Big dawgs, bigger destruction 🐶

This bank-fuelled climate chaos is intentional. Watch how it unfolds.

View this email in your browser Listen: how the world is being burned Estimated reading time: 3 minutes September Topic: Sustainable finance This week's module: 1. READ | 2. LISTEN | 3. ACT | 4. REFLECT Welcome back to Changeletter by Soapbox Project. I'm the author, Nivi Achanta, and I make it easy for you to fight climate change in 3 minutes every week.   What's up this week Here's a fun fact you probably didn't know about me. I haven't told you this yet, because I honestly forget, but I have an economics degree. With honors! Smarty-pants, right?   (Wrong lol)   It wasn't until last year that I gave a second thought to what happened to my money after I put it in the bank. So that's what we're visiting in this week's LISTEN module — we're going to walk through a one-minute overview on what banks do with your money followed by a two-minute clip on the biggest banking bad boys. (Spoiler: I have a credit card with one of these 😿)   In our READ module last week, we talked about the importance of divesting etc etc etc, but I want us all to visually understand that it's OUR money — our hard-earned cash — financing climate change.   Today, we'll get a refresher on how this works.   Reminder that I'm on vacation for the next couple weeks, but reply to this email telling me what's stopping you from responsible banking/investing! It'll be really useful as we go into next week's sustainable finance workshop — you only have a week left to sign up. (Speaking of vacation, if you're ever in NY, check out the Buckaroos comedy show in Brooklyn every Tuesday at 7. I went last week and had the BEST time in the coolest venue!)   From the Soapbox Everything below is included if you're a member of our Soapbox community.   ARTICLE | What is sustainable banking and how can you get started? (Q&A with Albert Carter, founder of bank.green)   EVENT | 9/15, 5pm PST — Sustainable finance workshop. You'll learn about responsible banking, investing, and financial education with the founders of Mighty Deposits, Carbon Collective, and SustainFi, and we'll give you some time to take action (opening a new bank account, etc.)   EVENT | 9/20, 10am PST - Fireside chat with Katie Patrick, author of How to Save the World   FREE COURSE | We're launching our first bite-sized sustainability course! It'll only be seven days long and take you ~20 minutes each day to complete the content and the actions. We'll cover topics like sustainable finance, corporate activism, food justice, and more. Simply click this link of a cute piglet and you'll receive the course when it's ready — no signup required since I have your email xoxo     Your bite-sized actions   Yup, I'm asking you to watch two videos but they're each only a minute long. Plus, if you're an economics expert and already know what exactly happens to your money after that direct deposit hits 🤑, you can just skip to the second video. As always, key takeaways are below. Video #1 (1 min): What do banks do with your money? Your bank is paying you. When you deposit your money in a bank, it goes through a magical wormhole and comes back to you with interest.   Your bank is spending your $. The magical wormhole is actually the bank lending YOUR money to other people/businesses. They charge those other people/business a high interest rate, give you your money back at a lower interest rate, and pocket the difference. Video #2 (2 min): The big banks fueling climate destruction Since signing the Paris agreement in 2015 (yes, the one that resolves to REDUCE climate change), big banks have paid almost 3 trillion to expand fossil fuel projects.   This $2.7 trillion, to be exact, could have been spent on installing salar panels on 215+ million homes or 580,000 wind turbines, enough to power every home in the US! $2.7 trillion would take us over halfway to a completely renewable energy grid.   JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, Citibank, and Bank of America are some of the biggest villains, financing fossil fuels while making public climate action commitments. Chase (where I have my credit card o god) has pumped 36% more into fossil fuels than its nearest competitor. There's a lot we can do — closing our accounts with these banks and opening climate-friendly ones, rolling over our retirement funds into clean energy funds, and more — next week, we'll help you take action. Hope to see you at our sustainable finance workshop where we'll do these things together. Until then, you can learn more about your own bank in RAN's Banking on Climate Chaos report — it shows what nefarious lending banks from all over the world are up to. Upcoming Next week, it'll be time to act. You can do it on your own with the tips we'll include, but I hope to see you at our sustainable finance action hour. Copyright © 2021 Soapbox Project, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you signed up for our free action plans via social media, Tech Ethics Coalition, a meeting with Nivi, or our website! Our mailing address is: Soapbox Project 415 Mission St. San Francisco, California 94105 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.