Extinction Rebellion Boston

https://xrboston.org

[xrboston]

2025 was a huge year for XR Boston! We disrupted business as usual for dirty banks, danced in wicked high tides, supported 21 courageous rebels in a historic legal process, and so much more. Here's to an even more rebellious 2026!

If you're ready to take a more active role in the climate movement, we're ready to support you. Check out upcoming opportunities at https://xrboston.org/

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The breakup is almost here! Join us this Saturday, Valentines Day, to leave dirty banks in the dust. In the name of all we love, we are breaking up with the toxic banks who have set our world on a course of destruction, telling them to Stop Melting the Wrong ICE!

Citizens Bank is the major funder of I.C.E. private prisons. JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America are the two major investors in fossil fuels and both broke their climate commitments just before Trump’s second inauguration.

We will be holding two events simultaneously, one in Harvard Square and one in Jamaica Plain.

In Jamaica Plain we will meet at JP Morgan Chase Bank at 11:30 am with custom heart shaped signs and live music to read our bank breakup letters and then march down to the street to call out each toxic bank. More info & RSVP here: https://xrboston.org/action/valentinesdaybreakuppartyjpmorganchaseja/

In Harvard Square we will meet at Bank of America at 11:30 am, then march to Chase and Citizens Banks, where we will read breakup letters, pass out flyers, and blast breakup songs. More info and RSVP here: https://xrboston.org/action/v-day-breakup-party-at-bank-on-america-harvard/

Head to whichever location works best for you! Come dressed in your favorite breakup outfits and feel free to bring your own bank breakup signs or borrow ours.

Please RSVP and invite your friends, neighbors and family to join.

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This Valentine's Day, you deserve better than capitalistic greed and a dead-end future. Mark that morning on your calendar and watch XR Boston's social media this month for more details. Let's ditch the duds and move on together.

It's for the best.

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Welcome to the joyful revolution! Extinction Rebellion Boston sings climate carols in public spaces all season. We want YOU to sing with us. All are welcome, no singing skill is required, and it's free to participate! This is fun, free, and family-friendly. You can find upcoming caroling days on the XR Boston events calendar; be sure to RSVP for updates: https://xrboston.org/action/

TODAY, Friday 12/19, 5 pm at the Red Line Inbound Platform at Park Street: https://xrboston.org/action/climate-caroling-dec19/

Sunday 12/21, 2 pm at 495 Revolution Dr, Somerville, MA 02145: https://xrboston.org/action/climate-caroling-assembly/

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If you're looking for a fun, free, family-friendly holiday activity with a climate twist, join XR Boston for our Climate Caroling events! We do them every holiday season in public spaces around the Boston area. No experience required, and everyone is welcome. Check out the XRBoston events calendar (https://xrboston.org/action/) for the next caroling day and be sure to RSVP for event updates!

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Join Extinction Rebellion Boston for climate caroling all holiday season! We gather in public places to sing traditional holiday carols that have been rewritten with lyrics about the escalating climate crisis. Afterwards we share food, beverages, and lots of laughter. This is a fun, family-friendly way to celebrate!

To join a climate caroling event, check out the events calendar on XRBoston.org

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On Thursday October 30, climate activists from Extinction Rebellion Boston (XR) disrupted business as usual at the Bank of America on Federal Street in downtown Boston and then marched to the Chase Bank on Washington St. to protest the banks’ funding of fossil fuels, ecocide, and the global genocide (particularly in Palestine). XR activists risked arrest by peacefully blocking the doors to JPMorganChase to symbolize that “monster banks” must close their funding of ecocide and genocide. They allowed bank customers to leave the building, but disrupted bank activities and kept the branch from making money until it closed. Meanwhile protestors "died-in", enjoyed brass band music, cheered to inspiring speeches from prominent activists, and chanted through the drizzly afternoon.

