it’s time to take on Wall Street

 

Wall Street is a major contributor to the climate crisis: Big banks and other financial institutions invest over $700,000,000 per year into oil pipelines, gas wells, and coal mines! The Big Banks only care about their bottom line — not the hurricanes, wildfires, heat waves, and other extreme weather events that are driven by the climate crisis. And they only care about satisfying their executives and shareholders — not about the Black, brown, Indigenous, and low-income communities who are hit the hardest by climate chaos. Join us on Tuesday, February 8, 2022 at 7:00 p.m. ET on Zoom to learn more about how you can stop Wall Street from funding the climate crisis. Public Citizen and our allies in the Stop the Money Pipeline coalition are hosting a 4-part Toxic Money digital training series to expose the Big Banks and organize collective action to rein in Wall Street. At next week’s virtual event, you’ll hear from: Sharon LaVigne, Founder of Rise St James, an environmental justice organization which fights petrochemical development that would threaten public health and produce more throwaway plastic. Tracey Lewis, Policy Counsel with Public Citizen’s Climate program, an expert on equity, environmental law, and environmental policy. Lisa Anne Hamilton, former Director of the Climate & Energy program for the Center for International Environmental Law and a climate law and policy expert. RSVP now to hear from them next Tuesday, February 8, at 7:00 p.m. ET on Zoom. These leaders know the dangers of Wall Street’s toxic money firsthand — and they know the power the law has to rein in financial institutions and stop them from fueling the climate crisis. Together we can push the federal government and its regulators to step in, and stop financial institutions from destroying our planet. Sign up now for next week’s digital training to be part of the movement to take on Wall Street and fight the climate crisis. I hope you’ll be able to join us, East Public Citizen

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Just revealed: These Insurance Giants are fueling Brazil’s oil & gas boom

 

Our partners with the Insure Our Future campaign just revealed the insurance giants behind the majority of Brazil’s oil and gas operations. With support from U.S. insurance companies Chubb and Liberty Mutual, Spain’s MAPFRE, and Japan’s Tokio Marine, Brazil is massively expanding offshore oil and gas drilling. In direct defiance of global climate goals, Brazil plans to expand oil production by as much as 70% over the next decade as part of its ruthless exploitation of its natural resources. If this plan succeeds, it will be a major setback in the fight to stop the climate crisis. But Brazil’s fossil fuel projects can’t happen without insurance. And we now know exactly which companies to target in order to stop Brazil’s oil expansion. Help us send a powerful message to the insurance executives supporting Brazil’s oil and gas programs. Tell them it’s time to stop driving us towards climate chaos. Because of weak disclosure requirements, insurance records are typically hidden from the public. Some insurance companies even spew climate-friendly rhetoric that’s belied by their hidden conduct. For example, Chubb is one of the world’s biggest insurers of oil and gas, but its CEO dared to call the company a “steward of the Earth.” More oil and gas will not only fuel global climate destruction, but devastate local Indigenous, Afro-Brazilian, and fishing communities, as well as threaten endangered sea turtles and whales in the Great Amazon Reef. We must call out this blatant climate hypocrisy. Email the executives of Chubb and the other insurance giants behind Brazil’s destructive fossil fuel expansion plans now. Remember: After hundreds of phone calls and thousands of emails from all of you last September, Chubb dropped the toxic Trans Mountain tar sands pipeline. If everyone shows up again, we can stop Brazil’s oil & gas expansion! Thanks for taking action, Hannah Public Citizen Public Citizen 1600 20th Street NW    Washington, District of Columbia 20009

did you sign away your legal rights?

 

Whether we know it or not, most of us have signed away the right to have our day in court if our legal rights are violated at work or if we are ripped off by a giant corporation.

How?

It’s called “forced arbitration.”

• Forced arbitration clauses are a non-negotiable part of the take-it-or-leave-it contracts and terms of service we all sign or accept as part of everyday life.

• They prevent workers and consumers from having their day in court when companies violate the law.

• These clauses come with big things — like when you start a job, enroll in a health insurance plan, buy a car, rent an apartment, or take out a mortgage.

• And they come with smaller things — like when you buy a washing machine, open a bank account, join a gym, or switch Internet providers.

• You may even have unknowingly agreed to a forced arbitration clause when you bought the phone, tablet, or computer you’re reading this email on.

• In forced arbitration, your case is decided by a private arbitration firm chosen by the company you are trying to hold accountable.

• There is no judge or jury. Arbitrators do not have to follow the law or legal precedent. And there is generally no right to appeal.

• Arbitrators rule in favor of the company — rather than the employee or consumer — a staggering percentage of the time.

• And the whole process — including the arbitrators’ rulings — happens in secret. So individual perpetrators, as well as institutions that enable them, evade public accountability.

Forced arbitration clauses can even apply in cases about egregious instances of sexual harassment and assault — perpetuating such crimes by letting victimizers escape justice and keeping wrongdoing in the shadows.

But that could change soon.

The House of Representatives is considering a bill that would end the use of forced arbitration in cases about sexual harassment and sexual assault.

Tell Congress:

Survivors of sexual harassment and sexual assault deserve their day in court. Individuals and businesses that perpetrate or permit such crimes must be held accountable. Pass the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act (H.R. 4445).

Add your name now.

Thank you for taking action.

For justice,

- Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen
 
 

Public Citizen | 1600 20th Street NW | Washington DC 20009 

tell Senate to reject Pentagon budget $768,000,000,000

 

The Pentagon’s budget for next year is now in the hands of the Senate after the House approved over three-quarters of a trillion dollars in military spending last night.

Here’s the actual number: $768,000,000,000.

• It’s staggering how much more the U.S devotes to military spending than other countries. In fact, we spend more than the next 11 countries combined: China, India, Russian Federation, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Germany, France, Japan, South Korea, Italy, and Australia.

• $768 billion is *more than four times* what President Biden’s Build Back Better plan would cost per year. Yet politicians in D.C. — from both major parties — say we can’t afford key elements of that plan, like paid family leave, free community college, or even basic dental care for seniors.

• And it’s $25 billion more than the Biden administration even asked for. As Public Citizen has calculated, $25 billion is the cost of producing enough vaccine to end the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. Our country has (so far) refused to make that crucial investment, but Congress may give that exact amount to the Pentagon *over and above* what the White House requested.

More tanks will not help make life easier for everyday Americans.

More fighter jets will not end the coronavirus emergency in America or around the world.

More nuclear missiles will not save humanity from the existential threat of catastrophic climate change.

The military-industrial complex is a bloated, insatiable, stampeding dinosaur.

Enough is enough.

Thanks for taking action.

For progress,

- Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen
 
 

Public Citizen | 1600 20th Street NW | Washington DC 20009