It’s Bank of America’s Annual Shareholder Meeting: Time to Voice Discontent

By Rainforest Action Network

I know you care—in the past couple months, you’ve already taken multiple online actions to urge Bank of America to stop funding the coal industry. And as you are reading this, I am outside the Bank of America shareholder meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina, with a group of 30 people who have been negatively impacted by coal. These friends have traveled thousands of miles—from California to India—to speak face-to-face with Bank of America decision makers.

They are demanding an end to the havoc that Bank of America and the coal industry have wreaked on our lives. These brave people include Barbara Gottlieb from Physicians for Social Responsibility, who researches how coal causes respiratory diseases; Lorelei Scarbro, who comes from a family of coal miners and had mountains blown up in her West Virginian backyard for tiny seams of coal; and Ashish Fernandes from India—where coal was a false promise for a poor country to get rich but instead destroyed the health of thousands of innocent people.

Today, we need your help to deliver an additional blow to Bank of America: to call in and demand that it is time to stop funding King Coal. With hundreds—even thousands—of us calling in, this will disrupt operations on the day of the bank’s biggest public facing event all year.

 

** We’ve updated the phone number below, after Bank of America disconnected the first one.  Keep up the pressure! **

Will you help us prove to Bank of America that these people are not alone? Call the office of Bank of America CEO, Brian Moynihan. Here’s his number: (866) 826 – 8989

Leading up to today, shareholders and bank executives have felt the crescendo of our grassroots organizing in Charlotte. We have disseminated the message that Bank of America is the leading funder of coal and so clearly doesn’t care about its impact on climate change with several creative tactics. We’ve greeted bank shareholders the minute they landed at the Charlotte airport, plastered ads all over downtown Charlotte and the perimeter of the bank’s headquarters, flyered every hotel door where shareholders are staying; and, today—our activists are accompanied by a 20×12 ft mobile billboard parked outside of the shareholder meeting as they march in.

Bank of America knows we’re here. Let them know you’re here, as well.

Since today is such a ripe opportunity because of this public-facing moment, we need to pick up the phone and call. Please take a few minutes today to call Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan and let him know that Bank of America needs to stop funding coal. Here’s how:

 

1. Call (866) 826 – 8989

2. If someone answers the phone, ask to speak to Brian Moynihan (it’s highly unlikely they will put you through). Whether your call is answered by voicemail or a real person, be polite and respectful, but above all make sure you state how seriously you’re taking Bank of America’s decision to keep funding the declining industry of coal.

Here’s a sample call script:

Hello, my name is ____{name}____ and I’m calling today to tell Brian Moynihan that Bank of America cannot be #1 in addressing climate change when it is the #1 funder of coal.

I am deeply disturbed by how this decision is affecting the quality of our lives and future.

I demand that Bank of America stop pumping billions of dollars into the coal industry.

Thank you for your time.


3. After you call, click the button below to report how it went.
 It’s important we get an accurate count of how many folks made a call, and what Bank of America’s response is.

 

It’s time Bank of America is held accountable as the #1 funder of the U.S. coal industry—the bank is responsible for funding the decimation of purple mountains majesty via mountaintop coal mining (MTR); underwriting coal mines that have caused irreversible black lung to working class miners; and financially supporting contaminated, undrinkable water in once pristine streams. No financial institution should have this much power over our communities and our future.

Trust me, our mighty crew here in Charlotte will feel the amplified power of every phone call you make. Thank you in advance for standing up with us today. Together, we can be heard—because there are more of us than them.