Salt Lake City:

Vermont:

Massachusetts:

DC:

Reno:

Las Vegas:

Southern California:

Thank you so everyone who showed up or supported on the sidelines. Hands Off! was just the start of a growing national movement to resist Trump and his outrageous, harmful policies. We need you to stay in the fight for our country and our democracy, and right now, Republicans are attempting to suppress the vote once again and restrict voting rights for millions of Americans with the SAVE Act. The so-called “Safeguard American Voter Eligibility” (SAVE) Act has recently been introduced in Congress and has been declared a top priority by House Republican leadership. Despite its name, the “SAVE” Act would put up major barriers for millions of eligible voters to cast their ballot.

If passed, the SAVE Act would require all eligible Americans to present proof of citizenship, such as a passport or birth certificate, when registering to vote. This would especially burden military voters, tribal voters, rural voters, survivors of natural disasters, and the tens of millions of married women in America who have changed their names. It’s already illegal for non-citizens to cast a ballot in federal elections, and states have secure systems in place to prevent non-citizens from voting.

Third Act is partnering with a large coalition of groups and we need your help to stop this legislation—can you send a letter to Congress telling them to vote NO on the Save Act? As a loyal, long-time voter, you can edit your letter to your members of Congress about why you think it’s vital to protect voting rights.

Akaya: I want to remind [everyone] that it’s almost spring. Tomorrow is spring, and spring is a season for seedlings and new things. Even in this moment of important defense: the seasons continue. 

Bill: To help us get started on the right foot into spring is Ezra Levin, who probably most of you know because he’s been doing such great work at Indivisible. He’s done extraordinary work, beginning in the days of the first Trump administration, to rally national opposition. He and [his spouse] Leah Greenberg were described by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people on Earth. We want to learn from him, [so] Third Act has been partnering with Indivisible to get some of this work done this year.

Akaya: I recently learned that April 5th is National Deep Dish Pizza Day, but something tells me that something else might be [happening] on April 5th as well. Can you tell us what it is?

Ezra: At Indivisible, we have a common goal with Third Act: we’re trying to empower people around the country to lead themselves, to organize themselves, to figure out ways to actually have impact themselves, wherever they are. And we’re in a wave moment right now: there are more people getting active right now in red, blue, purple, communities all over the country—rural, suburban, urban. 

As dark and dangerous as everything is, the silver lining right now is a lot of folks are looking around and saying, Well, I guess I’ve got to do something. And that’s exactly right. That is what we need in this moment. We’re made up of about 1,600 local, Indivisible groups all over the country. And one thing that we’ve been hearing since the election is: there’s so much energy out here. We’re going to congressional town halls. We’re going to congressional district offices. We’re showing up in our individual, local community events. When are we going to hit the streets? When is it going to be big? When are we really going to break through? 

Because right now, there are a lot of folks who are paying a lot of attention, who are organizing, but most of the time, most people are not paying attention. We are facing a constitutional crisis right now, and as important as it is for those of us who pay attention to politics every day to be active and show up, that’s not enough. We need people who normally don’t pay attention to be paying attention in this moment. We need to break through to folks who aren’t already with us. And so April 5 is that, in addition to Deep Dish Pizza Day.

April 5 is the first mass mobilization, and we’re calling it HandsOff! It will be in communities all over the country. You can go to [the Third Act] website and sign up to host your own HandsOff! event to tell Elon Musk, congressional Republicans, Donald Trump hand: hands off! Hands off our government, our democracy, our Social Security, Medicaid. We are partnering with brilliant union leaders like SEIU, Working Families Party, MoveOn, and more. 

Akaya: Ezra, what needs to happen between now and April 5 to make this actually work? What are you asking for?

Ezra: Great question. So what I’m not asking folks to do is hear this and say, Oh, that’s interesting. I’ll show up on April 5. I don’t want people just consuming politics. Politics is what we do together, and we all have a role to actually do this work. So what I would love people to do is start their own local HandsOff! mobilization—or, if there is one already, start recruiting. Start making it the thing that everybody does—your domino group, your book club, your social group, your neighbors. Ask: Oh, you’re going to the April 5 thing, right? 

I want everybody on this call. I trust y’all are going to show up. [But] we need everybody who is not on this call to show up as well. It’s very important that we all show up and be seen and be heard.

April 5 is the first mass mobilization, and we’re calling it HandsOff! It will be in communities all over the country. You can go to [the Third Act] website and sign up to host your own HandsOff! event to tell Elon Musk, congressional Republicans, Donald Trump hand: hands off!

Bill: Ezra, everybody else on this call, except you, is over the age of 60. Why is it important that older people show up for this kind of thing? What kind of message does that send?

Ezra: You have incredible political power. Politicians are most scared of those over 60. You know why? Because you vote. A group of folks over 60—a mass of people over 60—sends a message that this isn’t some marginal faction of the population. These are the core of the voting population, showing up and saying, hands off. That is an enormous opportunity. 

Bill: For everyone [here], we have links for you to sign up through Third Act to participate in April 5. It’s important to be doing this locally, on the ground. If you’re in DC, great, but this is a big country, and we need it to be echoing everywhere. 

Between now and April 5, there’s a few things you can do that really matter. We have an online Letter to the Editor tool. I’ve been starting all of mine by saying,“I’m 64 and I’ve never seen an attack on democracy like this.” [Third Actors] bring a long, long, long history that lets us say, this is very different. This is very weird. We also would be grateful if you could create and share a video about how and why you’re resisting and share it on whatever social media you’re on. When you do, tag Third Act. If you’re into hashtags, we’re using #eldersresist. 

This is, in part, how we spread courage to everybody else. Everybody’s a little nervous. We give each other courage when we show up. 

At the moment, they’ve kicked over a hornet’s nest with older Americans. The idea that they’re shutting down that helpline for Social Security is truly astonishing and Social Security itself is on the line clearly going forward. Co-President Musk referred to it as a Ponzi scheme. So the things that have made the things that we have spent our life building are absolutely on the line, and we need to be out there. We need to be out there as third actors. We need to be out there drawing attention to the fact that we’ve known about this for a long time. 

You don’t need to travel hours to do this. You can do it in your own backyard.

Akaya: Ezra, are you recommending that we go to the big cities? Or are you asking us to be take a more local stance as we think about April 5?

Ezra: I’m a former congressional staffer, and my member of Congress represented 13 counties: Austin, Texas, and then a whole bunch of rural counties. We saw protests in Austin regularly, and the thing that would make us take note of an Austin protest was if it was really big. And I hope the Austin HandsOff! is really big, but when we saw folks showing up in the rural counties, in the smaller cities, we were like, oh my gosh, it’s even happening there. That really caught our attention. 

I would rather 20 people out in your small, rural community, if that’s where you live, than traveling an hour to the big city. That’s going to send a better message, and you’re going to be talking to your own elected officials. And that’s what we’re trying to do, to show them that it’s in their backyard too. You don’t need to travel hours to do this. You can do it in your own backyard.

One of the blessings of growing older is that—if you’re fortunate—you’re also growing less judgmental. With any luck you’ve come to understand that the world can be hard, and so to have some affection for your fellow travelers through it. Which is another way of saying: it was sweet to spend a sunny Tuesday morning in a not-so-good section of Philadelphia, knocking doors to turn out the vote.

I’d gotten to town the night before, coming from Atlanta, where we’d had a wonderful night with the local TA group (and where I’d gotten to spend a memorable afternoon at the Civil Rights Museum, reflecting on our colleague Heather Booth and on older voters in general. You can read my report for the New Yorker here).

Anyway, the visit to Philadelphia began with a big rally at the Arch Street Meeting House in the center of the city. We heard from a dynamic young pastor and city councilor named Nicolas O’Rourke, and from two young women studying at St. Joseph’s, and then I rambled for a while about the stakes of this election—a knife’s edge chance between electing a dangerous authoritarian or choosing our first woman president. The main job was just to psych people up for the real work, which at this late stage is nothing but turn-out.

And so we gathered, fifty or so gray-haired activists, in Clark Park in West Philly the next morning. We stood around a statue of Charles Dickens as we took our marching orders—each team of two had an app called Minivan that gave us our catalog of doors. The morning’s canvass had been organized by the non-partisan Environmental Voters Project, which has a big list of ‘low-propensity’ voters who can be counted on to pull the right lever if they make it to the polls. And so we set off.

Mike Tidwell, the veteran leader of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, and I set off through the streets of West Philadelphia. It was morning, so not surprisingly most people weren’t home—the usual routine was to ring the doorbell, wait for a minute, and then print the person’s name on the literature encouraging them to be a “good voter” (apparently, testing shows this kind of ‘social pressure’ actually works) and hang them from the doorknob.

About halfway through, a young woman on our list answered the door. I explained that we just wanted to make sure that she knew how to get to her polling place, at which point she said that was going to be a problem. She pointed to her right foot, where her sock covered a bulge—it was, she explained, an ankle monitor, and she wasn’t actually allowed to go out to the polls because she was awaiting trial.

Now, I imagine that at some point in my younger years, I might have thought: this person could be a criminal, should I be helping her vote? But I’ve lived long enough and attentively enough to understand that just because a young black woman has fallen afoul of our criminal justice system, it doesn’t mean an enormous amount. I’ve spent a fair amount of time in jail (for crimes I’ve been happy to admit) and in the process met a fair number of people who, it struck me, were guilty mainly of being born in the wrong place. I haven’t suspended judgment entirely—I don’t like crime, and I wouldn’t vote for a presidential candidate who had managed to acquire multiple felony convictions. But I sensed that this young woman probably did not have a crack legal team at her command, and anyway she wasn’t running for president—she just wanted to vote for president. So I helped her figure out how to approach the Secretary of State’s office. I hope it works, and not just because it will help Harris—because voting is good. (One thing I deeply admire about older Americans is that for all the opportunities we’ve had to develop real cynicism, we continue to vote.)

A few blocks later we came to one of our addresses and there was actually someone sitting on the porch. “We’re looking for Janis Merton,” I said (though I’ve changed the name.)

“Oh,” he said. “That name is deceased. I wish you would take it off your list.”

