Momentum Builds for Rio+20 “Twitterstorm”
It’s another sunny day in Rio de Janeiro, but a storm is brewing. As delegates from around the world fly into town for the Rio+20 Earth Summit, the largest environmental gathering in world history, 350.org is teaming up with over a dozen environmental groups for a major “Twitterstorm,” a 24-hour push beginning on June 18 to get as many tweets as possible for the hashtag #endfossilfuelsubsidies.
Every year, governments around the world give nearly $1 trillion in handouts and tax-breaks to the fossil fuel industry instead of using the money for sustainable development, clean energy initiatives, reducing the deficit, or any number of better initiatives. Three years ago, the G20 countries committed to ending these subsidies but there has been no action since.
The #EndFossilFuelSubsidies twitter storm is timed to coincide with this year’s G20 meeting which will begin in Los Cabos, Mexico on Monday. Two days later, over a hundred heads of state will join 50,000 people at the Rio+20 Earth Summit. The synchronicity of the meetings provides the perfect opportunity for world leaders to put their money where their mouths are and provide a clear plan to cut subsidies to the fossil fuel industry.
Engineering the twitterstorm has taken the combined efforts of over a dozen environmental groups and numerous other partners. Advocates are busy lining up a list of celebrities – from Robert Redford to Leonardo DiCaprio – to blog and tweet about the push. Over 2,500 have joined a special Facebook event to form a “Twitter Team” that will drive the push and actively target decision makers, as well as key influencers online. The homepage for the storm features graphics that supporters can use to replace their standard avatar photo.
All of these pieces may just be enough to break the world record for the most tweets of a single hashtag in a 24 hour period. Justin Bieber currently holds the world record with 322,224, over 223 tweets a minute. Organizers are confident that even if they can’t beat the Biebs they’ll be able to generate enough traffic to dominate the online airwaves during the G20 and in the lead up to Rio+20.
Since world leaders are still struggling to articulate a clear outcome from the Rio summit, ending fossil fuel subsidies could emerge as one of the key pieces of any Rio declaration. A strong commitment from world leaders would not only show a new level of seriousness towards ending these handouts, but it would also bolster badly needed confidence in the UN’s ability to manage a multilateral process.
Who knows, maybe even @JustinBieber will tweet #endfossilfuelsubsidies on June 18th?
Training for trainers at the foothills of the Himalayas
17 participants from around the country with various backgrounds and skills headed off to the calming foothills of the Himalayas, Rishikesh for the first training for trainers organized by 350.org in India. The happy campers pooled in their energy, enthusiasm and skills to share an experience that we’re sure many won’t forget.
We had sessions on climate science, movement and campaign building, media and the creative use of art as a medium to convey our vision to the world. But the most powerful session was storytelling, where the individuals spent some time introspecting and then shared their stories with the rest of the group and this really bonded us together.
We asked them a few questions at the end of the workshop and our new 350 intern, Vir Chowdhry, a student at FLAME put together a cool video with a few videoclips and snapshots from the training.
A storm is brewing.
This email just went out to our global network...
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Dear friends,
We just crunched the numbers, and there are now over one million people around the world who are calling for an end to fossil fuel subsidies!
One million. It's an incredible milestone -- and the timing couldn't be better. In exactly a week, the "Rio Earth Summit" will begin, and world leaders will converge in Brazil. The gathering is being billed as a landmark event for the planet's future, and the theme of the conference is "building the global green economy." Well, we can't think of a better way to build the green economy than ending fossil fuel subsidies and investing in renewable energy instead.
So we'll be using the Rio Summit as a way to jump-start the next phase of our campaign on fossil fuel subsidies -- and we'll be harnessing the power of the web to ramp up the pressure on world leaders in a brand new way.
On 18 June, we are going to unleash a 24-hour social media storm -- an online push united by one single message: #EndFossilFuelSubsidies.
Joining the social media team shouldn't be intimidating -- it just means that as Rio approaches, we'll send you a few updates with messages to spread online, mainly on Twitter and Facebook. If we can get 10,000 people to join in, we'll have built up a digital army around the world who can break through the noise.
Now, before any of you who don’t use social media (especially Twitter) feel like we won’t be including you in the fun, we want you to know two things:
1) It’s totally OK if social media isn’t your thing -- there's lots of offline activism ahead for the climate movement, and 350 activists in Rio and around the world are doing incredible work offline to complement this digital push.
2) If you’ve been interested in exploring how to harness the power of social media for social change, this is your moment to dive in. We'll offer a "social media bootcamp" with guides and tools to make it super-easy for folks who are new to all this.
Climate Change, the “silent motivator”
One of our heroes, 
Ambassador Marlene Moses of Nauru (here she is, at Right, at one of our events in South Africa), has just written a piece on Huffington Post about the Rio Summit and how little is spoken about climate change in the official documents. In it she referred to how infrequently climate change is referenced, such that it is almost a "silent motivator."
We stand with Ambassador Moses and all those converging on Rio--these global summits can be great opportunities--but only with a popular outcry accompanying them.
On Tuesday you can be part of that. For the first time we're doing an all-out push online to coincide with a global summit. In past years we have sent very large delegations of global youth (that describes the vast sum of the 350 team, after all), but this time we have a small and stalward team on the ground, and will be calling on everybody else to join us in a Twitter Storm. Our mission? Make fossil fuel subsidies a very critical aspect of the Rio negotiations, an aspect too big to be watered down or ignored. We know that the key first step to ending climate change is stopping the senseless funding of the corporations creating the problem. Join us!
