350 Updates

Last Stand on the Island

Phil Aroneanu
Posted by Phil Aroneanu - 06/26/12, 8:04am

This is a guest post from filmmaker Carmen Elsa Lopez.

Off the coast of Southern Louisiana lives a man of the sea. Edison Dardar was born on a fisherman’s boat near Isle de Jean Charles, where he has lived his entire 74 years. Each morning, a mixture of howling winds and salty air wakes him up. Half asleep, he climbs on his much-too-small bicycle and starts his journey. As he pedals down the island, visions of lush, merrier days follow him along skeletons of oak and cypress trees, weathered toys and sofas, exposed bathrooms and deserted driveways that belonged to members of his tribe that are now gone. He follows the flooded Island Road that links his community to the mainland, passing the eroding and expanding canals of the oil and gas industry, into the disappearing marsh, where he climbs off the bike and gracefully casts his net into the water. This is the life he cherishes and he is prepared to shoot you if you get in the way.  Check out the trailer here:


 

 
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Building climate movement in Ukraine

Yuliya Makliuk
Posted by Yuliya Makliuk - 06/22/12, 3:38am

In just one month youth climate community in Kyiv got a powerful level-up. Besides numerous artistic events and media broadcasts we have launched the Ukrainian Youth Climate Association and entered a phase of intensified strategic planning.

Silent Parade in Kyiv, Ukraine united different eco-movements
Our mission is empowering people to take personal responsibility of their lives, their country and their Planet. And with our new leader - ambitious and sparkling Olga Monchak - we are getting ready for such challenges as PowerShift-2 and DIY practical campaign this autumn.
Follow our progress!

 
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Are politicians beginning to listen?

Daniel Kessler
Posted by Daniel Kessler - 06/20/12, 5:29pm

The House opened debate this evening on the "Domestic Energy and Jobs Act," a combination of bills that would expand domestic oil drilling and prevent environmental regulations from going into effect. Needless to say, we don't like this bill one bit. But one Democratic amendment would end free drilling in the Gulf of Mexico by requiring oil companies to pay for their leases, saving billions. That we do like. 

The bill is nothing more than a political stunt when what we need is real leadership on climate change. There is no way under the sun that a bill like this should pass the House, but as long as some of its members want to give away gifts to the oil industry, they ought to consider taking something back by eliminating special tax breaks. If the Gulf provision does get voted on, we'll be able to see just who is on our side when it comes to eliminating tax breaks for polluters.
 
This what we've been after--getting Congress on the record.  We just put the finishing touches on a cool new online scoreboard that will make it easy for people to find their member of Congress, contact them directly through the website, read through a call script, and record their answer. You can also see the amount of money a politician has taken from the fossil fuel industry listed right next to their name.
 
It's a good thing to do to put Congress on notice that we are watching. And when Congress is ready to get serious about energy and climate change, they ought to consider picking up something like the Sanders-Ellison bill, which takes an axe to wasteful giveaways to the oil, gas, and coal industry. That could save up to $113 billion over 10 years.
 
In the past few weeks, over a million people have signed a petition to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies, and on Monday 100,00 people tweeted with the hashtag #endfossilfuelsubsidies. People are making a lot of noise on subsidies, right now, and they should be. They are bad policy that is horrible for the climate. Tomorrow we'll see if the politicians are beginning to listen.
 
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The Island President - Now on iTunes

Phil Aroneanu
Posted by Phil Aroneanu - 06/20/12, 8:59am
Many of you know that here at 350.org, we've worked closely with Mohamed Nasheed, who was recently ousted from the Presidency of the Maldives. His leadership on climate change in his home country, and his moral call to action have inspired people all over the world.
 
The Island President is a film about Nasheed, his fight for democracy in the Maldives, and his journey to get a strong climate deal at the Copenhagen Climate talks. Visit http://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/the-island-president/id532446340 to purchase or rent this award-winning film hailed by film critics and environmental journalists worldwide, and set to the mesmerizing music of Radiohead.
 
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Update on #EndFossilFuelSubsidies Proposals at Rio+20

Jamie Henn
Posted by Jamie Henn - 06/20/12, 8:10am

As the final high-level segment of negotiations begin here at Rio+20, a proposal to end nearly $1 trillion in fossil fuel subsidies hangs in the balance. 

