If there was ever a time for Bank of America to address the outcry over its ecological rampage, this was it.
Environmental organizations in Charlotte, North Carolina received a surprising invitation: Bank of America was organizing an “Earth Day expo” to “promote environmentally friendly issues and causes.” Had Bank of America seen the light on this 2012 Earth Day? Was the bank ready to stop financing coal, the number one cause of global climate change?
Our local Rainforest Action Network chapter was eager to find out, so we applied for tabling space at the bank’s Earth Day expo. Surprisingly, RAN was denied a spot. According to Bank of America, there wasn’t enough space for us. Fortunately, our group of Earth-loving Charlotteans decided to attend Bank of America’s earth day celebration anyway. After all, the expo was being held at a public market. Surely the bank would be receptive to concerns regarding its role in funding climate change and coal pollution, right?
Wrong. What happened next speaks volumes about Bank of America’s commitment to planet Earth, let alone its approach to community outreach. While talking with our neighbors about Bank of America’s role in bankrolling climate change, we were hustled out of the Earth Day celebration by bank security and banned from the premises. Watch the video below.
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Our group of citizens came to Bank of America’s Earth Day expo to open a conversation about how the bank can help stop climate change and fund renewable energy. Unfortunately, Bank of America would rather use force to eject us from the event than talk about real solutions. While we’d prefer to work with the bank to stop climate change and fund a renewable energy future, instead we are forced to protest Bank of America’s continued assault on our environment.
Until Bank of America is ready to talk, and to take its environmental commitments more seriously, we will continue to tell the truth about the bank. Bank of America is still the largest funder of climate change in the United States, and the country’s largest greenwash bank. Join us on May 9th in Charlotte as we demand real environmental accountability and give Bank of America one more chance at dialogue.