Now, for the first two-thirds of my life, I would assume that he meant Janis had died, and I would have offered my condolences and moved on. If I’d somehow understood that this was a person born a woman who had become a man I wouldn’t have known what to say; raised to be polite, I probably wouldn’t have said a thing, but I might have thought: ick.

But again I’ve been lucky. I’ve had the chance to get to know a fair number of people who’ve transitioned from one gender to another, and in every case it’s been a blessing. The idea that we live in a moment when people are able to connect with something deep inside them, and instead of feeling shame and sadness do something about it—that’s a joy. And one of the ugliest parts of this fall’s campaign is the degree to which the GOP has decided to stigmatize and target those people. The cruelty of the radio ads and the tv spots can take your breath away. As Tim Walz would say, none of your damned business—but to the degree it’s of the public interest, it’s awfully nice that you can love who you want, including yourself. I’m pretty sure this guy was never going back, and more power to him.

We finished up our day’s list and returned our clipboards, and then I got on the plane to Phoenix. Again we had a wonderful evening program, thanks to the folks at Third Act Arizona—among other things it featured Candice Fortin, the organizing director at my old stomping ground 350.org. And Rebecca Solnit was there to headline things, thank heaven, since I was getting a little weary. Some native dancers set the mood; a trio of young people brought it home. We ended by telling everyone to show up the next day to canvass, and a lot of them did.

This time the proceedings were organized by Seed the Vote and by La Lucha—the phone app took us across the sprawling Phoenix metro area to the suburb of Avondale, which has almost tripled in population in the first fifth of this century. It’s mostly Hispanic, a pretty solidly middle-class community—we were in a subdivision filled with twisting roads and not-quite-identical houses, each with a gravel front yard (Phoenix has successfully kicked the lawn habit, though there was one unfortunate experiment with astroturf). It was a fairly perfect rendition of the America that’s coming by mid-century, where white people are no longer a majority—the thing that may subliminally drive the MAGA rage. And yet it was so…normal. Pickups, a few of them jacked-up. Fancy doorbells (Ring vs Vivint, with a few SimpliSafe—you notice these things when you’re doorknocking).

The sun beat down—when we’d left the car it had insisted the outside temperature was 100, and it felt like that. The trees weren’t big enough yet to provide much shade, and I was inordinately grateful when the phone app sent us to the shadier side of the street. People were mostly missing—it was midday—and so, conspicuously, were solar panels. If this were California or Texas (or Vermont) you would have found them on many houses, but so far the Arizona utilities have roundly resisted any real efforts to take advantage of the fact that they are the sunniest city in the country, with the sun shining down 88.5 percent of the time. One would think that the record-smashing summer they’ve just endured—at one point 21 straight days set new daily temperature records, a streak with no equal in this country—might have convinced them. But no. We desperately need four more years for the IRA to roll out, and really step up to the task of changing out the 140 million homes in this country, and we desperately need the great advocacy at Public Utility Commissions that so many Third Actors are now engaged in.

It was good to be outside walking the streets, even in the heat, in part because it meant there was no chance to worry about the polls, and all the other craziness. (While we were out there news came that the police had arrested the gun nut who shot up the local Democratic headquarters, and also the nut nut who set a mailbox on fire last night perhaps to burn up some ballots). Politics used to be kind of fun, but not since 2016—everything seems desperate, especially this gut-wrenchingly close election. But while it’s happening, there’s the chance for everyone to take part: to get out and knock doors, and in the process be reminded what kind of tenuous, noble, important lives our fellow Americans are living. To remind ourselves that one goal of all of this to make those lives a little easier.

Reno the next night was like coming home–Third Act’s first big electoral effort had come here in the fall of 2022, when we played a real role in helping save the Senate by picking up Nevada’s seat. Our great national organizer B Fulkerson is also the great local organizer here, and so we had a truly beautiful evening at a packed Unitarian church, which featured Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar. Rebecca spoke with great wisdom, reminding us how much of the arc of change we’d seen in our lives, and that this was our chance to move it on.

As a huge passel of canvassers–from Third Act groups in Nevada, Oregon, and California, and our wonderful Bay Area friends from 1000 Grandmothers–set off the next morning, I told them I’d talked to my wife back home the night before and that she’d reported our 7-month-old grandson had learned to give High Fives this week. So I told them what I’ll tell you: if you find yourself weary as this week goes on, just imagine a chubby-cheeked little Vermont boy slapping you on the hand, in thanks for being out there protecting his future. That’s what it’s about!

(GA, PA, AZ, NV) Beginning October 19, older Americans will rally for “Get Out the Vote” events and door-to-door canvassing across Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Nevada. This is part of the Silver Wave Tour: Elders Rising for Climate and Democracy, organized by Third Act, a movement with nearly 100,000 supporters nationwide, co-founded by environmentalist and author Bill McKibben, and supported by GrayPAC, a new political action committee launched by Third Act’s founders.

McKibben adds, “Mobilizing older Americans is one of the key parts of winning this election––maybe the key part, given the size of our cohort and their willingness to get out and vote!” He continues, “At a time when our democracy and climate are both on the line, elders have a critical role to play, bringing their experience and determination to the forefront. And when an elderly lady is on your doorstep to share her thoughts on political candidates, you’re more inclined to open the door and respectfully listen to what she has to say!”

As climate disasters like hurricanes and wildfires intensify, the Silver Wave Tour will highlight the urgency of collective action, reminding voters that this election is not just about candidates, but about the future of our planet and democracy. The Silver Wave is rallying older Americans to be the decisive force in the fight for both.

Where & When

• Atlanta, Georgia

Local representative contact: Bill Millkey, bmillkey@gmail.com 

Saturday, October 19, 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Friends Meeting House, 701 West Howard Avenue, Decatur, Georgia 30030

Join Third Act Georgia for an evening featuring  Bill McKibben and Southern Environmental Law Center senior attorney Bill Sapp in dialogue about elders, climate change and the upcoming elections. RSVP here.

• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 

Local representative contact: Jo Alyson Parker, joalysonparker@gmail.com

Monday, October 21, 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
320 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19106

Join Third Act Pennsylvania  for discussion about our crucial role in the election, featuring Bill McKibben, and Philadelphia Councilmember Nic O’Rourke. RSVP here.

Tuesday, October 22, 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Clark Park, Chester Ave & S 43rd St, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104

Canvass to turn out climate voters, southwest side of Clark Park, with Environmental Voters Project, POWER Interfaith, and Dayenu. RSVP here.

• Phoenix, Arizona 

Local representative contact: Chris Wass, chris@wormlab.co

Wednesday, October 23, 5:30 p.m.
Bulpitt Auditorium at Phoenix College, 1202 W Thomas Road, Phoenix, Arizona 85013

Join Third Act Arizona for discussion about the crucial role of older Americans in the election, featuring Bill McKibben and Rebecca Solnit. RSVP here.

Thursday, October 24, 12:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Lucha Office, 5716 N 19th Avenue, Phoenix, Arizona 85015

Canvass to mobilize voters for Harris. RSVP here.

• Reno, Nevada 

Local representative contact: Cathy Fulkerson, cathy.fulkerson@gmail.com ‭

Friday, October 25, 6:00 p.m.
780 Del Monte Lane, Reno, Nevada 89511

Join Third Act Nevada and Indivisible Northern Nevada for discussion about our crucial role in the election, featuring Bill McKibben; Rebecca Solnit; Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar; Jan Gardipe from the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, and Katia Escobar from Seed the Vote. RSVP here. 

Saturday, October 26: 10:00 a.m.
The River School Farm, 777 White Fir Street, Reno, Nevada 89523

Canvass to mobilize voters for Harris, with UNITE HERE, Seed the Vote, and Indivisible. RSVP here.

Summary 

The Silver Wave Tour mobilizes thousands of older Americans in critical states to protect the future of our climate and democracy. Formed in 2024, GrayPAC is the political action committee powered by Third Act, for Americans over 60, to elect leaders who support a vibrant future for our democracy and climate. Third Act works with many thousands of supporters year round on initiatives that help safeguard democracy and protect the climate. In addition to the featured events, GrayPAC is mobilizing older Americans in dozens of other districts like these.

“When is it not Climate Week for Third Actors? But the week of September 23rd was especially filled with events. On Monday I headed to Citi’s headquarters to support the Gulf South and Global South event, a follow-up from the Summer of Heat. The two groups had been writing requesting a meeting with CEO Jane Fraser. The reply: after summer.  

On September 23, a group of us assembled in the plaza. To no one’s surprise, Citi executives hadn’t slotted a meeting on their calendars. But the morning’s organizers were well-prepared. They brought out a table and kept calling for Citi to join them. There were signs, speakers, and chants. A woman dressed in a beautiful sari led chanting and then sat down next to me, shaking, worried she hadn’t been forceful enough and that someone might spot her and find ways to harm her. Yet she was here. We all were. 

The group eventually moved to Citi’s doors and it didn’t take long for the police to begin their warnings. Summer of Heat had prepared us. We committed to our roles: move and keep supporting, or stay and get arrested. Thirty-one chose arrest. The police, too, knew their role. The arrests were simply executed, plastic strips replacing handcuffs, and the protesters walked to the corrections buses waiting for them. The chants continued.

I was part of the jail support team, making sure to keep the count, get everyone’s name and ensuring they were treated with respect. Once the buses were loaded and off to the precinct, my fellow Third Actor, Siu Li, and I headed to a gallery and then Chinatown before ending up at Luna Pizza, a wonderful place near the 1st precinct that had welcomed us all summer, opening a tab that allowed us to keep the pizzas coming and protesters hydrated. Jail support greeted those arrested upon release, cheered and thanked them, and made sure the summons went to a lawyer.

We waited. The first arrestee came out at 2pm, and the last at 5:30. Best outfit? The big round globe worn by a young woman, her top of the northern hemisphere and pants of the southern hemisphere. The benefit of doing jail support for me was the time spent with others—all ages, and while mainly New Yorkers, numbers from across the country—so committed to addressing climate change. It gives you hope.”

