The Rocking Chair Rebellion
Over 100 climate protests took place across the US. Targeting fossil fuel funding banks. Organized by the group Third Act, a group for Climate advocates over 60.
Veteran climate activist Bill Mckibben created Third Act to rally the more experienced advocates to take action on climate change. Over 100 locations across the US took part in a massive day of action on Tuesday, March 22nd, 2023. Including overnight blockades of bank entrances in rocking chairs, and cutting up oversized prop credit cards while demanding the banks defund fossil fuel projects. The social media response has been emotional. Seeing such a vast action coordinated and carried out by older climate activists gave many people much-needed representation in a rapidly growing climate action movement. Several climate groups showed up to support and the multi-generational action was an overwhelming success, uniting countless voices against the further funding of fossil fuel projects.
Seniors to Bolster Youth-Led Climate Strikes With Day of Action Against Dirty Banks- common dreams
In an op-ed for Common Dreams last week, McKibben, who is 62, noted that his generation on the whole has amassed more "structural power" than the young people who have worked to pressure lawmakers to support the Green New Deal and organized school walkouts as part of the Fridays for Future movement.
"We all vote, so the political impact of the 70 million Americans over 60 is much magnified," wrote McKibben. "And we ended up—fairly or not—with something like 70% of the country's financial assets, so we can put some pressure on banks."
McKibben added that it is "ignoble and impractical" to leave climate action up to younger people.
"So far the kids have had to do all of the work and they've done an amazing job but it's not fair to ask 18-year-olds to solve this problem," the author and 350.org cofounder toldThe Guardian. "We have to show young people we have their back. I'm going to be dead before the climate crisis is at its absolute worst, but being nearer the exit than the entrance concentrates one's mind to notions of legacy and we are the first generation to leave the world in a worse place than we found it."
McKibben will join rally-goers on Tuesday in Washington, D.C., where activists will stage a "rocking chair rebellion" in an intersection outside two of the "big four" banks.
We needed this
The unity to stop oil and gas projects is amazing to see. The fight to stop willow isn’t over, but the Biden admin decision was a disappointment. We can’t look at this result as the end of the road but simply a change in course. We have to take a different path than we hoped, but the resistance to new fossil fuel projects continues. On the same day, groups were outside the DOI in DC to #stopwillow
Here is my #stopwillow interview with AJ+
The action I have for you now is to support the groups who are moving to sue over the decision which I discussed here:
Before I let you go, I highly recommend this media analysis of the way mainstream media outlets covered the willow project decision:
