After continuously seeing her community impacted by climate disasters instigated by fossil fuel corporations, Roishetta Ozane speaks out about the hidden connections between big banks and fossil fuel extraction. She and Adele Shraiman discuss the relationship between the two and how it impacts local communities. The Louisiana-based activist has seen the Gulf Coast’s environment, ecosystems, and geography be decimated by hurricanes and flooding prompted by climate change and specifically fracked gas. The largest banks in the United States pour billions of dollars into fossil fuels every year. The impacts include environmental degradation and impacts on public health, such as the emissions of toxic pollutants that can cause asthma, respiratory and heart diseases, and cancer. The corporations work under the guise of sustainable development, but community members who have been left behind in the wake of the disasters have been protesting these efforts, emphasizing that this will lead to long-term impacts that will prevent the U.S. from meeting their climate goals and will continue to have grave consequences for local communities. Activists, such as Ozane, have been increasing pressure on banks and financial institutions to address their role in the climate crisis.