In the weeks leading up to Rio+20, it seemed unlikely that the summit would even discuss fossil fuel subsidies -- diplomats were preparing to offer up vague commitments and empty sound-bytes about “the future we want,” while avoiding difficult issues. 

But thanks to a massive outcry from the global public, a proposal to end fossil fuel subsidies was successfully thrust onto the agenda. Over a million people signed petitions to world leaders demanding that they “turn $1 trillion green”  by transferring public money from polluter handouts to clean energy and sustainable development. Big actions here at Rio+20 helped focus the global media on the demand -- video of a giant trillion dollar bill being unfurled on the beach in Copacabana was broadcast to over 50 million O Globo viewers here in Brazil. 

Then came the Twitterstorm, a massive online action to make #endfossilfuelsubsidies one of the most talked about subjects on social media around the world. The storm quickly turned into a category 5 TwitterHurricane, with multiple tweets a second driving the hashtag to trend at #2 worldwide. Celebrities picked up the call to action, with Mark Ruffalo, Stephen Fry, Richard Branson, and others weighing in. Politicians also tweeted their support, from Nancy Pelosi and White House representatives in the US to important figures here at the Rio+20 talks, like UN Climate Secretary Christiana Figueres, EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard, and former New Zealand Prime Minister and UNDP Chair Helen Clark. 

 
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Keeping the pressure up to #EndFossilFuelSubsidies

Aaron Packard
Posted by Aaron Packard - 06/19/12, 9:04pm

350

From what we've been hearing in Rio, Australia has not been vocal on ending fossil fuel subsidies. Australia has at least $9 billion worth of subsidies that it provides to the already absurdly wealthy mining industry. Last week we released an infographic that highlights the senseless nature of these subsidies - when $2 billion each year alone is allocated in the federal budget to pay the mining industry's diesel bill.

So, this morning our 350.org organiser Abigail Jabines and supporters took the End Fossil Fuel Subsidies petition - signed by more than 1 million people worldwide - to the Australian Government's Treasurer, Wayne Swan at Parliament, as the photo shows.

A great thing happened. The Green Leader Senator Christine Milne came out to greet and join the delivery, announcing that she had moved in the Senate about #EndFossilFuelSubsidies - in an effort to encourage the Australian government delegation in Rio to step up their commitment and pledge to end fossil fuel subsidies.

The #EndFossilFuelSubsidies Twitter Storm has ended, our message was massive and it was heard all over the world, but we haven't seen that turn into real, genuine commitment by world leaders in Rio yet. So now more than ever, we have to keep up the pressure and keep delivering the message - like they have in Canberra today. Onwards! 

A huge thanks to Avaaz.org who led the petition effort and our supporting organisations in Australia: 100% Renewable Energy Campaign, Australian Conservation Foundation, Canberra Loves 40%, Climate Action Canberra, Climate Change Balmain-Rozelle, Environment Victoria, Greenpeace Australia, Locals Into Victoria’s Environment, Pacific Calling Partnership - Edmund Rice Centre, Queensland Conservation Council, WWF Australia.

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350.org organiser Abigail Jabines with Greens Leader Senator Christine Milne

 
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The Story of #EndFossilFuelSubsidies

Will Bates
Posted by Will Bates - 06/19/12, 2:47am

We just finished an incredible 24 hour "Twitter Storm" -- blasting out the message #EndFossilFuelSubsidies over 100,000 times all around the world! Click here or on the image below to check out more of the highlights from the storm...

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Continue reading the story here.

 
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Twitter Storm projection infront of the Sydney Harbour Bridge

Aaron Packard
Posted by Aaron Packard - 06/18/12, 3:47am

As the first Tweet went out to launch the 24 hours of Twitter Storm for the #endfossilfuelsubsidies campaign, 350.org and partners were streaming the Tweets infront of the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. This is what it looked like! The team will be there for another few hours, until it's dark in New Delhi, India where they will start projecting the Tweets there.

(in this photo Julien Vincent from Greenpeace Australia, photo credit James Alcock) 

Keep the Tweets up! Visit endfossilfuelsubsidies.org for more info.

 
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