By Ben Jealous

ConocoPhillips needs more than the disastrous approval it won from the Biden administration last week to proceed with its Willow oil drilling project on Alaska’s North Slope. It needs $8 to $10 billion to build 199 wells, hundreds of miles of road and pipelines, a processing plant, and an airstrip on 499 acres that are vital to caribou, migratory birds and indigenous people.

While President Biden certainly could have stopped Willow, so can the financial institutions helping create it. Willow is just the most recent example of banks’ complicity in preserving fossil fuel extraction through a continuing flow of money to Big Oil and Gas — all despite pledging a year ago to pursue the net zero carbon emissions we need to save the planet.

That’s why I joined activists from Third Act Tuesday on a block in Washington to protest among the offices of banking giants Bank of America, Chase, Citibank, and Wells Fargo in our nation’s capital. Third Act is a group founded by environmentalist and author Bill McKibben to bring together Americans over 60 to campaign for a sustainable planet. While I’m still too young to join, I was part of demonstrations they organized at bank branches across the country.

We were there to call out these “dirty” banks’ practices and their unacceptable costs — both immediate and long-term. Right now, any money that goes to Willow and fossil fuel projects like it, is money that won’t be invested in a clean economy, particularly in fledgling companies that are finding sustainable ways to power the planet. It’s those jobs that Alaskans and their descendants really need.

Longer term, the banks’ lending will weaken the impact of an historic $370 billion investment our country will make in the next decade on green technology and alternatives to oil and gas. As those investments pay off, there will be less and less demand for oil coming from projects like Willow. But the supply will remain steady (for 30 years in Willow’s case). So, gas will be cheaper for the holdouts who continue to use it, making it even harder to push them to make the switch.

The situation got even more dire with the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and the shadow of doubt it unfairly cast on other regional banks. Banks of that size have been vital to the growth of the clean economy. For example, Silicon Valley reportedly financed 60% of community solar energy projects in which property owners jointly construct a solar facility to power their neighborhoods.

The consequence of the turmoil has been to concentrate even more power in the biggest banks. Bank of America, for example, took in close to $15 billion in new deposits in a matter of days after Silicon Valley was taken over by federal regulators.

That makes it even more imperative that we hold these banks to their pledges not to fund new fossil fuel projects (HSBC, Europe’s biggest bank, is keeping that promise). Third Act has suggestions that most people can take to be part of that accountability — cut up credit cards issued by the banks and move deposits out of them, not into them. When more and more people do that, they will be strengthening the case of a small group of the banks’ investors who have begun introducing resolutions at shareholder meetings calling for an end to fossil fuel financing.

Throughout our country’s history, it’s been profitable to consider certain people and places as disposable. We know where continuing that unjust path will lead — to a planet that’s too polluted and too hot to be livable. We’ve passed the time when financial institutions can postpone an end to their investment in the climate’s demise. It’s time these dirty banks put their money somewhere else.

Ben Jealous is executive director of the Sierra Club. He is a professor of practice at the University of Pennsylvania and author of “Never Forget Our People Were Always Free,” published in January

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia

President Jimmy Carter served in the Navy during World War II, and his administration created the U.S. Department of Energy and Education.

During his one term, Carter conducted the 1978 Camp David Peace Talks that led to a historic agreement between Israel and its Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egypt’s President Anwar Sadat.

The 98-year-old is the longest-lived President and the one with the longest post-presidency.

On Tuesday, March 14, nearly a month after entering hospice care, it’s been revealed that Carter had asked President Joe Biden to deliver his eulogy.

Biden told donors at a fundraiser about his “recent” visit to see the 39th president, whom he has known since he was a young Delaware senator supporting Carter’s 1976 presidential campaign.

“He asked me to do his eulogy,” Biden said before stopping himself from saying more. “Excuse me; I shouldn’t say that.”

Even though the Carter Center in Atlanta and the former President’s family haven’t said much about his health, Biden mentioned that Carter was diagnosed with cancer in 2015 and then got better.

“I spent time with Jimmy Carter, and it’s finally caught up with him, but they found a way to keep him going for a lot longer than they anticipated because they found a breakthrough,” Biden said.

Carter’s family reportedly has confirmed that a state funeral for the former President will occur in Washington after he dies.

“If people had listened to Jimmy Carter, there wouldn’t be an oil crisis right now,” Twitter user @mikesouthbch wrote.

“He ruled America with kindness and compassion. Nothing you ever see from any Republican.”

Despite a tumultuous presidency from 1976 to 1980 that concluded after the Iranian government released the 55 remaining American hostages there as Carter was exiting the White House following his losing his re-election bid in a landslide to Ronald Reagan.

Carter would become one of the most beloved ex-Presidents in American history, certainly more popular than when he traversed the oval office.

The one-time Georgia peanut farmer and his wife, Rosalyn, have spent their lives helping those in need.

