S2E6: Ingrid Lakey on taking on the country’s 6th-largest bank and changing the activist culture on climate change
Description
In our Season 2 Finale, we’ll hear about a group of Quakers who wanted to experiment with campaign strategy to tackle climate change. Their experiment ended up forcing one of the country’s largest banks to stop funding mountaintop removal coal mining after a multi-year campaign and hundreds of direct actions around the country. Ingrid Lakey describes intervening in a culture that prioritized personal solutions to the climate crisis and building an organization that was pro-confrontation and pro-system change. They built action teams around the country that shut down shareholder meetings and disrupted business as usual until their demands were met. Although the campaign started as an experimental intervention, it remains one of the most successful campaigns to take on climate finance.
Check out a writeup on this campaign at The Forge.
Take our Season 2 Listener Survey and visit our brand new Campaign Strategy Workbook.
Ingrid Lakey is one of the founders of Earth Quaker Action Team, a grassroots organization working to build a just and sustainable economy using nonviolent direct action campaigns. EQAT’s first campaign succeeded in pressuring PNC Bank to stop funding mountaintop removal coal mining. More than ten years ago, she gave up a career in public radio to follow her leading to be a climate justice activist. Ingrid has been a trainer and facilitator for 25 years, leading workshops on anti-racism, diversity, team building, non-violent direct action, and conflict. She is a lifelong Quaker who was raised in a household where activism and spirituality were intertwined.
Visit www.trainingforchange.org for workshops and training tools, or to make a donation. Follow us on social media @tfctrains. The Craft of Campaigns podcast is made possible by grassroots donors. We welcome your feedback; if you like these episodes, please consider donating, to keep the show running. This podcast is hosted by Andrew Willis Garcés and produced by Ali Roseberry-Polier.
United States
