““Defund! Divest! Put these banks to the test!”
This was the cry of a group of local activists who marched on upper State Street Friday to protest banks who are funding fossil fuel projects, which environmentalists say are causing disastrous climate impacts nationwide.
Members of the Society of Fearless Grandmothers, the Sunrise Movement Santa Barbara, 350 Santa Barbara, Climate Reality and the Women’s March of Santa Barbara marched together to protest outside of Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Chase Bank on upper State Street, holding signs and reciting chants. “
The Santa Barbara Independent said:
The Society of Fearless Grandmothers, Santa Barbara, organized on Friday in protest against banks funding the Enbridge Line 3 Replacement Program. The Line 3 Replacement Program holds an expense of $2.9 billion and will replace pipe for 13 miles in North Dakota, 337 miles in Minnesota, and 14 miles in Wisconsin. This fossil fuel development will be constructed on Indigenous land, and the project has been met with lawsuits by the Red Lake Nation, White Earth Nation, and the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe.
It was wonderful to be out among people and voicing our concerns about the climate emergency and environmental justice. We greatly appreciate the good reporting of the event by local news outlets. It’s so important for people to keep hearing about the climate crisis and to talk about it. And to all of the people in cars along State Street, thank you too for your support–we heard you honking!