By Betamia Coronel – Reinvestment Coordinator with 350.org
We know the last 100 days have not been easy. They have been filled with a lot of anger, fear and uncertainty as we have watched the Dakota Access and Keystone pipelines approved, the appointment of climate denier Scott Pruit as head of the EPA and the resultant rollback of environmental safeguards, with undoubtedly more heartbreak to come. In this great time of darkness it can be easy to fall into despair and hopelessness but as the Mexican proverb goes: “they tried to bury us, but they didn’t know we were seeds”.
We have been knee-deep in dreaming, planning and growing our movement and this weekend at the Peoples Climate March we showed Trump and his White-House-controlling fossil fuel cronies we are not giving up.
This weekend over 200,000 people marched in Washington DC to stand up for Climate, Jobs and Justice and demonstrate that the American spirit of doing what is just has not yet conceded to corporate greed and selfishness. In fact, we are stronger and more ready than ever to turn this moment into a catapult for regaining power and winning on progressive climate policies.
New Yorkers were amongst the thousands over the weekend who stood shoulder to shoulder with Indigenous Peoples, Frontline communities and Youth Leaders in record breaking heat as we surrounded the White House with chants of resistance and a vision for the future safe from climate chaos.
Now it’s time to bring this energy back home.
In less than a week New Yorkers will join tens of thousands around the world during Global Divestment Mobilization 2017: a week of actions to call on our public institutions, like our pension funds, to end their investments in Fossil Fuels and stop funding climate chaos.
The DivestNY campaign has steadily gained traction and we know NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer and NYS Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, who manage a combined $350 billion worth of city and state pensions in assets are feeling the pressure we are bringing. New York must end its support of the coal, oil and gas companies fueling climate disasters.
In New York, we are no strangers to reality of climate impacts. We witnessed it first hand with SuperStorm Sandy. We also also know the dangers fossil fuel extraction, like fracking, have on communities. We fought back on fracking and won a ban on this dangerous practice. But pipelines and gas terminals still threaten our communities and we can no longer allow our pensions to fund these companies. 
We know New York is capable of leading us into a prosperous, sustainable and safe future for our city, state and country. Our officials need to step into this leadership and we’re ready to make them do that.
More than anything the Peoples Climate March showed us that while our hearts are still aching from the damage that’s already been done, we will not be crushed. We will fight back. And we are bringing this fight home.
Join New Yorkers in resisting the fossil fuel agenda at a Global Divestment Mobilization event next week. RSVP now!
- May 8- 10:00 am Lobby Day For The New York State Fossil Fuel Divestment Act
- May 9- Noon Trump Tower Divestment Teach-In & Rally
- May 10- 9:30 am Business Divestment Panel
- May 13- 10:00 am DeFund DAPL NYC Divestment Day
- May 16- 6:30 pm Climate, Jobs And Justice Accountability Forum
