, including Dr. Sandra Steingraber and Dr. Peter Kalmus. And on Thursday we blockaded the headquarters with 200+ elders and 50+ rocking chairs.

On Friday, we held a block party in the plaza outside the HQ and in the midst of it all, we also found the time to disrupt a speech by Citibank’s Head of Wealth Management, Andy Seig. In total, 144 people were arrested this week, demanding an end to the financing of fossil fuels.

As someone who was arrested and jailed for climate protest, I know the risks these folks are taking on our behalf (especially risky now during an ongoing pandemic in which New York’s governor, Kathy Hochul, is threatening a statewide mask ban). Alec Connon, co-director of Stop the Money Pipeline, said in that newsletter he was jailed twice last week! If you can spare a few dollars, please donate to the legal fund set up for the summer’s planned actions. Twelve weeks of actions will land an awful lot of people in jail because the powerful elites are working overtime to crush dissent as climate collapse worsens. Note: today’s article from independent journalists at The Lever is Big Oil’s Plan to Criminalize Pipeline Protestors.

The following also comes from last night’s Stop the Money Pipeline newsletter:

The stakes of the climate fight cannot be overestimated. Already, at less than 1.5°C of warming, half of the world’s coral reefs have collapsed and millions of children are being displaced by climate-driven extreme weather events every year. If we don’t stop burning fossil fuels in the coming years, it will get so much worse.

Given these stakes, it feels good to be a part of a campaign that at least feels close to being commensurate with the scale of the crisis.

I take heart, too, in knowing that history shows how effective sustained campaigns of civil disobedience can be. Indeed, many of most significant advances in social justice of the past 150 years ― from women’s suffrage to desegregation to the many gains won by organized labor ― owe less to subtle, “respectable” maneuvering than to the disruptive campaigns and groups that first made the issues impossible to ignore, and then forced decision-makers to act.

I believe that will be true of the fight to end fossil fuels, too―and that civil disobedience will play a key role in turning Wall Street against the fossil fuel industry.

As we take a breath and prepare for another week of civil disobedience actions, there are several ways that you can support the Summer of Heat campaign, wherever you are.

You can take a few minutes to call Citi’s CEO, email a dozen of their top executives, or call them out on social media. If you have the means to do so, you can also make a donation to the Summer of Heat campaign here. We’ll put every cent to good use.

And, of course, if you’re really eager to jump in, you can also look up where the closest Citi branch is to you and plan an action; or you could even start to plan your trip to New York. June 28th would be a very good day to be in town…

In Solidarity
– Alec Connon, Stop the Money Pipeline coalition co-director

PS: Interested in checking out the media from the first week of Summer of Heat? The pick of the bunch is here: Newsweek, the Hill, Salon, Democracy Now – Wednesday, Democracy Now – Thursday, Bloomberg, ABC7, AM NY, NPR, Common Dreams, and the NY Post

As I end here, I want to highlight the TikTok video of the orcas blockading Citibank on Tuesday. (Warning: profanities).

Thank you for being here and please know I appreciate your efforts on behalf of people and planet. Solidarity! ✊🏽