Bank of America and JPMorganChase fund both fossil fuels and the Israeli war machine, contributing to global ecocide and the genocide in Gaza as well as the destruction of our climate. Since the start of the genocide in Gaza, which has killed over 67,000 Palestinians, Bank of America and JPMorganChase have collectively underwritten more than $4.2 billion in Israeli war bonds. Extinction Rebellion condemns the genocide, as well as the fossil fuel funding that prevents us from achieving decarbonization and threatens us with runaway global heating and an uninhabitable Earth.

As rebel Olivia B said, "Bank of America and Chase Bank should have to reckon with the lives they've taken, and ruined. And they shouldn't be allowed to continue funding genocide with impunity.”

We at XR Boston are here to be their reckoning.

Full article here: https://xrboston.org/news/xr-boston-risks-arrest-at-chase-bank-in-downtown-boston/

Photos by our incomparable photographers, SIF Photography, HMB Photography, Joshua Berman, and Jonathan Leaning.

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This morning during rush hour in Boston, activists lowered large banners from the Arthur Fiedler Footbridge, Dartmouth Street Footbridge, and Fairfield Street Footbridge along Storrow Drive. The banners read "Does your bank fund climate change?", "Does your bank fund war?", and "Drop your dirty bank!" Full article here: https://xrboston.org/press/activists-greet-boston-commuters-by-hanging-drop-dirty-banks-banners-along-storrow-drive/

The world’s 65 biggest banks committed $7.9 trillion in just over 9 years to the fossil fuel industry, driving climate chaos & deadly health impacts. Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and TD Bank contributed $175 billion in 2022 alone. If the public successfully shames them into cutting off this funding, we can end the era of fossil fuels faster and move those investments to low carbon alternative energy sources.

Several of these banks are also complicit in the ongoing Palestinian genocide. Chase Bank and Bank of America were part of a $500m loan deal with a consortium of lenders into Elbit Systems Ltd, the Israeli weapons manufacturer, and remain major financiers supplying arms to Israel. These banks are using YOUR money to murder our planet and devastate humanity.

You can #DropYourDirtyBank today! Here's an easy guide: https://xrboston.org/drop-your-dirty-bank/

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Do you need a hope injection? Climate action can give you that! Join us TODAY at 6:30 pm Eastern for an hour-long online Extinction Rebellion orientation where you'll meet inspiring activists and get resources for change. More info and RSVP here: https://xrboston.org/action/orientation-2025-07-14/

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If you're near the Massachusetts State House today, stop by to cheer on our SECOND group of blockaders! Today we have a special collaboration with Scientist Rebellion, with our friends Zev and Johanna holding the line. Since the State House is blocking climate action, we are doing climate action to block the State House. We are committing to disrupt until they institute an immediate ban on new fossil fuel infrastructure: https://xrboston.org/press/xr-boston-returns-to-lock-themselves-to-state-house-gates/

Scroll through the photos to see heartwarming community support, including Blue the dog offering companionship, and hashbrowns donated by a community member being hand-fed to an activist locked onto the gate. Come over and sit with us for a spell!

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XR Boston Members Lock Themselves to Massachusetts State House Gates

The Massachusetts Legislature did not pass any climate legislation in 2024. The Senate approved a weak climate bill, then the House produced a weaker one. Governor Healey stayed silent and has just filed a bill expediting new methane gas infrastructure.

In response, on Monday September 23, climate activists from Extinction Rebellion Boston (XR) disrupted business as usual at the Massachusetts State House. 3 activists spent the afternoon locked to the front gates, vowing to continue disruptions until the MA government announces an immediate ban on new fossil fuel infrastructure. Many of these activists had participated in XR Boston’s “State House Stand-Out” from June 2023 through July 2024, where volunteers stood outside the State House every business day, engaging staffers and passersby in conversation about the climate crisis. Surrounded with colorful flags and artwork, those volunteers became known for their cheerful, constant, informative presence. When the Massachusetts Legislature failed to pass a climate bill at the end of their session in July 2024, XR Boston wound down its operations at the Stand-Out, promising to return in another form. Today, we returned, and we are escalating our tactics.

