My Bank's Been Funding Climate Catastrophe To the Tune of US$14.8 Billion in the Last Six Years
So I've pledged to move my money
Dear Human of Planet Earth,
I came across this link https://bank.green last week. When I put in the name of my bank I was hoping for half-decent news.
Unfortunately, my bank continues to be deeply involved in investments that are worsening the climate crisis.
Fortunately, there was something I could do about it. I pledged to change banks.
And the ‘Bank Green’ website gives you a list of alternative banks to make your pledge - or better yet your full switch - easier. Now some of the smaller, newer banks offer fewer services and after checking off my preferences I was left with one option that met my wish to switch banks without losing the services I want to keep.
But that’s a win: the same services but with the added serving of not funding climate catastrophe.
As someone with no significant sum of money in the bank, I had to fight the temptation of thinking my money doesn’t matter.
I had to remind myself that culture isn’t just a sea we swim in. We are in it, we are of it - and we are it. The ocean is made of countless drops. But if every drop evaporated there would be no ocean. Every drop matters.
My pennies in the bank matter. My pledge to switch banks matters. Our voices do matter.
If you find that hard to believe, remember that the ban on fracking has been re-instated. And not because that’s what ‘Tufton Street’ wanted. In fact, all the ‘Tufton Street’ think tanks have been arguing to push forward with fracking and drilling for more North Sea oil. The ban on fracking has been re-instated because it’s an issue on which British people have a strong opposing voice.
Britain won’t be fracked. That’s the voice of The Many, not The Few.
This opposition to fracking is not limited to political parties and environmental groups. It’s the voice of communities, including communities that vote Tory.
Citizens together can have a voice that’s heard, but not if each believes their voice will make no difference.
Are you still convinced your voice doesn’t matter?
Don’t leave it to politicians to do your talking. They may choose to speak with you. But don’t leave them to speak for you.
As with fracking, so with the move to shift investment away from fossil fuels and towards renewables.
Here’s the link again: Find Ethical & Sustainable Banks In Your Area - Bank.Green
Find out what your bank has been up to - and pledge to bank green.
To my Trinidad and Tobago readers, I’ve noticed there is no data for Trinbago banks, though perhaps investors’ annual reports might offer clues.
Here I am advocating for radical change, though I personally dislike disruptions once I’ve scheduled my day. I even hate to be interrupted when I’m busy typing away….
Changing banks sounds like work to me. It sounds like disruptions and interruptions!
As all change-makers and change managers know, to make a change, I’ll need to make a plan.
To change my bank I’ll need to:
Put aside some time.
Open a new account.
Make a careful list of new direct debits to be set up, and new account info to be loaded up to various websites I buy or sell through.
Make all the updates for a smooth transition.
Move my money.
Make sure my new banking is up and running smoothly.
Close my old accounts.
I’ll do this in the New Year because right now I’m overcommitted to projects as it is. So now I’ve got a pledge and a plan to make it happen.
There’s a lot of glum climate-related news out there. Consider Bill McKibben’s piece:
It’s about the findings published in a leading UK medical journal The Lancet, on the health impacts of our climate catastrophe; impacts in the present tense, not just the future.
I could have written about what I think of Just Stop Oil’ throwing tomato soup at the glass case protecting Van Gogh’s painting, or how worrying1 it is that the Public Order Bill wasn’t top of the news in recent weeks, or about the activists challenging the East African oil pipeline, or why humans are inclined to support a status quo which oppresses them - but why do that when I can just throw in some hyperlinks and embeds, and you can consider how you feel about all of this yourself?
With Love,
Your Friendly Neighbourhood Radical,
Croydon,
London,
That patch of earth known today as the United Kingdom
Lat +51.51 Long, -0.118
George Monbiot of course has been writing about the Public Order Bill since last year! Yet it’s still on the table, as you may have noticed. George has also expressed his dismay at the distracted media, focusing on everything but the undermining of our democratic freedoms.
Ha. That was a one-off. My first comment on something that you penned. But I do know that rushing is no way to live. Time cannot be cheated!
Greetings and felicitations! My experience on Substack has been a rather steady diet of unsettling insights into how manipulated and marginalized the vast majority of human beings on Planet Earth are. I suppose I gravitate to those commentaries because that is where I come from. I was pleasantly surprised to sample your writing, because it is refreshingly positive and not at all solicitous or naive or condescending. Those adjectives describe most of my assessments of “positive” commentaries, which may explain why I haven’t stumbled upon your stuff until you had a brief question on one of my comments from Caitlin Johnstone’s blog.
So I had a good mate in London who, when I was there 40-some years ago, worked for The Lambeth County Council, addressing environmental alternative options for refurbishing dwellings and office buildings. He worked for a chap named jJeremy Leggett, who I think was operating on a grant, which expired before South London could, alas, become self-sustaining. But Jeremy has moved on, and his current work is, I believe, completely underwritten by private monies, from hither and yon. Here is a link to a project that is near and dear:
https://www.highlandsrewilding.co.uk/mission