text of letter to SF Opera regarding their whitewashing of Wells Fargo
For the press Text of 2022 letter to sf opera from Feste of the motley stones
2022/06/26
From Feste of the Motley Stones
To: Officers of the San Francisco Opera Association 301 Van Ness Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94102-4509
Including:
John A. Gunn, Chairman of the Board
Steven Menzies, Vice Chairman of the Board
Keith B. Geeslin, President
Matthew Shilvock, CEO & Tad and Dianne Taube General Director Robert A. Ellis, Vice President
Lisa Erdberg, Vice President
Dr. William M. Coughran, Jr., Treasurer
Karin J. Kubin, Secretary
Michael Simpson, Chief Financial Officer
cc: Donna Batson, Director of Institutional Giving
Dear Officers of the San Francisco Opera Association,
During normal times it is perhaps justifiable to overlook to a minor extent the ills of one’s sponsor organizations. We are not living in normal times. We are facing probably the largest crisis that humanity has ever faced. It is not justifiable to sit on the fence, to feed off the crumbs of the fabulously wealthy organizations promoting the crisis and then buying respectability for themselves by patronizing the arts.
When sacred values are being trampled on by men in power, then the persons opposing them might look a bit like fanatics. This is inevitable in such times. So we may appear fanatic, we follow the science, rest assured the overwhelming number of the world’s scientists have been diligent, thoughtful and with healthy skepticism and are not fanatics. They warn us to take drastic measures in the next ten years otherwise we are locked into more devastation than the living planet can bear and we will endanger all life on earth, Human life certainly among them.
It is time for the San Francisco Opera Association to choose which side they are going to be on. On the side of the climate chaos promoters, or on the side of those trying to promote a decent future for all of us.
The climate crisis has deepened at a shocking and alarming rate. While we are gratified that Wells Fargo is no longer the Season Sponsor, we are disturbed that Wells Fargo is still one of the sponsors of the SF Opera programs. The $600 billion that Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, and Bank of America had sunk into fossil fuel corporations since the Paris Climate Agreement (between the beginning of 2016 and the end of 2018), has reached to $1,172 billion since the Paris Climate Agreement and by the end of 2021. The Four aforementioned banks have consistently been and continue to be the world’s biggest bankrollers of the fossil fuel industry. JPMorgan Chase has been and continues to be the leader each year, investing 34% more than its nearest competitor in 2021. For most years since the Paris Climate Agreement, Wells Fargo has been the largest bankroller of the fracked oil and gas industry in the world, and was again in 2021. Wells Fargo has an immense responsibility for turning the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico into a hell hole where most folks living there don’t have the means to relocate. [These statistics were compiled from the “Banking on Climate Change – Fossil Fuel Finance Report Card” publications issued each year since 2018.]
The latest UN IPCC report (the 6th) is the grimmest yet. Regarding it, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres stated on August 9, 2021:
“Today’s IPCC Working Group 1 report is code red for humanity. The alarm bells are deafening, and the evidence is irrefutable: greenhouse gas emissions from fossil-fuel burning and deforestation are choking our planet and putting billions of people at immediate risk. Global heating is affecting every region on Earth, with many of the changes becoming irreversible. The internationally agreed threshold of 1.5°C is perilously close. We are at imminent risk of hitting 1.5°C in the near term [in a decade]. The only way to prevent exceeding this threshold is by urgently stepping up our efforts and pursuing the most ambitious path.” That ambitious path necessarily includes the immediate cessation of the growth of the fossil fuel industry, not to mention the reduction in the use of fossil fuel energy, and the rapid expansion of the utilization of renewable forms of energy. The immediate cessation of the growth of the fossil fuel industry will not take place unless its financiers stop bankrolling it. The authors of the IPCC report assert that: “Climate change is a threat to human well- being and planetary health. Any further delay in concerted anticipatory global action on adaptation and mitigation will miss a brief and rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a livable and sustainable future for all.” Every incremental increase in temperature will lead to dramatically more disease, death and frequent, costly disasters.
