Green Space

Earth Quakers call for PNC withdrawals

The Earth Quaker Action Team, which has been engaging in acts of civil disobedience against PNC Bank, has stepped up its campaign. The group wants officials there to stop financing companies engaged in mountaintop coal mining. Earlier today, the group launched a website and gathered 50 people to kick off a "Green Your Money" initiative. The goal is to encourage PNC customers to close their accounts if the company does not agree to stop the financing by May 31 - 90 days from now.

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Earth Quakers call for PNC withdrawals

POSTED: Wednesday, February 29, 2012, 4:01 PM

Sandy Bauers, Inquirer GreenSpace Columnist

Participant signs Earth Quaker Action Team pledge.

Earlier today, the group launched a website (www.GreenPNC.org) and gathered 50 people to kick off a “Green Your Money” initiative. The goal is to encourage PNC customers to close their accounts if the company does not agree to stop the financing by May 31 — 90 days from now.

After that, said Earth Quaker program director Walter Hjelt Sullivan, the bank can expect to see “a stream of withdrawals” and “a continuous effort to publicize this and educate people.”

The Quaker group has targeted the bank in part because they feel its financing decisions go against the traditions of its Quaker roots.

Kathy Miller, peace activist and member of Chestnut Hill Quaker Meeting announced today that her congregation has formally decided to remove $1.9 million, which they have raised to build a new meetinghouse, from their current PNC accounts.

“We are deeply concerned about this major destruction of the environment, and think it is important that the financial business and transactions of the Meeting are conducted in accordance with Quaker values and testimonies,” she Miller, according to a press release about the event.

Sullivan said the action has not gained as much momentum as the group might like because to many people in this region, mountaintop mining is invisible, something happening mostly several states away.

“But PNC Bank is here,” he said. “And the coal comes back to us to generate our power.”

He said that a tracking website, www.ILoveMountains.org, shows connections between specific mountaintop mines and Pennsylvania power plants.

Also at today’s event, Chris Nicholson spoke of his Quaker grandfather, co-founder of Provident National Bank, which later became PNC Financial Services. “He was a scientist, botanist, and astronomer, and an active Quaker. He had a strong interest in environmental issues and I am sure that he would object now to PNC money being used for destructive mining practices,” Nicholson said, according to the press release.

Swarthmore professor George Lakey announced plans for a 200-mile, 16-day walk from Philadelphia to PNC National Headquarters in Pittsburgh (skipping the portion of the trip that is mostly mountains), with stops at Quaker meetings, other congregations and PNC bank branches along the way.

After today’s event at the Friends Center, the group walked to the bank’s regional headquarters at 16th and Market and posted a petition on the door.

People signing it pledged to withdraw their money or, if they didn’t have PNC accounts, to support the movement.

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Comments (2)

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 11:23 PM, 02/29/2012

Thanks Sandy for the great blog post on our kickoff event. I hope your readers check out our website. I am wondering what people think will be the key to a campaign like the one we are taking on to get PNC Bank to end their financial support for mountaintop removal. We are in it for the long haul. If PNC wants to profit from the financing of climate change, at the very least they will have a dedicated and constantly growing band of companions making sure that they do it in the light of day and not quietly behind closed doors. If enough folks stand up and say, "Not with my money," then eventually they will stop.

— hjeltsullivan

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 7:40 PM, 03/01/2012

So, Earth Quaker Action Team adds "Follow the energy" to "Follow the money." Dangerous!

— Alyson from Germantown

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About this blog

Sandy Bauers is the environment reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, where she has worked for more than 20 years as a reporter and editor. She lives in northern Chester County with her husband, two cats, a large vegetable garden and a flock of pet chickens.

GreenSpace - her column about how to reduce your carbon footprint in everyday life - appears every other Monday in Health & Science.

For Inquirer.com. Portions of this blog may also be found in the Inquirer's Sunday Health Section.

Reach Sandy at sbauers@phillynews.com.