New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has just made an announcement of gigantic proportions in the fight to stop climate change.<\/p>\n
Just a few hours ago, we stood with Mayor de Blasio as he announced to the world that New York will divest the city\u2019s pension funds from the fossil fuel industry.<\/strong> As if that wasn\u2019t a big enough moment on its own, there\u2019s more. He also announced a lawsuit<\/strong> against some of the biggest oil and gas corporations for the damage caused by climate change.<\/p>\n For a city as iconic as New York to take a public stand on such a huge scale shows the tide is beginning to turn in our climate fight.\u00a0Can you help us by sharing the news on social media and ask your networks to sign the Fossil Free pledge too?<\/strong><\/p>\n Add share button here.<\/p>\n New York could trigger a wave of action <\/strong>against the fossil fuel industry from other powerful cities around the world. For that to happen, we need as many people as possible, from every part of the world to demand change. <\/strong>So let\u2019s use this moment to crank up the dial and step up on a massive global scale.<\/p>\n When we dreamed up the idea of fossil fuel divestment in 2012 we were thinking: some colleges and some churches will do this. We didn\u2019t dare dream that half a decade later the richest city on earth would be leading the charge, adding $200 billion to the nearly $6 trillion in endowments and portfolios that have already been engaged.<\/p>\n People in New York know the real cost of climate change in the aftermath of hurricane Sandy. Instead of feeling powerless, New Yorkers picked themselves up and set to work creating powerful community-led groups like DivestNY, and others.<\/strong> Today\u2019s announcement wouldn\u2019t have been possible without the dedication of thousands of New Yorkers working together for change.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve seen a series of announcements in recent weeks that give me real hope for the future.<\/strong> Norway announced its state oil fund will from oil and gas. France announced it would ban any new oil and gas exploration anywhere on its territory. The World Bank, a bastion of global capitalism announced it would cease funding new fossil free projects anywhere in the world.<\/p>\n