As part of a national day of action against the use of coal and coal financing, Sierra Fox organized a protest Friday at a local Bank of America branch.

‘It’s important to deal with who’s funding them, because we need that money for other things,’ said Fox, sophomore vocal music performance major at Syracuse University. ‘We need that money directed at things that will not destroy the environment, that will help us get sustainable energy.’

But the protest did not go as planned in that only two other people came – Joe Ralbovsky, sophomore policy studies major, and Casey Knapp, freshman business major at Onondaga Community College.

‘Coal is an energy source that is very toxic, not only to the landscape but to human life,’ Ralbovsky said. ‘I think that in this era of progressive change of renewable energy and sustainable living, that this would be a good time to bring up some other alternatives that would be more helpful.’

Fox’s main goal was to raise awareness, and she said she believes the protest was successful. She did not receive much support in numbers, but Fox said she was able to stop many passersby and drivers at stop lights to hand out flyers, stickers and give a speech on the dangers of coal and Bank of America’s role in coal financing.

‘Maybe (students) feel strongly about it, but they don’t act strongly about it,’ Fox said. ‘At least people know about it now. I was shocked to hear responses like, ‘We still use coal?’ and ‘Coal’s bad?”

The Rainforest Action Network, Greenpeace and other environmental organizations sponsored the national day of action against coal and coal financing. Citizens across the country participated in different forms of protest. Some, like Fox, protested outside Bank of America and Citibank, some called U.S. congressmen and others picketed power plants. Fox said she chose to protest Bank of America because of its convenience for students.

Bank of America still invests nearly 100 times more money in coal than in clean energy, according to the Rainforest Action Network.

Ernesto Anguilla, a spokesperson for the bank, said he does not know where the Rainforest Action Network got their statistics. He assured Bank of America kept its promise and invests a substantial amount of money in clean energy.

‘We announced a $20 billion, 10-year initiative in 2007 to finance the development of cleaner and renewable energy sources,’ Anguilla said. ‘It’s our goal to support a range of projects that together work to reduce overall carbon emissions from coal and other sources, but that takes time.’

Anguilla added that 50 percent of the electricity the nation uses is from coal sources and that changing that is going to require collaboration between banks, the government and private sector leaders.

He said this issue is not new to Bank of America and the company understands where the protesters are coming from.

‘We respect the rights of individuals to demonstrate their beliefs and speak their mind in a peaceful fashion,’ Anguilla said.

The minimal turnout for the protest came after Fox faced difficulties in planning the protest. When organizing, Fox contacted the Syracuse Police Department to see if she needed a permit to protest. When she mentioned that she would be handing out flyers, she was told she needed to buy a license to distribute them.

Fox then contacted Barrie Gewanter, executive director of the Central New York chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, who worked with Fox and SPD to explain Fox’s free speech rights.

‘That is as much a free speech activity as standing on a street corner with a sign expressing an opinion about a social or political aspect of the day,’ Gewanter said.

rhkheel@syr.edu

Published on November 16, 2008 at 12:00 pm