– Deborah Popper

Tuesday: TIAA-Divest! Rally & Action 

“On Tuesday I went to TIAA headquarters for a TIAA divest protest. There were familiar faces as well as new people with whom to connect. To me, it seems preposterous that TIAA has not made divestment a main priority. Retirement funds should be forward oriented. Moreover, its clients—and I’m one of them—have spent our lives in professions like teaching. We want a decent return on our money, but not at the expense of the planet and our fellow humans.

The event organizer spoke and then turned to a contingent from Phillips County, Arkansas, who were feeling the impacts of TIAA’s investment in nearby agricultural land where practices featured heavy drifts of pesticides and whose water budget depleted their own. These speakers were followed by three from Brazil’s cerrado where TIAA’s investments were also threatening people’s health and livelihoods. I’ve been to both areas. Life was never easy in either, but now it’s harder.”

– Deborah Popper

Tuesday: Petition Delivery at Gov. Hochul’s Office

“At 11 am we joined the protest at Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office. A two storey large banner reading “Gov. Hochul Sign or Sink! Make Polluters Pay!” was dropped off a building across from her office. It demanded that she sign the Climate Change Superfund Act still sitting on her desk. Local youth activists whose communities have been affected by superstorms and hurricanes spoke eloquently about the need to make the fossil fuel companies pay for the damage they have caused, not NY tax payers. Bill McKibben spoke, and the activists then presented symbolic boxes containing the 182,000 petition signatures collected.”

– Siu Li GoGwilt

Wednesday: The Language of Climate Politics in the 2024 Election

“Dr. Genevieve Gunther’s panel at the New York Society for Ethical Culture, TheLanguage of Climate Politics in the 2024 Election, was illuminating and educational. Her presentation was based on her recently published book, The Language of Climate Politics, published by Oxford University Press. 

She was introduced by NYSEC leader, Monica Weiss, who briefly discussed the history of the organization. The other panelists included Kendra Pierre-Louis, climate reporter at Bloomberg, Amy Westervelt, Editor-in- Chief, Drilled Media and author and environmentalist, founder of 350.org and Third Act, Bill McKibben.

Dr. Gunther spoke first reading from the introduction to her book. She approached the panel from the viewpoint of the use of language as a form of misinformation about the climate crisis which prevents civic action. Five words – Alarmist, Cost, Growth, India and China, Innovation and Resilience–form the core of a strategy of disinformation which can deflect the urgency of the climate crisis. Do the oil, gas and coal industries pursue money at the expense of a livable planet? 

Bill McKibben reminded us that our summer saw the hottest temperature in 125,000 years. He asked: ‘How will we re-freeze the Arctic? We must drive down emissions by half by 2030 in order to try to stay under 1.5 degrees. The question is, will we?'”

– Marcia Annenberg and Rachel Makleff

In addition to the above, volunteers attended Debt for Climate at Blackrock, listened to Bill McKibben in conversation with Alex Honnold at the MoMa, sailed on Pete Seeger’s Sloop, Clearwater, on the Hudson, sang and chanted, and joined the Mindful Rebels for their weekly meditation at the JPMorgan Chase Headquarters. It was a week full of actions, community gatherings, and joyous energy. 

We’ve seen firsthand the incredible power of grassroots activism, and postcarding has emerged as one of the most impactful tools in our toolkit. Across the country, our working groups are harnessing the energy and enthusiasm of our volunteers to mobilize voters, protect our democracy, and raise awareness around critical issues like climate justice. Whether it’s flipping key districts or empowering new voters, Third Act volunteers are leading the charge with a pen and paper in hand.

In a step-by-step video, Bay Area Third Actors Clara Greisman and Shalom Bruhn walk you through how to host a postcard party, from inception to execution, while Third Act Tennessee offers numbered tips and tricks, using what they’ve learned. As Emily Cathcart says, “keep it fun,” which they do with pins, cardboard cutouts, and of course, food. Tennessee has also found it to be an effective way to recruit new Third Actors. 

Michigan has also published a helpful checklist to support those hosting postcard parties. Be sure to check out your local working group for tailored suggestions (and to find out how to get involved). 

New Hampshire recently wrote about the effectiveness of postcard writing, which we highlighted in our August newsletter. The post references a DemCast newsletter that speaks to the effects of handwritten mail on voter turnout. From their post:

A handwritten postcard arriving in the mail makes it through the messaging clutter and is noticed. The resulting increase to voter turnout may be small but still significant, especially in tight races or elections. Results showed that the postcards increased turnout by 0.4 percent (a typical get-out-the-vote, or GOTV, canvass increases turnout by 0.3 percent) and concluded that the postcards had as good or better effect on voter turnout than going door to door.

And don’t they have a good time doing it!

Across every region, from coast to coast, Third Act volunteers are showing up and getting it done. Let’s keep the momentum going and reach our new goal of 300,000 postcards by Election Day.  

We are going to prove together that older Americans are eager for the future that Kamala Harris represents. When Akaya Windwood shared her story of integrating her public school in the 1960s, it reminded us of how far we’ve come in our lifetimes. But as we face the sneering and divisive figure of Donald Trump, we know how far we still have to go—and how much we could backslide as a nation.

Preventing that means working hard these next weeks, and having lots and lots of conversations with friends and neighbors. Third Act will give you the resources to make those conversations easier: snippets from last night, videos we’re busily producing, analysis, and statistics. But the secret ingredient will be your connections, your relationships, your courage––and above all else––your time and sweat.

Thousands of you already signed up for volunteer shifts and events over the next 90 days. You also helped us surpass our fundraising goal for GrayPAC, Third Act’s newly launched political action committee. All in, we’re closing in on a quarter of a million dollars, with funds from last night being split with the Harris campaign. You can continue to contribute here. Every dollar we raise will help us secure and advance climate protections and justice in our communities.

On the call, Robin Wall Kimmerer asked, “What does it mean to become a good ancestor?” And then answered, “part of it is to lift up new leaders.” We intend to do just that.

Let’s get to work.

Paid for by GrayPAC. Not authorized by any candidates or candidates’ committees.

In cities where there are no Citibanks, activists turned to the other big banks funding fossil fuels. In North Carolina, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania, Third Actors chanted outside of Wells Fargo.

Third Act North Carolina 

Citizen Times reported on the rally in Ashville, citing the particularly hot conditions that day and the accompanying radical marching band Brass Your Heart, as well as the songs, chants, and marches.

“What are we leaving for my grandchildren?” organizer Cheryl Orengo, 71, asked. With one grandchild only six-years-old and the other a toddler, “What are they going to be dealing with? I can’t even think about it because it worries me so much.”‘

Third Act Minnesota

On their blog, “Bringing the HEAT to Wells Fargo,” Third Act Minnesota writes:

“On July 10, at our largest protest yet, over 50 Third Actors and other allies demonstrated at the Wells Fargo Minneapolis corporate office towers demanding the bank stop financing fossil fuel projects. A few Third Act Wisconsin members even joined us. As we announced our intention to occupy the lobby, Wells Fargo locked down both towers, forcing employees to find alternate ways to enter the building. The bank notified all employees in the building about the protest, so we successfully reached hundreds of them—some who supported our efforts. We greatly expanded the reach of our protest when two witnesses with sizable social media followings posted favorably about the action. We received at least 30,000 views on X (formerly Twitter).”

Not only did Minnesota make a significant impact on social media, the group also made it into the MinnPost. David Mann and Carolyn Ham shared their opinions with the publication, highlighting their motivation for doing this work:

“I have a 26-year-old son who has his own anxiety about where we’re headed,” Mann said. “I didn’t feel like I could keep looking him in the eye if I wasn’t doing something.”

As for motivations of the group’s other members, Ham said they ranged from frustration that writing and calling their politicians never yielded results, to wanting to make up for a lifetime of not doing much organizing at all. But the nearly universal answer among the activists was “it’s my grandkids, it’s for the future of my kids and grandkids,” she said.

Third Act Pennsylvania

Third Act Pennsylvania caught the attention of the PhillyVoice:

“Though it is centered on Wall Street, the movement has spread to cities across the United States in recent days. It’s also, notably, full of elder voices. Many of the protesters on Market Street were affiliated with Third Act, a progressive organization led by Americans over 60, or the like-minded Elders Action Network. Some sat in rocking chairs while singing protest songs and cheering on speakers like City Councilmember Nicolas O’Rourke. Several carried signs referencing their grandkids.”

Third Act Massachusetts

Third Actors showed up outside Bank of America in Bedford, MA. The Bedford Times writes: “Many lined up alongside the street holding signs, a few with walkers, some seated in outdoor folding chairs. Among them was Peggy McKibben of Carleton-Willard Village, whose son Bill McKibben, a writer and environmental activist, founded Third Act.”

Third Act Maine

In Maine, activists changed outside MainePERS, the Maine Public Employee Retirement System, during a board meeting. According to a law passed in 2021, MainePERS is required to divest from fossil fuels by 2026. However, the organization has been slow to act and insists that divestment will impact returns for its pensioners.  

From Maine Public:

Charles Spanger, with Third Act Maine, pointed to a recent analysis showing that a fossil fuel-free portfolio would have outperformed MainePERS over the past decade.

“They will do better if they purchase fossil free portfolios,” Spanger said.

Read more in the Maine Morning Star, WABI Channel 5, and Third Act Maine’s blog.

Third Act Bay Area

In San Francisco’s Embarcadero, hundreds marched to two Citibank locations. They carried their rocking chairs, chanted, petitioned, wrote postcards, and spoke their truth for future generations to come.

From the SF Bay Area blog:

Artist David Solnit was on hand to draw the mural, activists jumped in to paint. His work was also evident on clothing panels, banners and posters. Chants and songs filled the air, accompanied by five amazing Golden Bell Music musicians. Aside from the fun, the message to Citibank never wavered: Stop profiteering from our children’s future.

Check out Mike Freeman’s interviews with Third Actors below:

Third Act Florida

Meanwhile, in Gainesville, Florida, volunteers gathered at a speaker’s panel and social. In solidarity with their fellow activists protesting outside Wall Street, Florida took a different approach in support of Summer of Heat. Read more about it on the Third Act Florida blog. 

You can read all about working group efforts on their blogs. We’ll continue to update this page, covering the rest of our volunteer actions. Onward!

