Letters to the Editor: Defund the big banks propping up fossil fuel companies

To the editor: Thanks for your articles on the latest United Nations climate report. The extent and severity of the crisis is frightening, and for many of us difficult even to contemplate. I know — I spent years avoiding the issue because it was too upsetting, and I felt powerless.

That changed after I drove from Los Angeles to San Francisco during one of our worst fire seasons ever. During the drive, the air was thick with smoke and ash from fires burning far away.

It was bleak and depressing. I felt sad for my kids and the younger generations who will be dealing with this crisis for the rest of their lives. On that drive, I decided to get over my avoidance and become an activist.

We already have the knowledge and cheap renewable energy technology to mitigate climate change. But the fossil fuel companies want to perpetuate their unsustainable business model, and the big banks keep lending them money to build new wells and pipelines.

We need to put an end to this cycle. That’s why I am part of a growing movement pledging to close our accounts and cancel our credit cards from Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo and Bank of America at year’s end if they don’t stop lending our money to Big Oil.

Phil Glosserman, Los Angeles

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To the editor: On Feb. 28, the United Nations released a report on imminent, catastrophic climate change. As I write this, the story is not a screaming headline on latimes.com; rather, it’s a small story, lower than your coverage of the Screen Actors Guild Awards.

As journalists, you have a responsibility to keep climate news like this front and center. We must pay as much attention to a story about the imminent destruction of our planet as we do to the horrifying stories coming out of Ukraine.

The attack on Ukraine may get more clicks, but the consequences we are facing with climate change will be horrifying as well. It may be a slow-motion disaster, but it’s a disaster nonetheless.

You must do your part to keep the public engaged and paying attention. By minimizing the importance of this story, journalism becomes part of the problem.

Amanda Lasher, Los Angeles

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To the editor: The word “crisis” has had quite a workout in the last couple of years, but climate change will prove to be the mother of all crises if it is not addressed, and addressed immediately — not next year, not when we are free of current crises (are we ever?), but now.

We have only eight more years, until 2030, to cut emissions in half, and even that target isn’t sufficient. Join a group, call your representative, and enlist your friends. It’s now or never.

Kim Shetter, Los Angeles