On the Centennial page on the SF Opera website, the claim is made that “The future of opera is bright.” If we allow the climate crisis to get worse due to our inaction, that statement will certainly be false.
It is with this in mind that the Motley Stones is focusing on both JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo in a climate justice action. Motley Stones is planning to stage a climate justice performance in front of the War Memorial Opera House on Sunday, June 26 prior to the matinee of “Don Giovanni”. That opera is bloodcurdling towards the end of the opera beginning when the Stone Guest starts singing “Don Giovanni a cenar teco m’invitasti e son venuto!” But as bloodcurdling as this penultimate scene is, its horror pales into insignificance when
considering the fate of the Earth and its inhabitants if we don’t all fight the evil that the fossil fuel corporations and their financiers are doing to bring about our destruction. After all, Don Giovanni’s seduction, according to Leporello, of 1003 Spanish maidens is infinitesimally trivial in comparison to the 7.9 million times that amount of persons suffering from the climate chaos delivered to us by these corporations. Not to mention the incomparably greater devastation to be visited upon our descendents if we don’t act promptly and vigorously now. It is up to all of us to hold the perpetrators accountable. I would like to refer you to an article that explains what is wrong with the arts accepting sponsorship from the fossil fuel industry How Arts & Culture Sponsorship Helps The Fossil Fuel Industry & Why It Must Stop – ETHICAL UNICORN . The British Shakespeare Company, Tate Museum, The natural Theater, have severed ties with British Petroleum sponsorship, join their brave rank and do likewise with Wells Fargo.
You are invited to attend our performance. It will have a mezzo- soprano soloist who will use my substitute lyrics to four pieces: a snippet from the penultimate scene of “Don Giovanni”, my arrangement for wind and horn octet and mezzo-soprano of Giordani’s arietta “Caro mio ben”, Cherubino’s aria “Voi che sapete” from “The Marriage of Figaro”, and the holiday carol “Good King Wenceslas”. Don’t miss it.
“It is time for the San Francisco Opera Association to choose which side they are going to be on. On the side of the climate chaos promoters, or on the side of those trying to promote a decent future for all of us.”
Now, 3 years later, all of this is still true. Only the crisis has deepened at a shocking and alarming rate. While we are gratified that Wells Fargo is no longer the Season Sponsor, we are disturbed that Wells Fargo is still one of the sponsors of the SF Opera. The $600 billion that the aforementioned four banks had sunk into fossil fuel corporations since the Paris Climate Agreement (between the beginning of 2016 and the end of 2018), had risen had risen to $1,172 billion since the Paris Climate Agreement by the end of 2021. JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, and Bank of America have consistently been and continue to be the world’s biggest bankrollers of the fossil fuel industry. JPMorgan Chase has been and continues to be the leader each year, investing 34% more than its nearest competitor in 2021. For most years since the Paris Climate Agreement, Wells Fargo has been the largest bankroller of the fracked oil and gas industry in the world, and was again in 2021. Wells Fargo has an immense responsibility for turning the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico into a hell hole where most folks living there don’t have the means to relocate. [These statistics were compiled from the “Banking on Climate Change – Fossil Fuel Finance Report Card” publications issued each year since 2018.]
The latest UN IPCC report (the 6th) is the grimmest yet. Regarding it, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres stated on August 9, 2021:
“Today’s IPCC Working Group 1 report is a code red for humanity. The alarm bells are deafening, and the evidence is irrefutable: greenhouse gas emissions from fossil-fuel burning and deforestation are choking our planet and putting billions of people at immediate risk. Global heating is affecting every region on Earth, with many of the changes becoming irreversible. The internationally agreed threshold of 1.5°C is perilously close. We are at imminent risk of hitting 1.5°C in the near term. The only way to prevent exceeding this threshold is by urgently stepping up our efforts and pursuing the most ambitious path.” That ambitious path necessarily includes the immediate cessation of the growth of the fossil fuel industry, not to mention the reduction in the use of fossil fuel energy, and the rapid expansion of the utilization of renewable forms of energy. The immediate cessation of the growth of the fossil fuel industry will not take place unless its financiers stop bankrolling it. The authors of the IPCC report assert that: “Climate change is a threat to human well- being and planetary health. Any further delay in concerted anticipatory global action on adaptation and mitigation will miss a brief and rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a livable and sustainable future for all.” Every incremental increase in temperature will lead to dramatically more disease, death and frequent, costly disasters.