As part of the Summer of Heat on Wall Street and our Costco campaign to pressure Citi to stop funding fossil fuels, Costco members, Third Actors, youth, and other climate activists dressed in hot dog costumes and red aprons – representing Costco’s iconic $1.50 hot dogs and samples staff – blocked 1000+ Citi employees from getting into work for well over an hour.

We blockaded all 12 doors, sang chants like “Hot Dogs Hate the Dirty Cash,” and spoke to hundreds of employees that were stuck, sweating in the plaza of Citibank’s headquarters. Citi’s employees were feeling the heat, literally. In addition to the action at Citi HQ, we called the direct phone lines of Citi executives who are in charge of Costco’s credit card partnership, commented on their linkedin posts, and flooded their email inboxes (and you can still take those online actions too!). 

The Summer of Heat on Wall Street is a sustained campaign all summer long to escalate pressure on Wall Street financiers that are bankrolling climate extremes like this summer’s deadly heat waves, floods, and hurricanes, and this action was the largest disruption of Citi’s operations at HQ we’ve pulled off yet.

Why the hot dogs and red aprons? To represent an iconic retailer, Costco.

Why Costco? Because Costco has a credit card partnership with dirty Citibank. And because Costco is the third largest retailer in the US, where 1 out of 3 Americans shop, and has a lot of sway as a large client of Citi’s. Citibank is the #1 funder of fossil fuel expansion and the #1 funder of liquified natural gas (LNG) in the world. The fossil fuel industry is polluting and destroying our communities and the places that we love. If Costco considers itself an “ethical” company, it should not do business with unethical ones like Citibank which is financing an industry that is literally killing us and our planet. 

Why show up at Citi HQ? We showed up at Citibank’s headquarters dressed as Costco hot dogs to show Citi that thousands of Costco members are demanding that Costco use its leverage as a large credit card partner of Citibank and push Citibank to stop funding fossil fuel expansion, starting with an end to new or future liquified natural gas (LNG) projects. And if Citi doesn’t stop funding fossil fuels, Costco should drop Citi as a credit card partner all together. We want Citi to do that because it may be at risk of losing one of its largest clients due to Citi’s fossil fuel financing. 

We’ve been turning up the heat on Citibank all summer long. Just this week, in addition to the Costco Hot Dog Rebellion, there were three other actions in NYC: on Monday July 8th, Third Act Elders held a memorial for all we have already lost to climate change with a bag-pipe procession, a die-in, and 46 arrests, including renowned climate activist and Third Act founder Bill Mckibben. On Tuesday July 9th, the Costco Hot Dog Rebellion blocked 1000+ employees from getting into work for over an hour. And then on Wednesday, July 10th, kids, parents, and grandparents gathered for a storytime and sing-along about the climate crisis. On Thursday, July 11th, lamenters representing heat waves, biodiversity loss, and other climate-related disasters staggered themselves in Citi’s plaza as employees walked into work. And there were more protests across the country.

Our pressure is working. Bloomberg recently reported that our campaign “is beginning to wear on Citibank employees and executives alike”; the New York Times just released a piece about our campaign, pointing out that “Citi’s investment portfolio is at odds with global goals to limit global temperature increases” ― and just last week, thanks to powerful Indigenous leadership, Citi came out with some updates to its climate policies, excluding 18% of its oil and gas financing in the Amazon. 

While this is an important step, Citi’s new policy not only leaves out 82% of Citi’s financing in the Amazon, but also the rest of its fossil fuel expansion financing in the rest of the world. So, we are going to continue to turn up the heat on Citibank – and on Costco – all summer long. 

You can help by signing the “Costco: Clean Up Your Citi Credit Card” petition, and join the Summer of Heat on Wall Street campaign. 

Video: Breanna Perez / @perezbrenna
Images: Luis Yanez / @luigiwmorris

Stacey Abrams In Conversation with Akaya Windwood and Bill McKibben

Below are excerpts from the conversation, edited for clarity and brevity.

Akaya: People are scared. They’re hopeful. They’re scared to be hopeful. They’re despairing. They’re wary. A lot of people’s hair is on fire right now. I’m going to ask you to help us make sense of this political moment. I’m asking for your wisdom more than your strategy. What would you say to folks who are trying to navigate these very turbulent waters over the next four months?

Stacey: I grew up in Gulfport, Mississippi. I’m the daughter of two people who were civil rights activists as children. My dad was arrested when he was 14 for registering black people to vote. We like to tease him that my mom was doing the same work on the other side of town. She just managed not to get caught. I grew up with people who lived in some of the darkest moments in our recent history. And they are not the darkest. Part of what I am constantly reminded about is not that we do comparative misery, but that we have proof of success. We make it through. It is hard, it is arduous, it is frustrating. It is often profoundly stupid, but it is survivable. Third Act, by its very nature, proves that we can make it through you. You exist because thousands of people have made it through despite how tough, hard, impenetrable and inexorable the moment felt.

In terms of our current moment, I like to remind people that there’s punditry about voters and then there’s the reality. Voters are people. They get a title around election time, but they’re people the whole time and people make decisions based on self-interest, community, and zeitgeist. But zeitgeist has the least effect. We amplify it and like to pretend that it changes everything, but they’re typically structural realities that motivate, block, or call us to question. 

Regardless of what you think the answer should be, let me tell you what the reality is: there is not a human who watched that debate and thought, that man is old and feeble. I prefer the bombastic fascist liar, because anyone who decided to watch the debate already came to the debate with what they wanted to see. Debates are not about changing minds. Debates are confirmation bias in action. What we think we want is what we go to see and then we judge the outcome based on what we thought we would get. If winning a debate made you a victor, we’d have a whole different slew of people who held office and a whole lot of folks who never got the job. We cannot underestimate what we’re navigating, but we also can’t give it so much credence that it blinds us to everything else. 

It’s the connectivity of voting that draws me. It is the connection point of organizing that animates me.

Number two: Swing voters are not quite a myth, but they are not as potent as we’d like them to be. This goes back to the issue of self-interest. There’s an alchemy to a swing voter, to someone whose political values shift so dramatically that they can go from one set of principles and values to another. If you can figure out that kind of pendulum swing, God bless you because almost no one else has. And so, to the extent to which we focus our attention and put all of our hopes into someone whose own internal compass is sitting over a magnetic pole, we are going to be in trouble. Our responsibility is to not worry about the things we can’t fix, but to focus on the things we can.  

Our challenge is not those for whom there is no decision or those who refuse to make a decision. Our challenge is those who don’t think they have the right to a decision. Those are typically low-to-mid propensity voters and they exist because it’s kind of a pox on both your houses or my life is so hard that I don’t have time to think about this far off idea that could change things. Our responsibility and it is the core I think of what you do is to connect the dots to say that the current misery, worry, and harm can be solved with this person with this action. Don’t do it for anybody but yourself. And if you do it for yourself, you help other people. 

It’s the connectivity of voting that draws me. It is the connection point of organizing that animates me. I can’t fix stupid. I can’t fix self-interest. What I can do though is make sure you have sufficient information and that it is not a lecture. It is information that helps you make a decision and that decision is often not, do I vote for this guy or that guy? It’s, do I vote or not? We can solve the question, do I vote or not? It is not a question of changing fundamental core belief systems. 

When we tell people what’s in it for them, it helps them relax enough to see what they can do for everyone else.

I’ll wrap with this: My parents are pastors now. My mom was a librarian. My dad was a shipyard worker, but they eventually were called into the ministry. My parents’ job is to fix people’s souls. I don’t have that kind of time, energy, or capacity. So I work on behavior. Behavior can change and people change their behavior when the new action makes their lives better. So our job is to explain why the act of voting will make their lives better, not in the esoteric and not in the abstract, but in the concrete way of here’s what tomorrow can look like and here’s what’s gonna happen if you don’t take action.

Akaya: I’m going to push back on you, Stacey, because actually you a minister. You bring a medicine to the world that it needs. I’ve watched you for many years. So thank you for that. 

Bill: Amen, amen. As a Sunday school teacher. I concur. I want to talk for a moment not about getting people to vote, but about getting people to change what’s in their house. You’ve taken on this work at Rewiring America, whose goal is nothing less than taking 140 million homes in America and transforming what’s in the basement, kitchen, garage. And that may be the most important work that there ever was given the temperatures around the world. I’m curious about how the conversations that you’ve learned to have over the years about motivating people to vote play into your strategy for how to motivate people to change out their appliances.

Stacey: For some it seems bit jarring that I would go from voting rights to climate. To me, it’s all of a piece and it’s actually been a part of who I am. As I said earlier, I grew up in Mississippi, near Cancer Alley in Louisiana. I used to have to drive through it to go and debate in high school. In college, I did my undergrad thesis on environmental justice. I interned for the EPA two summers, one for the Environmental Criteria assessment office in North Carolina and then for the newly created Office of Environmental Justice under Bill Clinton in 1995. Climate is a democracy issue. The reason we have democracy is because people want their lives to be better and we know that we’ve got to work together to make it so.

What we breathe and how we live is absolutely a question of the kind of government we have. As with any other issue, I think of voting not as an abstract construct, but as an activity into which I pour my efforts and about which I have to be concerned. If I don’t vote for the right person, the things that happen to me and my community are directly connected to whether I took that step. I can’t guarantee that they will do what I need them to do, but I’m pretty certain they won’t if I don’t speak up. And so when I talk about the connectivity between electrification and democracy, you don’t have to divide it up. It’s the same thing.

Climate is a democracy issue. The reason we have democracy is because people want their lives to be better and we know that we’ve got to work together to make it so.

If you think that your community is getting the short end of the stick, we know that 42% of all energy related emissions come from decisions made around the kitchen table. If you want your community to be cooler or to have access to lower bills, you’ve got to solve for what’s in your house. 58% is happening outside, but 42% is within your control. If you want your bill to go down or the temperature to go down or your kids to be able to breathe easier, then this is a moment where the government’s going to give you money to make your life better. Not only are they going to give you money, but they’re actually targeting the people they’ve ignored for so very long. There’s 65 million who would benefit for roughly $2,600 to $2,900 in annual savings and 36 million of those people are low to moderate income. 

