Today, activists in Washington, DC led by our partners at Amazon Watch marched in solidarity with Brazilian social movements during Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s visit with Obama. Just a few months away from Rio+20, the 20th anniversary summit of the landmark original Rio Earth Summit, both presidents continue to threaten to allow initiatives that would mean destruction and devastation for the environment and local communities – the approval of the Keystone XL Pipeline in the US and the relaxing of Brazil’s forest protections chief among them.
Dilma was greeted by a colorful throng of community activists today who were calling on her to be a real leader at Rio+20 and institute the changes and protections needed to guarantee a safe climate and safe environment, rather than move forward on constructing devastating mega-dams in the Amazon and gutting the safeguards against logging in the Amazon. Yet her conversation with Obama seemed to be moving in the wrong direction and centered around more of the same “all of the above” energy development, like opening new oil and gas fields in Brazil.
350 Brazil is working hard to build a movement powerful enough to push Brazil towards a clean energy future, and greatly appreciates the solidarity expressed by American activists today. The team in Brazil is preparing to carry the energy from today on to Rio+20 where they will be organizing trainings for youth activists, creative actions calling for an end to fossil fuel industry handouts, and working with Brazil’s movements to push for a stronger outcome to the conference and ensure world leaders can’t just make token commitments and claim progress. Stay tuned for more details about Rio+20 and how you can plug in from all around the world!