Wells Fargo and BlackRock Fossil Fuel Funding Protested

Photos: Leon Kunstenaar / Pro Bono Photo

Sponsored by Climate Justice Street Mural Project, East Point Peace Academy, 1000 Grandmothers for Future Generations and others, activists painted a giant mural demanding that Wells Fargo fire their Chairman Charkes Noski, stop funding Line 3 and respect indigenous sovereignty.

Wells Fargo funds Line 3, a project by Canadian company Enbridge to export Tar Sands to the US. Tar sands are the dirtiest, most energy consuming oil to extract and refine. Pipeline 3 will drastically increase the amount of Tar Sands being moved through pipelines that have a long history of leaking and polluting the land. The pipeline goes through indigenous people's (Anishaabe) lands without permission.

BlackRock is the largest financial investment firm in the world according to Ceres and FundVotes, a unit of Morningstar. And BlackRock has among the worst voting records on climate issues.

The protesters marched from their mural in front of Wells Fargo on Montgomery street to BlackRock where they left clay handprints. Figuratively and literally, BlackRock has some cleansing to do.

See all high resolution photos by Pro Bono Photographers here.