Part of the way you tell the story is not to say there’s this abstract construct of carbon emissions. You say, here’s the reality: when you turn off your stove if you have an induction stove, it’s unlikely your kid’s gonna burn their hand. If your HVAC system isn’t cool enough and you upgrade to this new one, you’ll save money and be cooler. If your heat pump takes too long to heat your water in the winter, get this, save money and it’ll be better.

I lean into the selfishness. I think it is a selfish act that just happens to have community benefit and I don’t shy away from it. When we tell people what’s in it for them, it helps them relax enough to see what they can do for everyone else.

Akaya: Girl, bring it. So I noticed that in your spare time you write romance novels and you can imagine there are a lot of other things and I found myself the other day, saying, wait a minute, let’s connect the dots. How do romance and climate fit together? 

Stacey: I write a lot of different things. The reason I put it out there is that when people find I write, they know my Selena Montgomery, but my editors want people to know that there’s also a whole legal thriller universe I’ve created too. But coming back to my very first romance novel, Rules of Engagement. It got published in 2000. Its premise came from my ex-boyfriend’s dissertation. We’re friends now, but at the time, we were still in an awkward place. He wrote about micro zeolites. They are  chemicals that can absorb other chemicals without reacting. At the time I was doing work and thinking about environmental justice issues on the global scale, particularly developing countries that were being rushed through the industrialization stage, because we finally realized it was going to kill us all. The idea behind this book was what if you could use micro zeolite technology to clean the environment.

Even my first novel was about environmental justice. It was about how we clean the climate. It was also a romance novel that uses my ex-boyfriend’s dissertation. We were still a little testy at the time so he’s in prison in the book, but that’s a whole other story. It was a bad breakup. We’re friends now. For me, romance is about understanding that the fairy tale ending is gonna take a lot of dragons and they’re going to be misunderstandings and miscommunication. You’re not always going to like the person you love and you’ve got to find a way to navigate, but also to reconcile your differences. 

When you think about what we have to do in this climate conversation, people have hardened beliefs and they’ve got backstories. We don’t get to know the whole back story. When you read a romance novel, when you read a novel, you come into the middle of the story, but you’ve got to bring all of that baggage with you. And as a writer, part of my job is to give you enough information that you can empathize with both that you cheer for their success, but that you also feel the tension of their trial and that’s what we’re in right now. 

We’re in the tension of trial. People know what we want, but they don’t necessarily believe it’s going to happen. You’ve got to give them a reason to keep hoping and you got to give them a reason to keep trying. Romance is one of the hardest genres I write because if people already know the ending, how do you keep them reading? By making sure that at every moment they feel compassion, interest, and a little bit of mystery about what can happen next.

B Fulkerson and other Third Actors who were there share their reflections

Video by Brenna Perez. Music by Andrew Scott Bell. 

Unless otherwise stated, photos are by Robert S Johnson.

Third Actors turned up the heat against Citibank at its world headquarters in New York City, as part of Summer of Heat’s sustained direct actions that began in early June. Citibank is the largest investor in fossil fuel expansion since the signing of the Paris Accords in 2015, and climate activists are disrupting its business as usual.

The largest action during Summer of Heat’s kick-off week featured 200 elders converging on Citibank Plaza with uplifting songs and banners for Elders Day. Sixty Third Actors were arrested, most for the first time and some in our rocking chairs, for blocking bank entrances and briefly shutting down operations in an effort to give our grandkids and future generations a shot at a livable planet. While we were processed and released later that day, ten of our rocking chairs were confiscated and remain behind bars. (Free our rockers!)

Nonviolent Direct Action (NVDA) is not the pinnacle of activism. Nor is it any more noble than knocking on doors, writing letters to the editor, phone banking, donating to organizations, speaking at public meetings, or other organizing tactics that build the power of the people.

But as someone who has been arrested 12 times since 1985, and as a student of how movements spread like a contagion from the periphery to the rest of society, I believe NVDA a tool that the many can use to defeat the mighty and the few.

Bill McKibben and Rev Lennox Yearwood will be among the featured speakers at a rally beginning at 10 am on July 8. Here is information on these events and how you can get involved either in NYC or in your area. Because not everyone can go to New York City for Summer of Heat, Third Act working groups are organizing a series of events across the country during Elders Week, July 8-14.

You don’t have to take my word for it that Third Act elders rocked it at Summer of heat.

Read testimonials from those who were there:

The energy and camaraderie in the room (pre-action night), in the park (action meet-up) and in Citi plaza (action!) were just amazing.  We were from so many different states and working groups, and with a range of back-stories that could – and should! – fill a book — but we were there together to do one thing: tell Citi that their continued funding of planet-killing fossil fuels is unconscionable and must stop. 

– Jess Grimm, Third Act Ohio

Yes, it was a great action against Citi where 60 elders got arrested as part of weeks 1 of Summer of Heat, but it went deeper than that. People stepped up and got out of their comfort zone, learned new skills, and had a great time together.

– Lisa Finn, Third Act Virginia

People often assume that protesters are people who are not like them, who’ve gone mad or are wild hippies. I’ve found that not to be the case. In addition to my new librarian friend, there were former journalists, nurses, school teachers, lawyers, scientists–people probably much like your parents and grandparents. People who worked hard to provide a safe, healthy home for their kids, just like many of you are doing now.

– Rob Wald, Third Act Maryland

Remember to check out our Summer of Heat page for Elders Week events in your area.

All images courtesy of Liz Sanders.

I signed on to be part of the Summer of Heat, a campaign against the banks and insurance companies that are supporting and profiting from climate destruction. This meant I was fortunate enough to participate in the two-day Non-Violent Direct-Action (NVDA) training in NYC hosted by Third Act. NVDA is defined as nonviolent resistance to injustice. There are hundreds of forms of nonviolent direct action including marches, boycotts, picketing, sit-ins and prayer vigils.

It wasn’t my first training, but one of the most insightful. I went to the training thinking that this would be nuts and bolts on the how to’s of NVDA: how to hold the line, what to expect from police. Maybe we’d learn a couple songs and chants. Cover a little history and participate in role play. 

And that was all there. The excellent training team of Cathy Hoffman, Marla Marcum, and Leif Taranta was smart, honest, and so grounded in this work. It was inspiring. I learned there is both an art and craft to NVDA.   

What I didn’t anticipate was that we’d also build and nurture our Elders movement for change– to be thoughtful, strategic, and intentional in our work, to the powerful potential of our Third Act community. Bill McKibben spoke of our unique role in the movement, and how NVDA is an important tool in our work. His advice was to also find joy in our activism. 

I am awed by all those willing to put their bodies on the line for change, at Greensboro, Stonewall, Act UP, Standing Rock and so many others. During the training oversized images of brave activists hung around the room. The iconic image of Dorothy Day – writer, activist, person of faith – standing up for farmers workers against the police, stood out to me. She emboded authority and grace, and inspires me to continue the struggle for justice and a better world.

After the first day, I lay in bed energized, yet questioning my role How far I was willing to go? Did I understand the risks? Was I willing to be arrested? Where was my place in this movement? 

The next day one of the many exercises was an exploration of our personal “comfort/stretch/panic” zones. It’s easy to get attached to our comforts and be risk averse, but ease doesn’t lead to growth. When we take risks and stretch, that’s when we thrive and learn. It’s also important to know your boundaries and limitations.

With these tools and community support, I am ready to stretch.

 I was recently asked the Colbert Questionert, a parlor game that the late-night host asks celebrities. The first of the 15 questions is, What’s your favorite sandwich? The last, Describe the rest of your life in 5 words. I immediately thought of the connection, joy, and purpose I experience making good trouble with our Third Act community. 

My answer: be present, be of service. 

Just recently landslides tragically smothered thousands in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea, Midwest storms devastated communities and left hundreds of thousands without power from Texas to Montana, and New Delhi just recorded all time high temperatures of 127.22 F degrees. 

Our collective call to action gets louder every day.

And this time, they’ve designed the concert-going experience with a unique twist. Inside each concert venue, a village is constructed where organizations known for their commitment to communities, eco-justice, and reversing climate change have been invited to set up tables to engage with concert-goers for 90 minutes before each show.

Third Act was invited to take part in ten of the seventeen concerts, beginning on April 24 and concluding at the end of May. Third Act leaders have mobilized teams of volunteers and are working their magic at tables designed by Third Actors. While tabling, they have the opportunity to highlight work underway regionally and invite interested folks to get involved. 

These sold-out concerts provide a unique opportunity to amplify the work of Third Act, its commitment to constructive and systemic eco-action, and its welcoming, appreciative culture. Charris Ford, the Director of The Village for the Love Earth tour has been a stellar partner to Third Act, providing volunteers with a buffet dinner at the concert venue, two tickets to the concert, and same-day logistics instructions to ensure that Third Actors could make the most of their time to engage with the audience. He’s even packed our banners & taken them from show to show!

Although every show will be distinctive, Young’s repertoire includes a number of legendary eco-themed songs, which trace the recent history of threats to the planet from the 1970s to present-day and capture the urgency of this moment for all living beings. 

Stay tuned as we join forces to advance climate justice in America!

Remaining Tour Dates with Third Act:

• May 8 – Franklin, TN
• May 11 – Bristow, VA
• May 12 – Camden, NJ
• May 14 – NYC
• May 17 – Mansfield, MA
• May 22 – Clarkson, MI

Authored by Sara Lundquist and Sharon Lobert, Third Act National Volunteers.
National Volunteers support Third Act across multiple projects to expand the impact of our mission to eliminate fossil fuels, advance climate justice, and strengthen democracy.

Citi is the world’s second largest fossil fuel funder, having contributed over $332 billion to the industry since the Paris Accords in 2016. 

At the “People vs. Citi: Confronting Citi Group’s Environmental Racism” public hearing we heard powerful testimony from people on the frontlines of climate change, from Peru to Canada, from Louisiana to the Bronx in NY and how their communities are suffering from pollution, wildfire smoke, losing their homes to floods, and struggling to survive amidst air pollution and sweltering heat waves. Building on this hearing, a series of protests at Citi headquarters and branches, as well as other big US banks, erupted across the country this week, igniting more actions planned to “turn up the heat” on the banks through this spring and summer, culminating in the Summer of Heat, twelve full weeks of targeting the financiers of climate chaos, including Citi. 

