Chants to the tune of Queen’s “We Will Rock You” rang out along Capitol Mall last weekend: “Citi you’re so big, got a big choice, keep on funding oil or save our human race!”
Roughly 50 people representing multiple Sacramento organizations showed up to protest banks’ contribution to the climate crisis.
Anushka Kalyan, 17, is a Sacramento high school student leading the local effort to address climate change through continued activism and involvement in youth organizations committed to addressing the issue — both locally and nationally.
As the Action Team Lead for 350 Sacramento, a grassroots organization committed to the transition to a sustainable future, Kalyan said she was inspired by New York City’s Summer of Heat protests. Organizers in New York have spent three months demanding Wall Street to address its support of companies they believe are complicit in accelerating climate change.
“We’ve all seen the drastic increase in extreme heat over the years, but seeing organized people who show up and make their voices heard, despite the exhaustion of marching in the heat, inspires me to continue organizing for the campaign,” Kalyan said.
That’s why Kalyan — along with several other Sacramento youth, climate activism and faith organizations — organized a Sacramento Summer of Heat protest over the weekend in downtown Sacramento.
Anushka Kalyan, 17, leads the Summer of Heat Sacramento demonstration Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, in downtown Sacramento.Gerardo Zavala/CapRadio
In Sacramento, the period from June 23 to July 12 was the all-time hottest 20-day stretch downtown Sacramento has seen in recorded history, with an average high temperature of 103.8 degrees. Wildfires also continue to pose a threat to the region. California’s largest fire this year, the Park Fire, has scorched roughly 671 square miles in Butte, Tehama, Shasta, and Plumas counties.
“These two greatest risks of our area are poised to get worse every year after this if we don’t take deliberate steps to tackle systemic issues, which we must do by making our voices heard,” Kalyan said.
Social justice organizations participate in local climate advocacy
The Reclamation Project @ 916 held a unity circle allowing attendees to reflect on Summer of Heat Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, in West Sacramento.Gerardo Zavala/CapRadio
Kalyan highlighted several organizations that participated in the demonstration including 350 Sacramento, Third Act Sacramento, the Sacramento Climate Coalition and Fridays for Sacramento. Additionally, faith organizations like St. Anthony’s Catholic Church and Sacramento Insight Meditation participated.
Kalyan argued that it is important for climate change organizations to work with faith communities because of the framework they provide.
“Faith communities frequently emphasize social responsibility in relation to creating a more egalitarian society,” she said. “As climate action is rooted in compassion for one’s society and all those who experience climate degradation, my — and Summer of Heat’s — hope is that community members can tap into their faith’s teachings to create more empathetic social justice advocates.”
Kalyan is Hindu. She said her faith’s teachings have inspired her to not only become a better person but to also understand that “helping others is the duty of those who have the ability to do so.”
The Saturday event also featured speeches from representatives of communities that have been impacted by climate change. Hiba Elkhatib, founder of Palestinian Public Health, spoke about how the war in Gaza has exacerbated climate change issues already affecting the region.
“One of the most disastrous outcomes has been the destruction of their environment and health, and the recent genocide is only exacerbating these conditions to unprecedented ways,” Elkhatib stressed.
According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the combination of unsanitary water and a lack of access to electricity in Gaza have been tied to an increase in infectious diseases. The center noted in late July that acute diarrhea has struck half a million people in Gaza and 80,000 cases of Hepatitis are tied in some respects to water sanitation and hygiene, access to fuel and electric power and the inability to repair damaged or destroyed infrastructure.
“When we talk about climate justice, environmental justice and health justice as a whole, the Palestinian people must be included,” she argued. “We must understand that climate change is not solely a natural phenomenon but instead one stained by corrupt political influence and power.”
Although she argued that the occupation of Palestinian land has denied Palestinian people rights and autonomy to manage their resources and land, she thanked grassroots movements like Summer of Heat for fueling the drive to “build a more equitable future for our communities from Sacramento to Gaza.”
“We must remain united in our fight for health and justice for all,” she concluded.
Roughly 50 local climate activists attend the Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, event. Activists called for Wall Street to increase financing for renewable energy and stop funding fossil fuels.Gerardo Zavala/CapRadio
Pat Ferris, a volunteer with Third Act Sacramento, explained that his organization predominantly comprises people 60 years and older who are concerned about climate and democracy.
“There’s a myth in this country that as people get older, they get more conservative,” Ferris said. “We’re here to prove that myth wrong and to use our economic, social and political power to, instead of taking exotic vacations and playing golf all the time, to really dedicate ourselves to finding root causes of these problems and having the leverage to change.”
Ferris noted that people 60 and older in aggregate own most of the wealth in the U.S. meaning that although they have “co-created these crises,” they have the economic and political power to address the issue. According to Statista, baby boomers in 2023 owned about 52% of the wealth — double what Generation X owned at 26%.
Megan Shumway, 73, created a sculpture inspired by Mother Earth showing the options for the future in both of its hands — a blue marble Earth on one hand and the world on fire in the other.Gerardo Zavala/CapRadio“For me or any of us to die not having done what we can to address the climate crisis, it would be unconscionable for us not to do what we can.”
Ferris said he and his wife have visited New York City twice to participate in their Summer of Heat protest to push for Citigroup, the parent of Citibank, to stop financing fossil fuels.
According to the 2024 Banking on Climate Chaos report, Citigroup is the second-largest financier of fossil fuels since the adoption of the Paris Climate Agreement pouring $396 billion into the industry since 2016.
Additionally, the Union of Concerned Scientists reported in June that a group of scientists sent an open letter to Citigroup executives urging them to stop financing new fossil fuel projects.
“The UN and the International Energy Association have said that we can have no more expansion of fossil fuel, but Citi has completely ignored that, and they’re culpable in this climate crime,” Ferris asserted. “What we’re doing here in Sacramento is being in solidarity with the work being done in New York City so Citibank can’t ignore the pressure and public concern.”
Ferris also highlighted how unique the climate movement is in that it includes representation from various communities he argues are “finally recognizing the linkages between finance, oil, gas, coal and climate chaos.”
“This is an exercise of demonstrating that these are points of leverage that we do have power and that we need to align with others in the most diverse coalition that we can. We all need to rise up in whatever way we can,” he remarked.
To learn more about upcoming climate-related events in Sacramento, 350 Sacramento maintains this list on their website.
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