Unfortunately, Greenpeace has no physical office or official presence in Brooklyn. The environmentalists are headquartered in Washington, D.C., and it is from this office that the organization operates worldwide as Greenpeace USA. However, one should not think that Greenpeace USA activists do not engage with the struggle. A good example is their environmental awareness campaigns, such as projecting images in support of ocean protection in 2022 and participating in climate action rallies in 2009 that took place on the Brooklyn Bridge. Read more about the relationship between Greenpeace and Brooklyn, and its impact, at i-brooklyn.com.
Greenpeace USA and the Brooklyn Bridge
If we talk about this particular action in more detail, it should be noted that Greenpeace USA illuminated the Brooklyn Bridge to draw attention to the problem of protecting the oceans, as their fate was being decided at the United Nations at the time. This event took place in August 2022. The essence of the campaign was that activists of the environmental organization illuminated the world-famous Brooklyn Bridge with huge projections at night.
The projections demonstrated the incredible beauty and fragility of the oceans. The campaign was dedicated to a meeting that was to take place at the United Nations in New York that week. At that meeting, governments were going to discuss a new Global Ocean Compact that would determine the fate of the oceans.
The projections were created by Greenpeace USA, using powerful projectors that illuminated the Brooklyn Bridge with the rest of the world. The projections were made in such a way as to convey to people the idea that humanity has no choice but to treat the oceans and the environment in general in a responsible manner. And the Treaty being discussed at the United Nations was supposed to be the first step on this path.
The essence of Greenpeace USA’s action
After all, the oceans are known to sustain all life on earth, despite centuries of neglect of their safety that have led to a global crisis. Therefore, humanity has been given another chance to use the power of the new Global Ocean Compact to decide whether this crisis will be resolved or whether the destruction of the global ocean will continue. Accordingly, by showing all the ocean beauty against the backdrop of the Brooklyn Bridge, activists tried to turn this iconic place into a monument to oceanic beauty.
As you know, governments have been discussing this Treaty for almost two decades. And the trouble is that while they were doing so, the oceans and the people who depend on them were suffering. So there could be no delay. According to the campaign organizers, more than five million people have joined Greenpeace USA’s call for the final conclusion of the Treaty in 2022. The negotiators had to hear and learn that the world is watching how they affect the future of the blue planet.
These talks, also known as Intergovernmental Conference 5, were the fifth and final stage of negotiations for the final Treaty. A strong Treaty would have created vast ocean reserves in international waters free of destructive human activity. This was supposed to be a vital step that would have protected 31% of the oceans by 2030, which scientists say was and is the absolute minimum needed to allow oceans to recover.
The hopes that were pinned on this meeting were not unfounded. After all, 49 countries at the highest political level committed themselves to concluding a strong Global Oceans Agreement in 2022. And it was precisely in order to push the negotiators to fulfill these commitments and finalize a document that would be sufficiently reliable to ensure the protection of the ocean that the Brooklyn Bridge was involved.
However, it should be noted that despite the fact that this meeting was positioned as a decisive one, it was part of a much longer series within the framework of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. It focused on key areas, such as marine genetic resources, area-based management tools, environmental impact assessment, and capacity building, and thus environmentalists did not achieve a final victory. The fact is that, no matter what one might call this meeting, believing that it was a very intense round of negotiations, it ultimately turned out to be a “no brainer” and demanded that the session resume in 2023 to reach a final conclusion.
The case of bitcoin
This is not the only Greenpeace USA case that is somehow connected to Brooklyn. In 2023, the organization exposed the BlackRock and JPMorgan Chase & Co CEO’s dealings with bitcoin, which environmentalists claim is destroying the climate, through large-scale forecasts for New York City, and thus for Brooklyn. According to Greenpeace USA, this is happening with the help of visual displays projected on iconic buildings in the heart of New York City.
Separately, it should be explained that JPMorgan Chase & Co. has a significant presence in the New York metropolitan area,of course including Brooklyn, with numerous branches and asset management services. Despite the fact that the company’s headquarters, a new skyscraper designed by Foster & Partners, is located at 270 Park Avenue. The bank is known to be actively expanding its offerings, including the acquisition of new branches and the provision of asset management services to wealthy clients in various locations, including Brooklyn.
What did the representatives of Greenpeace USA find? According to the environmentalists, a giant display adorned the New York skyline with images of BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and Chase CEO Jamie Dimon with red laser eyes that looked very much like the profiles of bitcoin maximizers.
Accompanying this visual spectacle, Greenpeace USA was able to present what they believe to be a series of overwhelming evidence that sheds light on bitcoin’s impact on climate. This version was confirmed by the publication of the report “Investing in Bitcoin’s Climate Pollution: Big Finance is Betting on Dirty Bitcoin” and emphasized the urgent need for change.
The report was published by Greenpeace USA and exposed financial institutions that were responsible for climate destruction with bitcoin. It stated that BlackRock, Chase, and other major players such as Fidelity, Vanguard, CitiGroup, Goldman Sachs, Visa, Mastercard, and American Express, for example, have invested a staggering $1.5 billion in bitcoin mining.
Climate bomb
All of these investments contribute to the wider use of the digital currency and offer bitcoin-backed investment products. In addition, these companies are accelerating the growth of bitcoin issuance, which is already competing with countries such as Sweden, in direct contradiction to the climate commitments of these financial institutions.
Bitcoin has been called nothing less than a “climate bomb.” This is because of the enormous consumption of energy, with the majority of this energy coming from fossil fuels such as coal and gas. It comes as a bit of a shock that coal-fired power plants that were slated for closure have remained open, and moreover, they are operating to power bitcoin mining operations. Greenpeace USA is therefore emphasizing the criticality of the problem and demanding immediate action from financial giants Chase and BlackRock.
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