The hearing was chaired by environmental justice activist and founder of the Vessel Project of Louisiana, Roishetta Sibley Ozane. Ozane is deeply involved in the Gulf Coast fight against liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities that are devastating local communities in the South. Distinguished speakers joined from around the country to speak about the environmental destruction they have witnessed and dedicated their lives to fighting against. These included Goldman Environmental Prize winner, TIME100 honoree, and Laetare Medal recipient Sharon Lavigne, Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief, Chief Na’Moks, and actor and climate activist Jane Fonda, among others.

Fonda opened the hearing by describing the privilege of living far away from what companies call “sacrifice zones”:

I thought that I understood the problem. I’ve researched. I’ve read. But until I went to Texas and Louisiana and visited Cancer Alley and the communities around the Gulf, I didn’t really understand the extent to which these companies, these global giants who make trillion dollars in profit, don’t care at all about the lives and the health of people who live in these front line communities. 

It is shocking to see what the pollution from these plants does to these communities. Entire communities disappear. 

Speaker after speaker from affected communities called upon Citi to cut funding for new and expanded LNG projects and use their resources to invest in clean energy alternatives and donate to Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities and those disproportionately affected by decisions made by those at the top, conveniently shielded from the consequences of polluting facilities. 

Several of Citi’s large clients, like Costco – which has a co-branded credit card partnership with Citi – were invited to attend or watch this public hearing to learn about the community impacts that they are affiliated with via their banking partnerships; but Costco did not attend or watch the hearing.

More than 26,000 people watched some portion of the livestreamed hearing. Watch the recording here and Jane Fonda’s introduction here.

Citi’s Role in Environmental Racism and Health Inequality 

In the wake of George Floyd’s death and Black Lives Matters protests, Citi pledged to introduce more transparency into its racial equity efforts, committing $1 billion to help close the racial wealth gap through initiatives such as improving credit access in communities of color and increasing investment in Black-owned businesses. The irony, as Russell Armstrong of the Hip Hop Caucus stated, is that Citi is publicly announcing investments in the very communities they are also extracting from. They simply don’t advertise the extractions and exploitation. That’s our job. Armstrong expanded:

In Citi’s Corporate Social Responsibility statements they say they “feel responsible for the community in which it operates” and we couldn’t agree more. That is why we are calling on Citibank to come meet with the frontline communities in the Gulf South and bear witness to how the additional billions in financing for fossil fuels since the 2016 Paris Agreements is not helping “build more sustainable, diverse and equitable communities” that they proudly stay they are “playing a leading role to drive the banking industry into a more sustainable future. 

The US is currently the largest exporter of LNG and is perpetually building new terminals, which produce extremely harmful toxins and are disproportionately located in the Gulf South amongst Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities. To date, Citi has provided $1.7 billion in direct financing to four LNG terminals in the South. Not only that, Johanna Hiro Torres of the Sierra Club revealed that the bank has continued to hand money to the Cheniere company, owners of Corpus Christi LNG, a terminal that has violated its emissions limits hundreds of times. Citi has consistently funded and advised terminals that have documented histories of failing to meet federal requirements, including Cameron, Port Arthur, and Delfin LNG terminals. Projects like these are still seeking funding, and Citi is still advising them. 

Banks try to cover their tracks, but the evidence is clear: pollution from these facilities is highly correlated with high asthma rates in surrounding communities. And these facilities are associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, stroke, heart disease, reproductive ailments, and mental health issues, emphasizing the stress and worry caused by living in polluted environments. 

During a panel with Indigenous leaders and activists, executive director of the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of South Texas Christa Mancius, President of the Autonomous Territorial Government of the Chapra Nation in Perú Olivia Bisa, and Wet’suwet’en hereditary Chief Na’Moks, spoke about Citi’s lack of concern for Indigenous rights. Mancius left us with words her dad has instilled in her for many years: 

Five hundred plus years ago, people came from overseas to do one thing: to take the resources out of these lands and ship them back overseas. Five hundred plus years later, they’re still doing the same thing: continuing a genocide in erasure of Indigenous peoples across the Americas. 

They have continued to erase and kill our people on the resources of the lands that were given to us by our Creator. We came out of Creation from Mother Earth and we were placed here for a reason: to protect her and the identity of our people, and to live in peace with Mother Earth.

What We Are Demanding 

The hearing resulted in a list of demands for Citigroup: 

1. Immediately stop financing new and expanding coal, oil, and gas projects and any companies expanding fossil fuels.
2. Rapidly phase out all fossil fuel financing and demonstrate year-on-year reductions in fossil financing in line with minimizing climate harms and limiting global warming to well below 1.5°C.
3. Ensure that clients fully respect all rights of Indigenous Peoples, including the Indigenous Peoples’ Right to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) as articulated in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
4. End financing for any projects or companies that demonstrate a pattern of violating human rights and self-determination, especially for Indigenous, Black, low-income and communities of color.
5. Adopt or strengthen sectoral and regional exclusion policies, including for coal, LNG, Arctic, Gulf South and offshore/ultra-deep drilling.
6. Scale up investments in renewables and proven climate energy solutions in line with a just transition and the needs outlined by the International Energy Agency, beyond the inadequate goals currently set by the bank.

Read Stop the Money Pipeline’s press release for more.

Heading into Spring and Summer as a United Front 

While the big banks like Citi have still not heeded scientists’ and communities’ calls to stop funding fossil fuel expansion, the hearing’s speakers did highlight the progress we’ve made: the number of terminals that haven’t been built, President Biden Administration’s pause on new LNG terminals , the support we’ve received from Citi’s shareholders on resolutions on Indigenous rights, and the unity we see right here in this movement. 

In fact, these past few days Third Actors have been united in their Spring Spark actions against the financing of fossil fuels. From Florida to the San Francisco Bay Area, from Washington, DC to Ohio, and in New York City, supporters gathered to protest outside bank branches and Citi headquarters. 

To keep up to date with our activities, check out the Working Group Events page. Stay tuned for a recap blog on the April 24th and 25th Spring Spark actions against fossil fuel financing.

And this year, Third Act was in the house! 

The end of March saw some Third Act staff gathered in Berkeley, CA to support a panel hosted by Third Act called Collaboration, Conflict, and Community: A Cross-Generational Conversation. Third Act Lead Advisor Akaya Windwood convened five multigenerational leaders, including Maddie Flood, of the The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights; sujatha baliga, restorative justice facilitator; Charlotte Lenore Michaluk, 17, award-winning, multi-disciplinary eco engineer and scientist; plus author and essayist (and Third Act Board Member) Rebecca Solnit. 

Akaya’s panel included women from 17 to 67 looking to lift up Third Act’s focus on supporting youth and thinking across categories. She posed various questions to the panelists and invited everyone in the audience to think of their own responses as well. She reminded us that thinking about hard questions can help us grow. 

What wisdom, skills and capacity are we going to need to navigate these next years? 

Akaya invited us into a space open to some dreaming and some ambiguity. One particularly memorable reminder was that “false certainty is killing us”. We think we know the categories and the answers. We think things are destined to play out one way or another and we need to create more spaciousness for diversity and interdependence. We need to become more comfortable with uncertainty. We can’t be obsessed with putting people into boxes or categories or being attached to outcomes. 

Some other takeaways that especially resonated with Third Act’s message and way of operating included: Hold each other with reverence and respect. Give ourselves a lot of grace. Remember our relatedness; we are all cousins. Find new ways to love each other. Ideas are seeds; maybe what we are planting now will only bloom in 5 years. Unconditional love is a skill, not just a capacity. 

It was great to introduce Third Act to new folks and continue to build relationships and situate ourselves with the movement of movements. Plus, it was super fun to run into strangers wearing their Third Act swag!

Vicky Shapiro from The Civics Center writes about why this time is particularly important and how you can help. 

Graduation season is voter registration season!

Almost every American graduating from high school this spring is old enough to register to vote, regardless of what state they live in, and the vast majority will be 18 by Election Day. That makes spring the best time to get high school seniors registered to vote, particularly the 40% of them who will not go on to college in the fall. Only 30% of 18-year-olds are registered nationwide. For context, 75% of Americans over age 45 are registered to vote. 

Will young people who are registered turn out to vote?

Yes! Registration increases the likelihood of turnout: In 2020, a whopping 86% of registered 18- to 24-year-olds turned out to vote. And 2020 wasn’t an anomaly. Over 75% of registered young people have turned out in every presidential election going back to 2004. Voter registration is a major barrier to youth voter participation. 

Why is it so important to register young people to vote?

Young people who are not registered to vote are politically invisible. Because they don’t appear on voter rolls, campaigns, politicians, and issue-oriented groups have a harder time reaching young people to inform them about upcoming elections and how and when to vote. Politicians pay less attention to the issues young people care about, like the environment and gun safety, because young people consistently vote at lower rates than older Americans. As a result, the cycle of low turnout and less attention to the issues young people care most about continues. 

What can I do to help? 

Third Act’s Senior-to-Senior intergenerational voter registration initiative has teamed up with The Civics Center to help you encourage High School seniors to register to vote during the annual Cap, Gown & Ballot initiative, a spring campaign to give every graduating senior an opportunity to register to vote. 

During Cap, Gown & Ballot, The Civics Center is hosting nonpartisan, online workshops to help students and educators learn how to organize student-led voter registration drives in their schools. The Civics Center sends drive organizers free “Democracy in a Box” supply kits that include everything students need to run and promote their drives. 

Help Get the Word Out

You can help get the word out by tapping into your networks and neighborhoods to encourage students and educators you might know to attend a free, online workshop to get started. 

