NYC, DIVEST FROM FOSSIL FUELS NOW!!!

Tell NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer to Show the Planet Some Love on Valentine’s Day! Divest NYC Pension Funds from the banks funding Dakota Access Pipeline #DefundDAPL and the top 200 fossil fuel companies doing the most harm to our climate!

Feb 14: Press conference & rally “We Love New York, That’s Why We Must Divest”

Join Josh Fox to deliver a divestment valentine to Comptroller Stringer!

New Yorkers will deliver a divestment valentine of thousands of petition signatures to New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer with the message that we love New York, that’s why we must divest. This comes days after Stringer announced the City will begin a climate risk assessment of its investments.

WHAT: Press conference & rally: “We Love New York, That’s Why We Must Divest”

WHO: New Yorkers representing 350NYC, 350BK, 350.org, NYU Divest, Riverside Church Beloved Earth Community, organizations of the #DivestNY coalition

Speakers include:

Josh Fox, film director and environmental activist

Sean Petty, New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA)

WHERE: Outside the City Comptroller’s Office,
1 Centre St, New York, NY

WHEN: Tuesday, February 14, 2017 at 12pm ET

WHY: We love New York, but we don’t love its current ties in fossil fuels threatening the lives and livelihoods of
our communities. With the corrupt and anti-climate Trump administration is regressing on hard-won climate action, New York must step into its leadership. We are a broad spectrum of New York society urging Comptroller Stringer to divest the City’s $170 billion pension funds from fossil fuel companies knowingly perpetuating the climate crisis, and reinvest in a sustainable economy that works for all New Yorkers.

Josh Fox addressed the crowd speaking about how a few years ago Scott Stringer stood up for NYC water supply stating, “There is no way you can do hydro fracking in our watershed”. Scott Stringer was “loud, he was clear, he was thunderous, said Fox, “he was enthusiastic, he was amazing. He was one of our leading politicians in the world in 2008, in 2009 as Manhattan Borough President against fracking”. “Scott Stringer actually appears in Gasland and he talks about how everything is about water”.

Fox went on to say that NYC has the best water because we stopped fracking in NY state and in the Delaware River basin and that Scott Stringer had a lot to do with that. Fox called Stringer to defend this city from the rising waters of climate change like he defended this city from fracking because we are under a Dire threat. “We are one of the three most vulnerable cities in this nation to rising sea levels.”

Fox spoke about 1 degree difference in temperature can make a huge difference by using the example of putting your Valentine ice cream cake in the freezer at 33 instead of 32 degrees. “IT IS SIMPLY SUICIDAL FOR THIS CITY TO CONTINUE TO INVEST IN FOSSIL FUELS”. Fox stated that “investing means you’re trying to get a better future for yourself. Investing means I’m planning ahead so I can pay dividends for something in the future. It makes no sense to invest in something that will destroy the future for this city”. “WATER IS LIFE but, WATER CAN ALSO BE DEATH. Any politician who doesn’t understand that should not survive the next political cycle.”

From the 350.org Press release:

“Comptroller Stringer’s study needs to tell the City’s pension fund trustees and its taxpayers how the City will manage a fossil free portfolio. The study needs to show the public the options. It is then up to the elected leaders of the City to take steps to protect the public interest from the poor financial performance of fossil fuel companies and their collective mishandling of risks created by climate change,” said Tom Sanzillo, Director of Finance at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, and former Deputy Comptroller of New York State. “We look forward to meeting with the Comptroller and the consultants responsible for the report to discuss the future of the CIty’s pension funds”

To date, more than 600 institutions across 76 countries representing over $5 trillion in assets have committed to some level of divestment, doubling in size in just one year. Notable motions in New York to cut ties with fossil fuels include Amalgamated Bank, Cooperstown, NY, the New School, and the American Museum of Natural History.

A recent report showed humans are causing the climate to change 170 times faster than natural forces. New Yorkers know who is responsible: Big Oil and its political allies knowingly perpetuating climate change. #DivestNY will ramp up pressure on Stringer and New York officials in the weeks to come, including mobilizing for the People’s Climate March on April 29, 2017.