Rainforest Action Network’s Matt Leonard provides this roundup of Fossil Fools Day actions targeting coal plants, coal minings, and the banks funding it all. Rising Tide (North America, U.K., and International units) spearheaded these efforts and others.
Cliffside: 8 Arrested as North Carolina residents shut down construction at Cliffside coal plant
At 6:30 a.m., North Carolina residents locked themselves to bulldozers to stop the construction of Duke Energy’s massive Cliffside coal-fired power plant being built 50 miles west of Charlotte, N.C. “In the face of catastrophic climate change, building a new coal plant is tantamount to signing a death sentence for our generation,” said local farmer Matt Wallace while locked to a bulldozer. The concerned citizens also roped off the construction site with “Global Warming Crime Scene” tape and held banners that read “Coal Fuels Climate Change” and “Social Change, not Climate Change.” (more)
“Billionaires for Dirty Energy” blockade Citibank in New York; 2 arrested
At 12:30 p.m. today, over 25 people dressed as “Billionaires for Dirty Energy” blockaded the main entrance of Citibank’s Upper East Side headquarters in New York City. Protesting Citi’s role at the lead financier to the dirty coal industry, two were arrested after chaining themselves to the front doors and refusing to leave. Police eventually sawed them out of the chains, and a rally continued in front of the bank. (more)
Boston activists blockade Bank of America to protest funding of coal
As of 9:00 a.m., in conjunction with a downtown rally, four activists have locked themselves to the front entrance of the Bank of America branch in Copley Square. They are protesting the bank’s funding of coal and energy companies who are among the worst contributors to climate change, and directly responsible for innumerable human rights abuses in communities where coal is extracted and burned. Update: Four arrests in Boston, some lock boxes were cut, but others were loaded into the police wagon still locked to each other. (more)
Protesters shut down open-cast coal mine, Wales
At 7 a.m., protesters halted work at one of the biggest open-cast coal mines in Europe, the Ffos-y-Fran site. They intend to remain on the site for several days. (more)
Climate activists blockade E.ON in Nottingham, U.K.
Climate activists from Eastside Climate Action blockaded E.ON as part of International Fossil Fools Day. At 7:30 a.m., 30 people blockaded the entrances to E.ON’s offices on Mount St., Nottingham City Centre. People covered in green paint to represent E.ON’s greenwash locked onto the front entrance to E.ON’s office and stood in front of other entrances protesting E.ON’s attempts to build a new generation of coal-fired power plants. (more)
Fossil Fools Day at the University of Kentucky
Students protested the university’s coal-fired power plant by climbing atop the coal stockpile and raising giant wind turbines. Raising a mock wind turbine was designed to show the futility and myopic vision of the university’s current energy policy. While happy to learn that the university does not use coal from mountaintop removal sites, Kentucky’s flagship university is a fossil fool, and it must demonstrate leadership and a far-thinking approach to its energy sourcing and usage. (more)