For more than 30 years, Habitat for Humanity officials said the Carters had worked alongside nearly 103,000 volunteers in 14 countries to build, renovate and repair 4,331 homes.

“They’ve inspired millions across the globe with their dedication and rallied thousands of volunteers and even celebrities to take part in our mission, helping Habitat for Humanity become internationally recognized for our work to build decent and affordable housing,” the organization wrote on its website.

The Associated Press noted that Biden’s presidency represented a turnabout for Carter’s political standing.

He served just one term and lost in a landslide to Republican Ronald Reagan in 1980, prompting top Democrats to keep their distance, at least publicly, for decades after he left the White House, the outlet reported.

Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama did not have close relationships with Carter. And the longshot presidential candidates who sometimes ventured to see Carter over the years typically did so privately.

“But as the Carters’ global humanitarian work and advocacy of democracy via The Carter Center garnered new respect, Democratic politicians began publicly circulating back to south Georgia ahead of the 2020 election cycle. And with Biden’s election, Carter again found a genuine friend and ally in the Oval Office,” the AP wrote.

“I remember President Carter’s many talks with ordinary people during that trip, and how he tried to reduce the stigma of HIV/AIDS and help people from all walks of life feel that their lives had value,” Dr. Helene Gayle, the President of Spelman College and a board member of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, wrote in a statement posted to the Gates Foundation website.

“We spoke with commercial sex workers in Kenya and Nigeria about HIV/AIDS prevention and condom use. While President Carter came from a very traditional, religious Christian background, he was entirely nonjudgmental and really wanted to communicate to these women that their lives were worth protecting from HIV/AIDS,” Gayle continued.

“He even gave a sermon at the church of the then-president of Nigeria, and from the pulpit, he talked openly and honestly about condoms and safe sex without judgment or recrimination.”

Gayle added that from world leaders to migrant farmers, Carter’s ability to connect with people remains remarkable.

She called him down-to-earth and approachable.

“And because of his global stature as a former president, he can meet with people at the highest levels of government, capture their attention, and make the case for investing in local, regional, and global health,” Gayle exclaimed.

“He has elevated the significance of global health around the world. And he has been incredibly persistent and diligent around the issue of Guinea worm eradication, helping to lead that campaign to the threshold of success.”

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia

America’s employers added 311,000 jobs last month, surpassing the 208,000 experts predicted.

Further, the last two years saw more jobs created since 1940, a sign that the country has recovered soundly from the COVID-19 recession.

In January, employers added 504,000 jobs, and then 300,000+ last month, robust gains that pointed to high demand for labor.

However, despite the solid report, the African American job market remained problematic.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the overall unemployment rate rose to 3.6% in February from 3.4% the prior month.

Women over 20 saw an unemployment rate slightly rise to 3.2% from 3.1%.

Unemployment rates for Black women climbed to 5.1% from 4.7%.

Among Hispanic women, it jumped to 4.8% from 4.4%.

The Black unemployment rate peaked at 5.7%, up from 5.4% in January.

But, President Biden said he was excited about overall progress.

“I’m happy to report that our economy has created over 300,000 new jobs last month, and that’s on top of a half a million jobs we added the month before,” a celebratory President Joe Biden exclaimed.

“All told, we’ve created more than 12 million jobs since I took office, nearly 800,000 of them manufacturing jobs.

“That means, overall, we’ve created more jobs in two years than any administration has created in the first four years.”

Biden said he believes his administration’s economic plan is working.

The President asserted that when he took office, the economy was reeling.

“And 18 million people were unemployed, on unemployment insurance, compared to less than 2 million today,” he stated.

“Unemployment was 6.3 percent, and the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicted it wouldn’t get below 4 percent until 2026.

“Because of our economic plan, unemployment has been below 4 percent for 14 straight months since January 2022.”

In February, the unemployment rate remained near the lowest level in a half-century.

“That’s really good news. People who were staying out of the job market are now getting back into the job market,” the President noted.

“They’re coming off the sidelines. They’re getting back into the job market. And today’s job numbers are clear: Our economy is moving in the right direction.”

Biden declared that jobs are available, and Americans are working again and becoming more optimistic about the future.

He called right-wing Republicans the biggest threat to America’s economic recovery.

“The reckless talk, my MAGA friends. This is not your — as you’ve heard me say, it’s not your father’s Republican party,” Biden railed.

“But the Republicans in the United States Congress, what they want to do with regard to the debt limit. You know, they’re threatening to default on our national debt. Planning to default, as some Republicans seem to be doing, puts us much at risk.”

He continued:

“I believe we should be building on our progress, not go backward. So, I urge our extreme MAGA Republican friends in Congress to put the threats aside. Instead, join me in continuing the progress we’ve built. We’ve got a lot more to do, so let’s finish the job.”