Thousands of senior citizens gathered for climate protests last week to demand big banks end the funding of new fossil fuel infrastructure. The demonstrations spanned more than 90 locations across the United States, led by Third Act, a group for activists over 60.
In Washington, D.C., protesters who called themselves the Rocking Chair Rebellion sat in rockers outside the entrances of Chase and Wells Fargo banks, says the Washington Post. In other cities, activists held flash mobs, created street murals and a papier-mache orca, cut up credit cards, sang, marched and danced.
Young people have, it seems, mostly been at the forefront of climate activism. But this new action may be one of the largest-ever mobilizations led by retired activists, says environmental nonprofit the Sierra Club.
“I’ve heard [a] few too many people say, ‘It’s up to the next generation to solve these problems,’ which just seems stupid, unfair and impractical,” Bill McKibben, co-founder of Third Act, told the Independent. “Young people have endless energy and intelligence and idealism, but they don't have enough structural power by themselves to solve these problems in the time that we have.”
The so-called Rocking Chair activists focused their efforts on the four highest-funding banks -Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Chase and Citibank - which collectively contributed more than $1 trillion in the fossil fuel industry between 2016 and 2021, according to a report from environmental groups that came out last year.
“For the banks, this is a very worrisome signal,” Ben Jealous, executive director of the Sierra Club, told the New York Times. “They can write off young people, they don’t see them as having a whole lot of money right now. They know these folks do.”
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