News

By Julia Caulfield

On a blustery Tuesday, several dozen members of the community march with signs down the street.

They’re part of day of protest against big banks – primarily Bank of America, Chase, CitiBank, and Wells Fargo – that fund fossil fuel companies. Third Act, an organization encouraging individuals over 60 to take on action climate and justice, spearheaded the day, with protests taking place across the country.

In Telluride, David Holbrooke is helping to lead the charge.

“We have this brand new Chase bank here, and it just doesn’t feel right,” Holbrooke says. “We have wonderful banks already that are locally run. To have this behemoth come here and keep on poisoning the planet, doesn’t seem right.”

According to the most recent Banking on Climate Chaos Fossil Fuel Finance Report between 2016 and 2021, Chase Bank financed fossil fuels globally to the tune of $382 billion. Holbrooke says it’s past time to act.

“I have no bleeped out patience for people who are not going to look at what’s happening to us. We can go into the statistics, but it’s just all there, and it’s so sad that people are working against this.” Holbrooke says, “It’s hard enough to fix it as it is, and the notion that somehow people think it’s right to actively screw up the planet with these fossil fuel emissions, when we have better options.”

Starting at the San Miguel County Courthouse, Elizabeth Gist, another organizer of the march, shares words:

“If we disrupt the flow of money to the fossil fuel industry, they have to stop. Chase alone lent to the fossil fuel industry $382 billion between 2016 and 2021. Just imagine if that money went to renewables, what a wonderful world it would be,” Gist says.

Then protesters march the one block to the Chase bank, opening next month.

Emily Catron is one of the members at the protest, she says even with a small group, it feels good to be part of a larger movement.

“When you’re small sometimes you’re not a force to recon with. But when you have a lot of small groups all doing the same thing then it starts to become bigger and bigger. You get one voice, and then it turns into a community, and then it turns into bigger and bigger and eventually it makes a very big difference,” Catron says.

The Chase bank in Telluride is set to open its doors on April 4th. Protesters are already making a plan to be there when it does.