As incredible as these three activists are, it’s almost equally inspiring to watch the XR Boston community support them. From hand-feeding pizza, to Oreo deliveries, cracking jokes, and shoulder massages, our rebels came together to make this disobedience possible. The banner-holders stayed with their locked-on friends for hours, offering their legs to be leaned on. It’s an inspiring reminder of the old XR saying: “Love and Rage.” In these photos, we hope you feel our rage, but more importantly we hope you feel our love.

Full article here: https://xrboston.org/press/xr-boston-members-lock-themselves-to-ma-state-house-gates/

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Check out these brave XR Boston activists at Hanscom Airfield on April 20, protesting an expansion of private jet hangars for the ultra wealthy that would cancel out the majority of solar power and other green initiatives in Massachusetts. 20 rebels were arrested for their courage, and they made national news on CNN! https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/20/us/massachusetts-hanscom-airport-protest/index.html

Photo credit: Lisa Guidetti at the Lexington Observer: https://lexobserver.org/2024/04/20/hanscom-extinction-rebe/

Full press release: https://xrboston.org/press/climate-activists-disrupt-private-flights-at-hanscom-airfield-protesting-proposed-expansion/

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We are seeking a volunteer assistant webmaster for XR Boston's website, helping for roughly 1 hour weekly! The site currently runs on Django. The volunteer should have an understanding of general web coding: html, css, and javascript. You'll be helping our existing webmaster, who can help you learn the ropes.

This is a great opportunity for tech-savvy folks who want to support the climate justice movement but aren't able to demonstrate in person. Email [email protected] with your qualifications!

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Everyone loves climate activism when it's on the screen. Everyone loves the idea of heroism for a collective future as long as it's convenient. The easy roads are behind us now - it's past time to make noise.

On Thursday February 1st, climate activists from Extinction Rebellion Boston (XR) disrupted a Q&A session with Climate Chief Melissa Hoffer, which took place after a screening of the documentary "Inundation District". The documentary is a frank look at the future of the Seaport District of Boston, which is built at sea level in a flood zone, without zoning or other measures needed to withstand the rising sea level and more intense floods caused by climate change.

Disrupting the post-film discussion, one activist stood up from his seat in the audience and asked Climate Chief Hoffer what actions the Healey administration will be taking in response to the facts gleaned from the documentary the Climate Chief and activists had just watched together. Once the question was asked, other activists in the audience stood, revealing themselves to be wearing small banners with messages like, "2050 is too late" and "Chief Hoffer, Do Your Job." Meanwhile, another crowd of fellow activists stood outside the large windows of WBUR CitySpace holding banners reading, "No New Fossil Fuel Infrastructure".

Climate Chief Hoffer deflected the question, saying that "I can't think of a more robust strategy than we have right now for decarbonization." The representative from XR Boston reiterated our demand that the Healey administration ban new fossil fuel infrastructure, including airport expansions and new building gas connections. He emphasized that banning new fossil fuel infrastructure is a small first step to the necessary goal of zero carbon emissions by 2030. Hoffer refused to comment on the "net zero by 2030" state commitment, and activists continued to question her until moderators ended the panel.

How can "leaders" watch climate documentaries like Inundation District and completely miss the point? How can any of us ask them easy questions and pretend that we're doing everything we can do? We are in a climate emergency. We need immediate radical change. We need No New Fossil Fuel Infrastructure.

Full article here: https://xrboston.org/press/xr-boston-disrupts-screening-of-climate-documentary-demands-climate-chief-hoffer-immediately-ban-new-fossil-fuel-infrastructure/

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Don't mind us, just wiping the happy tears! We at Extinction Rebellion Boston are honored to fight another year for No New Fossil Fuel Infrastructure, for the end of biodiversity loss, and for immediate government response to the climate crisis. We've been lucky to collaborate with other great organizations and activists, while we continue to grow as a chapter.

Let's celebrate 2023 for the triumphs and lessons learned, and march with courage into 2024! Have you partied with us at the State House yet? Have you sung with the climate carolers? Have you marched in the streets? XR Boston wants you!