Just follow these three easy steps:

1. Who do you know? Maybe your grandchild is in high school or your neighbor is a high school teacher or administrator? Perhaps someone at your book club, gym, or house of worship is the PTA president or a social studies teacher? Maybe your swim instructor is also the swim coach at your local high school?
2. Email, text, post, or call them! 
   1. Scroll down on The Civics Center’s Volunteer webpage for email templates you can use to let people in your community and network know about The Civics Center’s free, online workshops. Simply copy and paste the email template into a new message, customize it, and send! 
   2. The new Cap, Gown & Ballot toolkit provides all the information you need to text someone or post on Instagram about high school voter registration. 
3. Print this flyer with a QR code linked to The Civics Center’s “Run-a-Drive” Workshop and post it at your local library or ask a high school counselor to post it at school. Whether you know someone connected to a high school or not, you can help spread the word. 

Want to learn more about Cap, Gown & Ballot or high school voter registration? 

To learn more about Cap, Gown & Ballot, visit The Civics Center’s website, which provides a wealth of information about high school voter registration and resources for students, educators, and community members who want to know more. To learn more about high school voter registration you can also check out our founder Laura Brill’s substack.

Al Gore In Conversation with Akaya Windwood and Bill McKibben

Below are excerpts from the call, edited for clarity and brevity.

Akaya: You’ve called yourself a recovering politician. And as you know, the political arena right now is very toxic. Young people are saying, I don’t want to sign up for this leadership because it looks so demoralizing and toxic. There’s a real reluctance and I’m concerned about that.

Given your history, what would you say to a brilliant, committed young leader who says, I’m not sure I want to lead right now?

Al: Well, first of all, may I begin by thanking you, Akaya, and Bill, and all of the leadership of Third Act for what you’re doing. It’s amazing. And thank you for inviting me to be a part of this. Before I turn to your question, I also want to add my enthusiastic endorsement to what you said earlier about Bill’s leadership on the press the pause button on the LNG terminals. Bill, you did a great job on that. Many people were a part of it, as you frequently say, but you were the real leader.

Akaya, to your question, I was in that situation myself, absent the brilliant and visionary adjectives you used, when I came back from Vietnam. Initially, I wanted nothing to do with politics. I was a journalist for five years and went to Divinity and law school. I’m a double dropout by the way. But I got involved in investigative journalism and I got pulled back into the idea of running for public office. When the congressman in my home district unexpectedly retired. I jumped into it. But in a more general way, the antidote for political cynicism and despair is political activism.

“The antidote to climate despair is climate activism.”

And you could say the same about climate despair. In fact, many of us have said that the antidote to climate despair is climate activism. In the years I was in political office I saw that more often than not, change comes from the bottom up. It comes from activists at the local level who got their act together and gathered others to make their case and keep at it until people listened and responded.

People often ask: what’s the one thing people can do? There are a lot of things, but more important than changing the light bulbs is changing the laws and the policies. The most important thing you can do is to get involved politically. Use your voice and use your vote. Don’t give up this climate movement. It is the latest in a series of morally-based movements. It’s useful to look back at the movement to abolish slavery, give women the right to vote, recognize the rights of gays and lesbians, anti-apartheid in South Africa, and the civil rights movement here. They all have a lot in common. There were times when the advocates felt despair and felt the kind of emotions that you framed in your question, Akaya, but they kept going. And once the underbrush was cleared away, the central question was revealed as a choice between what’s right and what’s wrong.

Bill: You’ve been in politics for a very long time. We talk a lot about the role of youth, which is important. But what are some of the distinctive qualities that older Americans bring to this?

“When [Roger Revelle] was a college student, the age I was when I took his course, he had a professor that inspired him and changed the direction of his life. Think about how many chains of inspiration stretch back in time and lead to changes in the present day.”

Al: Older people bring a lifetime of experience and some wisdom with them having gone through that lifetime of experience. A tendency to sort out the trivial from the important and focus on the latter. And if they’ve played their cards right, respect from younger people who know them and who have learned from them throughout the years.

When I was an undergraduate in college in the 1960s, I had no idea what the climate was all about. My inspirational mentor was a scientist named Roger Revelle. I walked into his course and he opened my mind. He really inspired me. Everything we’ve seen in the 50 odd years since then, he foretold. Years later, I went out to the Scripps Institute in La Jolla to honor his legacy on the 100th anniversary of his birth. I thought I knew all about him, but while I was researching for my speech, I found out that when he was a college student, the age I was when I took his course, he had a professor that inspired him and changed the direction of his life. And I thought about how many chains of inspiration stretch back in time and lead to changes in the present day.

I think that’s something that all of us who are of an old enough age to join Third Act ought to keep in mind. It’s a really important function and you cannot imagine how long into the future that inspiration might linger. In the case of Roger Revelle and the person who inspired him 100 years ago, it continues to have an impact.

Bill: Just so people know, it was Roger Revelle who led us to the establishment of monitoring up on Mauna Loa that started measuring CO2 in the atmosphere. That’s the most important scientific instrument in the history of science.

Al: David Keeling did it faithfully and now his son does. The Keeling Curve is the bedrock of all modern climate science.

Akaya: I’m appreciating all your optimism because this is a hard time for a lot of folks and it is not the time to camp out in the land of despair.

Take us out 30 years. Let’s imagine that it’s 2054. I call that the recent future. When you listen to your deepest inner wisdom and intuition, what do you imagine for us collectively?

Al: That future will be shaped by us and depending on what we do. It will be one way or another. But I would say this as a word of encouragement for those who are tempted to despair. You know the old saying denial is just a river in Egypt? You could, if you’re going to be corny, say despair ain’t just a tire in the trunk. It is a real problem that we have to deal with. But there’s a big wheel turning in the right direction and little wheels turning in the wrong direction.

If you ask people to guess how much of the new electricity generated worldwide built and installed last year came from solar and wind, most would be surprised to hear the answer is 86%. If you asked how many of the new car sales last year were electric vehicles, most would be surprised that it’s gone all the way up to 20%. For the two wheelers, it’s about 50%. We’re seeing the building of a new hydrogen-based steel plant in Northern Sweden and the industry is on notice. It’s one of many signs that circular manufacturing, green hydrogen, sustainable forestry, and regenerative agriculture are really moving quickly.

Yes, we hear the discouraging little wheels moving in the wrong direction with some of the bankers giving up on their pledges, but some of them are just changing their language a little bit. We’re still putting way too much money into fossil fuels and that needs to stop. But people are ready for change. Don’t get discouraged by the little wheels moving in the wrong direction. Look at that big wheel. We are going to solve this. We need to accelerate the change and I’m not going to be guilty of toxic positivity, as some of my kids say, but I’m very excited about it.

I’m very optimistic and encouraged, but it’s all premised on the people in Third Act and the Climate Reality Project and other organizations. We’ve got to make it real and we can.

The Climate Reality Project is hosting a training with former Vice President Al Gore and an all-star lineup on April 12-14 in New York City.  You’ll learn what climate change means for you and get the know-how and tools to make a real difference. The training is free to attend. Sign up here.

After leading an organizing workshop, Third Act’s Field Director B Fulkerson switched hats and led a healing yoga session for the 60 attendees. Network Campaigns Lead Melanie Griffin moderated the camp experience, interspersing contemplative practices and rituals designed to help people integrate and accept their emotional responses to the climate crisis.

Before we left the campground, the festival producers invited us back to the main stage in 2024, and our group was already discussing how we might step it up and engage more people next year.

But if you wanted to get involved with Third Act Faith’s work, they are inviting people to their general meeting to help “Bridge the Divide”. On November 7th at 8pm ET, Third Actors will have a chance to hear from Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, the chief scientist for The Nature Conservancy and a world renowned atmospheric scientist who has been the lead author of three National Climate Assessments. Dr. Hayhoe is also a best-selling author and a popular speaker, known for her ability to reach across the political divide and make climate science easily accessible to everyone. RSVP below to attend

That’s where The Civics Center comes in. The Civics Center is a non-partisan, non-profit organization that wants to make voter registration a part of every student’s high school experience.

We host two annual events that promote high school voter registration: Cap, Gown & Ballot in the spring to ensure every graduating senior has an opportunity to register to vote; and High School Voter Registration Week in the fall. This year High School Voter Registration Week will be October 2-6, 2023.

High School Voter Registration Week is a week of action aligning the school calendar with the election cycle to establish a dedicated time for students, educators, parents, and others to team up, share resources, and organize student-led voter registration drives at schools. The start of a new school year is an ideal time to encourage teens to register to vote and to build awareness for registration efforts later in the school year.

During High School Voter Registration Week the Civics Center will be holding free workshops for parents (and grandparents!), educators, and teens on October 2, 3, and 4 so anyone can attend and learn about the importance of welcoming our newest voters with a smooth on-ramp to democracy. Participants will walk away with tools specific to their cohort that will help bring voter registration to their high schools on a permanent basis.

On October 2 at 4pm (PT) / 7pm (ET), parents, grandparents and other adult friends and family members will learn about the importance of high school voter registration and its role in strengthening our democracy. We’ll help identify important resources teens can use to organize a drive in their schools. Click here to register.

In addition to training workshops, The Civics Center provides free supplies and resources to high school students and educators at any school in the country. Our “Democracy in a Box” toolkit includes everything students need to organize successful voter registration drives, like pens, clipboards, stickers, tote bags, promotional posters, and candy (a must-have for every drive!).

Third Act volunteers in Southern California and Arizona are actively promoting High School Voter Registration Week by contacting schools in their communities to help recruit educators and students. Over 35 volunteers from those Third Act Working Groups attended a one-hour training session, before getting a list of schools to call to identify educators and administrators best positioned to be liaisons for student-led voter registration efforts at each school.

This outreach is key to The Civics Center’s ability to get the word out about High School Voter Registration Week. Most schools have no current plans to help their students register to vote, and the best contact person at each school varies tremendously. We are extremely grateful to Third Act and its wonderful members for helping to make High School Voter Registration Week a success!

If you would like to contact schools in your own community to encourage educators and students to participate in High School Voter Registration Week, please visit Third Act’s “Senior to Senior” Page (linked below), which has more info about how to use TCC’s Volunteer Toolkit, including email templates you can copy and paste into a message to send to educators, students, principals, and superintendents. Just scroll through the Toolkit to find your target audience and click on the pink oval to access the desired template.

If you have high school students in your family I hope you will join me at the workshop on October 2. If not, you can still help recruit schools in your community to participate in High School Voter Registration Week using our Volunteer Toolkit and Third Act’s resources or help raise awareness of the potential for high school voter registration in your community. Thank you!

