Los Angeles, CA—Over 50 Los Angeles students held a protest at the LA Citibank main branch today, disrupting the normal flow of business for the entire morning. The students demanded that the bank’s parent company, Citigroup, make a pledge to end its ongoing funding of environmentally destructive projects, specifically citing projects like the Three Gorges Dam in China and the deforestation of the redwoods in Northern California.

Students presented the bank with five checks made out to entities negatively affected by Citigroup projects, like the orangutan population of Indonesia and the 1.2 million Chinese residents who are threatened with displacement by the Three Gorges Dam. Many students also wore $20 bills over their eyes, suggesting that Citigroup executives have become blind to the health of the environment in their pursuit of profit.

“Citigroup is the world’s most environmentally destructive bank,” explained Emma Dumont from the Rainforest Action Network chapter at USC. “And until they lead the industry towards a sustainable way of doing business, students across the country refuse to work for, invest in or buy credit cards from Citigroup.”

Today’s protest coincides with some 150 demonstrations taking place at Citibank offices and college campuses across the country. Student groups organized through the Rainforest Action Network, ecopledge.com and other advocacy organizations from Portland, Oregon to Portland, Maine are working in coordination to pressure the country’s largest bank to revamp its business practices in order to protect the environment.

“Consumers might not be aware that the truth behind Citigroup’s sleek corporate image is a path of environmental devastation,” explained Ilyse Hogue of the Rainforest Action Network. “Citigroup is a top financier of fossil fuel projects that accelerate global warming and wood projects that increase deforestation.”

At the end of the rally, a few students cut up their Citibank credit cards while other protesters chopped a giant credit card prop in half. The students urged those present to sign the ecopledge, promising not to work for, invest in or buy from Citigroup until they consider ecological health when funding projects. They also called on Citibank customers to make a choice in favor of the environment and cancel their Citi accounts. Thousands of students across the country have already cut up their Citbank credit cards.

For more information Citigroup please see: www.ecopledge.com www.ran.org



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