On the Centennial page on the SF Opera website, the claim is made that “The future of opera is bright.” If we allow the climate crisis to get worse due to our inaction, that statement will certainly be false.
It is with this in mind that the Motley Stones is focuing on both JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo in a climate justice action. Motley Stones is planning to stage a climate justice performance in front of the War Memorial Opera House on Sunday, June 26 prior to the matinee of “Don Giovanni”. That opera is bloodcurdling towards the end of the opera beginning when the Stone Guest starts singing “Don Giovanni a cenar teco m’invitasti e son venuto!” But as bloodcurdling as this penultimate scene is, its horror pales into insignificance when
considering the fate of the Earth and its inhabitants if we don’t all fight the evil that the fossil fuel corporations and their financiers are doing to bring about our destruction. After all, Don Giovanni’s seduction, according to Leporello, of 1003 Spanish maidens is infinitesimally trivial in comparison to the 7.9 million times that amount of persons suffering from the climate chaos delivered to us by these corporations. Not to mention the incomparably greater devastation to be visited upon our descendents if we don’t act promptly and vigorously now. It is up to all of us to hold accountable the perpetrators.
You are invited to attend our performance. It will have a mezzo- soprano soloist who will use my substitute lyrics to four pieces: a snippet from the penultimate scene of “Don Giovanni”, my arrangement for wind and horn octet and mezzo-soprano of Giordani’s arietta “Caro mio ben”, Cherubino’s aria “Voi che sapete” from “The Marriage of Figaro”, and the holiday carol “Good King Wenceslas”. Don’t miss it.
signed:
Feste of the motley stones
Sources:
Wells Fargo’s sponsorship of SF Opera:
Wells fargo donates to SF Opera & is the sponsor of SF Opera Guild which also donates to SF Opera https://www.sfopera.com/support/corporate-giving/our-corporate-donors/
SF Opera sponsor page: https://www.sfopera.com/Opera-Guild/Support/
SF Opera sponsor page: https://www.sfopera.com/Opera-Guild/Support/
Why the US is so important in humanity’s fight against climate change, (based on US emissions historically and present & projected emissions):
https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions;
What is the role of art sponsorship in white washing fossil fuel:
The fracking industry’s dastardly dead in the permian basin:
SF Opera Drop Wells Fargo from sponsorship & stop advertising the SF Opera Guild which has Wells Fargo as a sponsor
We are the Motley Stones, climate concerned singing & musical Climate interventionists! Join us!
Why Wells Fargo and JP Morgan Chase?
Wells fargo donates to SF Opera & is the sponsor of SF Opera Guild which also donates to SF Opera https://www.sfopera.com/support/corporate-giving/our-corporate-donors/
SF Opera sponsor page: https://www.sfopera.com/Opera-Guild/Support/
WF is the 4th most invested in the fossil fuel industry globally (and JP Morgan Chase, is the biggest driver, and profiteer of the world wide Climate Crisis of all the banks in the world). Neither have done anything substantial to comply with the Paris Climate agreement. The latest IPCC report gave a Final Warning, we are on the brink of certain global extinction of living things on the planet. We need to act very fast. in many, many cases where the fracking wells are located right across the street from people’s homes. Here is a YouTube video showing a case of this, where a fracking well was drilled less than 500 feet from this elderly couple’s house: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh-258F7FtUThere is this terrific documentation on the fracking industry in the Permian Basin provided jointly by CIEL, Earthworks, and Oil Change International: https://permian-climate-bomb.squarespace.com/
Why Billionaires? They have the capital and don’t spend it on real climate solutions. In fact the super majority of them do the opposite: divest from community solutions. They also keep making the problem worse by slowing down and halting real change and keeping their workers without power and ability to cope with climate harms. According to a 20+ years of Yale University study, 75% of all people in the US want climate solutions as soon as possible.