When it comes to moving your accounts to a better bank, the first question is often “What is a better banking option?” Fortunately, there’s a range of great banks and credit unions to choose from, so you can find one that works for you in terms of both services and values.

Momentum for better banking is building nationally and around the world. One of many resources for finding banks with a commitment to economic, social and environmental sustainability is the Global Alliance for Banking on Values. The Alliance aims to transform banking so that it plays positive roles, especially with respect to the climate crisis.

 At Green America, we promote diverse financial institutions in our banking map so you can find a bank or credit near you – or consider mobile banking wherever you are!  The Green America banking map includes financial institutions with solid social and environmental practices that pass our certification program, which includes avoidance of financing of the fossil fuel industry, clear investment policies, responsible subprime lending policies, and more. 

When thinking about switching, a good place to start is by considering a bank or credit union with a genuine, proven commitment to community development. There is actually a federal certification program, through the Treasury Department, for financial institutions that support economic development in low income and marginalized regions. These are called “community development financial institutions” (CDFIs). The Green America banking map includes all of these federally certified banks and credit unions across the country. Your deposits can make a real difference in economically struggling communities, urban and rural.

Because of complex discriminatory policies that exist within local governance, banking systems, and the finance industry (i.e. redlining, gendered access to wealth, and the criminalization  of queerness),we do not see the reflection of our country’s diverse demographics in this sector that is overwhelmingly cis-gendered, hetronormative, and white man-led. To help change this, consider choosing a “Minority Depository Institution” (MDI). MDIs meet a federal government definition and provide an opportunity to help build broad-based economic opportunity and prosperity. Whatever choice you make – always be certain that your new bank is FDIC-insured or that your new credit union is NCUA-insured.

The Green America map also includes all the members of Inclusiv, a national association of credit unions whose members are also dedicated to providing opportunity for people with low-to-moderate income nationally. Community development credit unions are nonprofit, cooperatively owned, and federally regulated. Banks with a strong commitment to community development can also be found through the Community Development Bankers Association.

To power to change this, consider choosing a “Minority Depository Institution” (MDI). MDIs meet a federal government definition and provide an opportunity to help build broad-based economic opportunity and prosperity.Whatever choice you make – always be certain that your new bank is FDIC-insured or that your new credit union is NCUA-insured.

Building sustainable banking options that are least extractive to local communities is very important and only the first leg of the bank switching effort marathon. It is vitally important to understand the many barriers connected to bank switching, whether they be operational or mental, that continue to make moving your money a heavy lift for the everyday individual. It is also important to know how this process can be a tremendous support for the movement towards building more sustainable communities and generational equity.

We know that taking on the task to shift your money is one that may take time. As you proceed through your bank switching process, Bank for Good offers public access to guides, articles, and resources designed to guide people towards understanding green finance initiatives, with the option to sign up and join a community of people interested in additional resources, support and reminders.

The Bank for Good website offers visitors a myriad of resources that help unpack the importance of banking with institutions that do not invest in fossil fuels or support initiatives that are harmful to building sustainable communities, such as funding private prisons.

Using this wealth of research, Bank for Good created a Better Banks tool that allows you, the user, to select the types of offerings you need from a bank. The tool then sifts through the Bank for Good database to find banks and credit unions that fit your needs and do not harm the environment or our communities. As Bank for Good continues to expand the number of institutions listed, people will be given more values and actions aligned options of where to house their money.

For more information, check out the 10 step guide that Green America has put together to help people plan their bank switch. For the purposes of the Responsible Finance Event #2: Better Banks and Credit Cards, you can keep your focus on Step #1 – the exciting process of identifying the bank or credit union that will allow your deposits or credit card – to work for the kind of world you want!

Green America’s Guide to Socially Responsible Investing & Better Banking provides an overview of options and background information about the importance of you joining our money moving movement! An easy entry point to this movement could be something as simple as just changing your credit card. Since banks process credit card transactions – how about using a credit card linked to a better bank or credit union? You can find a list of credit card options here.

And If you need a little more inspiration, enjoy these short stories from people who have made the switch and want to encourage others – like you!

____________________

About the authors:

Jessy Tolkan is the President and CEO of Drive Agency. With nearly 20 years of campaign and movement experience, her passion and drive for transformative change have taken her around the world and across issue sectors in pursuit of building the necessary power to win. Prior to founding Drive Agency, Jessy served as Partner at PURPOSE and Co-Founder of Purpose Labs, a ground-breaking approach to campaigning and collaborating with philanthropy to drive change. During her tenure at Purpose, she helped expand their global footprint by opening campaign offices in India, Brazil, Eastern Europe, Indonesia, and Kenya. The Purpose Climate Lab, where Jessy remains a Collaborator and Senior Advisor, employs 40staff globally, and has raised and invested over 40 million dollars in climate campaigning infrastructure over the past 6 years. Over the course of her career, Jessy has built and led a series of powerful progressive institutions, including her role as Executive Director of the Energy Action Coalition, as the Co-Executive Director of the Citizen Engagement Laboratory, and as Senior Advisor to the Working Families Party. Jessy has consulted with leading social change organizations in the United States and around the world including: Progressive Change Campaign Committee, GetEqual, HeadCount, 1sky, 350.org, Groundswell, Web of Change, and Wellstone Action, The Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society, and Global Witness. She’s been featured in Time Magazine, Glamour Magazine, The New York Times, Hard Ball with Chris Matthews, and Vanity Fair Magazine. Rolling Stone Magazine named her one of the 100 agents of change in America.  Jessy Tolkan received her B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Political Science.

Fran Teplitz serves as the Executive Co-Director of Green America, focusing on Green America’s programs in green business, socially and environmentally responsible banking and investing, and public policy. Green America is a nonprofit membership-based organization in Washington, DC that involves consumers, businesses, and investors in economic strategies to advance positive social and environmental change. Fran joined the organization in 2000. Fran’s roles include serving as the Director of Green America’s Green Business Network® and Director of the Responsible Finance Program. Her work on impact investing includes community investing and banking, shareholder action, and fossil fuel divestment. She also manages Green America’s role in coalitions related to sustainable business and economics, climate change, and other policy issues. Fran worked with Peace Action and the Peace Action Education Fund for seven years before joining Green America. Prior to Peace Action, she worked on U.S. policy toward Central America.  She holds a Master’s Degree from the Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame and earned her undergraduate degree from Washington University in St. Louis in Political Science. 

This first-ever protest by Vermont elders will be held at Chase Bank in Burlington, 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The event will highlight the bank’s role in fueling climate chaos by continuing to finance new, highly destructive oil and gas projects around the world. 

“Chase brags that it serves nearly half of all U.S. households,” said Sudbury resident Ross Eisenbrey, an organizer of the protest. “But in fact, Chase does a huge disservice to Vermonters by its refusal to divest out of fossil fuels, which are destroying our stable climate.”

 Third Act is a new national organization of elders focusing on climate change and democracy — a proud group of “fossils against fossil fuels.” The event this Wednesday will be at the Chase Bank branch office at 1 Church St, Burlington (cross street: Pearl.)

“Elders offer a unique voice against climate change, ”according to Weybridge resident Fran Putnam. “We  have a stake in slowing global warming to protect the planet, our children, our grandchildren and our financial investments.”

The event is one of a number held and planned around the U.S. at the four big banks (Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Citibank) that are the biggest U.S.-based funders of coal, oil and gas companies. 

“We won’t do business with dirty banks, and we’re putting JP Morgan Chase and other underwriters of climate catastrophe on notice,” Eisenbrey said.

Chase is fueling a climate emergency that is disproportionately affecting Vermont with higher-than-average temperatures (witness last week’s near-record heat) and higher, more destructive levels of precipitation. Chase’s way of doing business threatens Vermont farms, traditional businesses such as maple sugaring, and the future of those who will inherit the crisis when we elders pass on.

A letter to be delivered to the Chase bank manager states that if Chase does not stop funding new climate-wrecking projects by the end of 2022, Third Act Vermont will join with thousands of customers “and close our checking, savings, and credit card accounts” with these institutions. More info on the national campaign and climate pledge is at https://thirdact.org/what-we-do/banking-on-our-future/

“For the first time in Vermont,” organizers said, “we gather publicly as elders to exert moral and financial pressure against JP Morgan Chase’s enormous and continuing investment in the dirty, polluting and dangerous fossil fuel industry.”

Background Info

Chase is the world’s…

• Largest fossil fuel funder (at least $317 billion in fossil fuels since the 2015 Paris Climate Accord)
• Second biggest funder of fracked gas ($52 billion since Paris)
• Third biggest tar sands financier ($12 billion)
• Top arctic oil and gas financier ($2.28 billion) and
• Second largest offshore oil and gas financier ($29.07 billion)*

No other bank bears more responsibility for the crisis of carbon emissions plaguing the planet.

We are putting JP Morgan Chase and other underwriters of climate catastrophe on notice. If Chase does not stop funding new climate-wrecking fossil fuel projects by the end of 2022, we will join with thousands of customers and close our checking, savings, and credit card accounts with Chase.

You can learn more and join Third Act’s pledge campaign at https://thirdact.org/what-we-do/banking-on-our-future/.

Media Alert

• WHAT: Elders/senior citizens first-ever protest at Chase Bank in Burlington, to highlight the bank’s role in fueling climate chaos through its massive fossil fuel investments.
• WHO: Elder members and other supporters of Third Act Vermont, the statewide working group of Third Act, a national organization of elders focusing on climate change & democracy.
• WHEN: 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., Wednesday, May 18
• WHERE: Chase Bank, 1 Church Street, Burlington
• WHY: Elders offer a unique voice against climate change. We have a stake in slowing global warming to protect the planet, our children, our grandchildren and our financial investments.

Sources

• https://www.bankingonclimatechaos.org/#facts-panel
• https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-58494391
• https://www.nytimes.com/article/climate-change-global-warming-faq.html
• https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/
• https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/resources/press/press-release/
• https://www.ran.org/the-understory/chases-big-rainforest-problem/
• https://www.desmog.com/2021/05/29/trillion-fossil-fuel-finance-banks-testify-congress/