Learn more about XR Boston and our work at https://xrboston.org/

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On Wednesday October 25th, activists with the Rainbow Rebellion, a queer-led group within Extinction Rebellion Boston, entered the lobbies of major banks around downtown Boston dressed in drag as gender-bending custodians and maids to "clean up" the banks' fossil fuel funding. We went into Chase Bank, Bank of America, TD Bank, and PNC Bank, and disrupted bank activities by pretending to clean up their lobbies with mops, dusters, and brooms while dancing to "I Want to Break Free" by Queen. We were protesting the banks' financing of fossil fuel infrastructure and demanded that the banks divest their funding from fossil fuels immediately. We called this protest "Drag the Banks."

Our queer activists are targeting banks because collectively the world's 60 biggest banks poured over $5.5 trillion over the past 7 years into the fossil fuel industry, driving global climate chaos and causing deadly local community impacts. In 2022 alone, Chase, Bank of America, TD Bank, and PNC bank contributed $39B, $35B, $29B, and $13B respectively to companies like Exxon, Saudi Arabian Oil, Chevron, BP, and Abu Dhabi National Oil.

One of our activists, dressed in a traditional-looking French Maid outfit, said "We're bringing some queer fun and creativity into climate action today by dressing up as cleaners to highlight the finance industry's bankrolling of climate change. Queer people have a storied history of activism and standing up for our communities for stronger political policy that's based in science, and we can do the same with climate change. We don't want climate change to be a drag, so instead we're dressing in drag to cheekily demand the banks move their funding immediately to low carbon alternatives."

The Rainbow Rebellion is a queer group of climate activists within Extinction Rebellion that focuses on the intersectionality of queer and climate justice. The climate crisis disproportionately affects queer people because as the climate crisis worsens weather-related disasters and crop failure, the higher rates of homelessness, poverty, and food insecurity of the queer population puts them at even greater risk.

Are you a queer climate activist or ally? Rainbow Rebellion wants you! Send us a message today and we'll connect you.

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On Friday October 13, climate activists from Extinction Rebellion Boston (XR), Airport Impact Relief Inc., Mothers Out Front, GreenRoots, and other members of the Logan Community Clean Air Coalition disrupted the Logan Airport's 100th anniversary celebration in the newly expanded International Terminal E. As more than 500 attendees gathered, including Mayor Michelle Wu and Governor Maura Healey, the activists waved a large colorful banner printed with "Stop Polluting Eastie" and carried a 120-inch inflatable airplane reading "Terminal Illness". East Boston supporters crowded outside the airport's security entrance, chanting in English and Spanish "We shall not be moved / No, nos moverán," and "We are unstoppable, another world is possible." They sang along with live music played by the Boston Area Brigade of Activist Musicians and distributed informational flyers folded into paper airplanes to the event attendees.

We disrupted the Logan Airport celebration because we are concerned about the health and wellbeing of the East Boston community threatened by Massport's growth. Activist Jorma McSwiggan commented, "Air pollution is a terminal illness in East Boston. It is time to step up and protest the numerous and continuously increasing harms inflicted on our community. East Boston has been a vibrant immigrant hub for centuries. Like so many cities with similar histories, residents are on the receiving end of systemic environmental injustices. The burden is not bearable anymore."

Why is Boston Logan Airport a Terminal Illness to East Boston? East Boston kids get asthma 4X more likely than others, from airport pollution. Adults are 2X as likely to show signs of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Eastie is a "hotspot" for many different types of cancer. It also has the lowest tree canopy coverage in the city, due largely to Logan.

We demand that Massport stop the Logan Airport expansion, and demand that East Boston residents be financially compensated for the pollution that already damages their neighborhood. We insist that when creating an impact statement before building, Massport needs to explicitly consider the economic cost of healthcare for Eastie residents, and integrate the healthcare cost into the cumulative assessment of this Environmental Justice community.

This action continues a long tradition of East Boston's community opposition to Logan Airport expansion, and our fight against the ongoing misuse of neighborhood land for egregiously destructive projects like Eversource's new electrical substation.