Check out these websites that monitor and report on the worse companies worldwide:
https://www.bankingonclimatechaos.org/
BankTrack – Banks and fossil fuel financing
Billionaires Are the Leading Cause of Climate Change | GQ
Sources of Solid Info – THIS! is What We Did
But wait, did you know California public workers & Public employees Pensions tops the list of investments in fossil fuel to the tune of ~$43million? See this important report from Stand Earth: Report reveals just 14 US public pension, permanent funds invest massive $82 billion in fossil fuels | Stand.earth
Ask friends and family who are California public workers & Public employees, to pressure their unions to join the divestment movement: tell Calsters and Calpers to divest: Petition – Fossil Free California
What can we do? Please divest from Wells Fargo, & Chase, with haste! Ask your relatives, friends and acquaintances to take their money, their pensions and their 401K’s out of the hands of fossil fuel funders like Chase. Credit Unions invest in community ventures and do not participate in the worldwide banking system to the extent large banks like Chase and Wells Fargo do.
Move Your Money – THIS! is What We Did
If you have any questions or suggestions we are happy to hear them. Feel free to email us: triplejusticeforclimate@gmail.com thanks
What is the role of art sponsorship in white washing fossil fuel:
Wells Fargo’s role at the SF Opera:
https://www.sfopera.com/Opera-Guild/Support/
Why the US is so important in humanity’s fight against climate change, (based on US emissions historically and present & projected emissions):
https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions;
The fracking industry’s dastardly dead in the permian basin:
https://permian-climate-bomb.squarespace.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh-258F7FtU
Oily Wells Fargo Funds Dirty Fossil Fuels
All lyrics ©LucyMarieRuth
divest from chase, do it post haste
climate justice cannot wait (2)
$317 billion chase has sunk into fossil fuel firms since the paris climate accord climate accord
divest from chase. do it post haste. climate justice cannot wait(2)
wells fargo bankrolled extraction firm
that drilled a big deep hole in our own front yard.
frack, o frack, we will strike back till wells does no more harm.
the plains of texas beckon to wells fargo,
our planet’s biggest financier of frack.
wells bankrolls pipelines, dakota access.
standing rock sioux suffer for that.
subprime home lending wells calls ghetto loans.
financing private prisons, a racist rut.
immigrant detention they finance too.
too many children die in those camps.
i loathe wells fargo, i really do,
they make me livid for all their greed.
illegal lending then they foreclose.
o vicious dogs attacked
standing rock sioux.
wells fargo bankrolled extraction firm
that drilled a big deep hole in our own front yard.
frack, o frack, we will strike back till wells does no more harm.
frack, o frack, we will strike back till wells does
no more harm.
~~~
jp morgan chase looked out on the plains of texas,
where the dust flies roundabout making one quite senseless.
what he saw not hard to spot, easy big accrual.
hastily he set to work to bankroll fossil fuel.
companies that you bankroll build a fracking tower.
you sense that this will enhance your autocratic power.
when they drill a wellbore straight through to shale formation,
you don’t care if this all leads to climate devastation.
Public Operatic climate intervention in front of the SF Opera June 3rd 2022:
We share our photo gallery and media kit with any good faith persons willing to broadcast our activities appropriately and on good faith media outlets. We ask that you also honor accuracy and honesty in reporting and contribute to our repository of articles and images if possible and do not promote your own cause above ours, thank you. Feel free to contact us at triplejusticeforclimate@gmail.com for any further inquiry and assistance. We’d love to talk to you.