On September 8, 1,000+ Puerto Ricans will join in coordination with hundreds of global events to demand a serious commitment from world leaders to end fossil fuels.
Contact: Amira Odeh, [email protected]
On Saturday, September 8, 1,500 young people and their families across Puerto Rico will join together for the Rise for Climate, Jobs, and Justice event urging the government to take bold and meaningful climate action, and motivating communities to initiate their own renewable energy projects. Participants are demanding Puerto Ricans get access to reliable and renewable energy.
Community leaders in Ponce and Vega Baja are hosting events in Puerto Rico. This comes just weeks before the first anniversary of Hurricane Maria, and in light of the PR government raising the reported death toll from 64 to nearly 3,000.
“Now more than ever, the mobilization of communities is crucial to achieve a just transition to renewable, clean and accessible energy. On September 8, Los Naranjos community in Vega Baja will join the voices of all the communities that want to leave behind fossil fuels,” comments Koralis Reyes, leader of the Naranjo Watt project. “Our event will serve to make visible our community efforts towards clean energy systems and motivate other communities to do the same.”
In Vega Baja, the community will participate in talks and the painting of a mural in the school of the Sinergía Los Naranjos project. It will take place on September 8 starting at 9:00 a.m.
In Ponce, more than 1,000 students and their families at Ponce Vocational High School will gather to celebrate our earth and to ask the city’s government to take action against climate change and for clean energy. “Our school’s environmental fair guarantees success by focusing its efforts on empowering young people with knowledge tools on climate change, because they will be the voices that inspire and mobilize their people to streamline the transition to clean energy,” mentions Rosalina Alvarado, science teacher and leader of the local group PANAS.
Rise for Climate, Jobs, and Justice is a global initiative happening the week before the Global Climate Action Summit in California, where local and state officials from around the world will discuss actions across regions. Thousands around the world are rising together on September 8 to demand these officials take serious and urgent action to stop the climate crisis.
Highlights across the U.S. include:
- In San Francisco, groups are urging Governor Jerry Brown and those attending his summit to commit to phasing out fossil fuel extraction and begin a just transition to 100% renewable energy that centers racial and economic justice.
- On September 6 in New York City, people will gather in Battery Park to call on Governor Andrew Cuomo to fulfill his promises to move the State through a just transition to 100% renewable energy, followed by a dozen distributed actions across the State happening around September 8.
- In Miami, Florida thousands will rally at a high-profile concert to call attention to the impacts of hurricanes and sea level rise on the city’s communities.
- In Portland, Oregon a coalition fighting Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) in Jordan Cove will lift up frontline communities most impacted by LNG.
- In Flint, Michigan, a combination of labor, racial justice, faith, and environmental justice groups are gathering for the Michigan Environmental Justice Summit, which will work to develop a list of comprehensive demands for a just transition to a clean energy future.
- In New Orleans, Louisiana advocates will focus their action on stopping the Bayou Bridge pipeline and transitioning to 100% clean energy.
- In Tacoma, Washington communities will use arts and storytelling to show the intersections between those impacted by an LNG facility and those detained at the neighboring ICE detention facility.
- In Colorado, labor, faith and environmental leaders will bring hundreds of people together for a broad discussion to develop a clear set of demands for the next governor, who will be asked to support a just and equitable transition to clean energy.
- In Chicago, workers from the nation’s largest warehouse hub in the suburb of Joliet, will be joined by local labor leaders, community activist groups, advocates for the immigrant community, and environmental justice groups to make a series of demands of local elected leaders and business owners related to the area’s temporary low-wage jobs and diesel truck emissions and the need for 100% clean energy.
###
La juventud puertorriqueña se levanta para exigir al gobierno que se conviertan en verdaderos líderes ante el cambio climático
Más de mil se unirán en coordinación con cientos de eventos globales para exigir un compromiso serio de los líderes del mundo sobre acabar con los combustibles fósiles.
1,500 jóvenes y sus familias en Puerto Rico se unirán para el evento Rise for Climate (Levantate por el clima), instando al gobierno a tomar medidas audaces y significativas sobre el clima y motivar a las comunidades a iniciar sus propios proyectos de energía renovable. Los participantes exigen que los puertorriqueños tengan acceso a energía confiable y renovable. En Ponce y Vega Baja, líderes comunitarios están organizando eventos en Puerto Rico. Esto ocurre pocos días antes del aniversario del huracán María.
“Ahora más que nunca la movilización de comunidades es crucial para lograr una transición justa hacia energía renovable, limpia y accesible. El 8 de septiembre la comunidad Los Naranjos en Vega Baja se unirá a la voz de todas las comunidades que quieren dejar atrás los combustibles fósiles,” comenta Koralis Reyes, lider del proyecto Naranjo Watt. “Nuestra pintata servirá para visibilizar los esfuerzos comunitarios hacia sistemas de energía limpia y motivar a otras comunidades a hacer lo mismo.”
En Vega Baja, la comunidad participará de charlas, un compartir y de la pintata de un mural en la escuela del proyecto Sinergía Los Naranjos. Se llevará a cabo el 8 de septiembre desde las 9:00am.
En Ponce, más de 1,000 estudiantes de la Escuela Vocacional de Ponce Bernardino Cordero se reunirán el 7 de septiembre desde las 8:30am para celebrar nuestra tierra y pedirle al gobierno municipal que se comprometan a trabajar por la energía limpia.
“Nuestra feria ambiental escolar garantiza el éxito al centrar sus esfuerzos en empoderar a los jóvenes con herramientas del conocimiento sobre el cambio climático, porque ellos serán las voces que inspiren y levanten a su pueblo para agilizar la transición a energías limpias,” Comenta Rosalina Alvarado, directora del grupo PANAS. Esta feria contará con charlas, competencias de arte ambiental, visita de organizaciones ambientales y mesas informativas.
“Rise for Climate, Jobs and Justice” es una iniciativa global que tiene lugar la semana previa a la Cumbre de Acción Climática Global en California, donde funcionarios locales y estatales de todo el mundo discutirán acciones a llevar a cabo en variedad de países. Miles de personas en todo el mundo se sumarán el 8 de septiembre, incluyendo las ciudades de Orlando y en Nueva York el 6 de septiembre para exigir a estos funcionarios que tomen medidas serias y urgentes para detener la crisis climática.
###