A climate soundtrack, from DC to Ohio!
As we gear up for the Don't Frack Ohio action, a lot of us are thinking about the Keystone XL actions in Washington last summer. The outpouring of committed and creative activists that I was part of in DC will be on display in Columbus this weekend. If you haven't yet called your friends in Ohio to see if they can take part in the action, now's the time. Here's all the info you need.
To help get you inspired, I highly recommend watching this video from Washington, "Make a Noise." Some of those same people will be in Ohio this weekend standing up to the expanded fracking in the Buckeye State. The recording artist who wrote the song, Katie Herzig, is part of a collaboration of artists, and our friends at 1% for the Planet, donating free downloads of their songs to climate activists. You can learn about this effort from New Song Music and check out all the songs here.
A New Partner in Iraq
للنسخة العربية من هذا المقال إضغط هنا - For the Arabic version of this post click here
It gives me great pleasure and excitement to announce that 350.org has a new partner in Iraq: the Iraqi Civil Society Solidarity Initiative (ICSSI). ICSSI is a platform to support Iraqi civil society through concrete actions, advocacy and campaigns. They are a valuable addition to our global network of friends and allies.
Along with civil society groups in Iran and Turkey, ICSSI has started a petition to pressure UNESCO to speed up the process to include the Iraqi Marshes as a World Heritage Site and to advocate against the construction of Illisu dam project which poses a great threat to communities around the Tigris river.
A musician, his guitar, and freedom from fuel.
This story is written by Kate Faye and cross-posted from 350MN.
5,000 miles sounds like an awfully long commute, but for musicians and other professionals, traveling long distances is just part of the job. Most musicians don’t think twice about jumping in a van, bus or airplane to play for crowds around the country. For Paul Doffing, a local Minnesota singer/songwriter who is looking to hit the national scene, this poses a conflict of interest. In order to promote and share his music he needs to travel, yet he is concerned about our heavy reliance on fossil fuels and the impacts that reliance has on the planet. Paul is thinking twice about his opportunity to, as Gandhi so famously challenged, “be the change we want to see in the world” and is preparing for an epic journey. He is going to tour by bicycle.
This is no small endeavor. Paul is planning to bike over 5,000 miles with his guitar and gear in tow for the first ever “Freedom From Fuel” music tour. He will be playing in over 30 cities along with countless parks, pubs and churches in smaller towns along the way. His eyes light up when talking about the prospect of playing songs for folks in unanticipated and random places.
Paul is making a road by walking, or biking, in that he is fusing together his passion and work as an artist with his connection to nature. He believes that real positive change happens at the individual level and that we cannot rely solely on politicians to get the job done. “Fossil fuels are so engrained in our minds as the only way of getting from one place to another that we don’t think there is an alternative way of living”. He mentions that the Tar Sands issue is a big factor in his decision to bike his national music tour. “It just doesn’t make sense to use tar sands oil when it has such negative impacts on the earth.”
One crucial question.
We just sent this email to folks in the USA. Not on our email list yet? Sign up here!
Dear Friends,
Last week, we tried something new: a citizen-powered survey to get Congress on the record about fossil fuel subsidies.
On Wednesday, I put out the call to the 350.org network, asking folks accross the country to call their Members of Congress and get them on the record. The response was huge. Over the course of 48 hours, hundreds of people flooded the switchboards of Senators and Representatives to ask this one crucial question: Do you support ending all fossil fuel subsidies -- for oil, coal, and natural gas -- which will total $113 billion over the next decade?
But here's the thing: we don't yet have all House and Senate members on the record. We need to pin them down on this so we can escalate this campaign to the next phase: a surround-sound pressure campaign to really make our politicians feel the heat.
Can you make a call today and get your Members of Congress on the record on fossil fuel subsidies? Our new tool makes it easy: www.endfossilfuelsubsidies.org/scoreboard
Some people who called reported wishy-washy answers -- politicians are notoriously talented at glossing over their positions -- but some of you got some clear statements:
- A staffer from Sen. Webb (D-VA) said that he supports removing all fossil fuel subsidies because "subsidies choose winners and losers."
- Rep. Welch’s (D-VT) office sent this message: “Taxpayer support for mature, profitable industries makes no sense, particularly when we should be investing in the energy efficiency and clean energy sectors.”
- An aide to Sen. Coburn (R-OK) stated that, "Sen. Coburn supports removing all energy subsidies."
You can see more of those statements, and get your elected officials on the record by visiting www.endfossilfuelsubsidies.org/scoreboard
People in DC tend to be pretty good at dodging questions, especially when the answers are tough to defend. But Congress needs to get in line with popular sentiment -- over 70% of Americans support ending fossil fuel subsidies. What's more, ending these subsidies would have huge benefits for our planet, slowing the output of climate pollution and setting the stage for a massive scale-out of clean energy.
Corporate polluters have hundreds of lobbyists and huge ad budgets. We know we'll never be able to match them with money, so we'll have to rely on grassroots people power instead -- which means we all need to speak up to make our voices heard. Please make a call today.
Thanks,
Jamie Henn and the 350.org team
On the Road to Rio+20 with Kelvin and Jinty
With the Rio+20 world summit just around the corner (20-22 June), activists, organisers and governmental representatives young and old are getting ready to make their way to Brazil. In Brazil the 350.org team are busy preparing to make the climate movement's voice heard at side events and actions. Here in the Pacific region there is a crew of young people who are getting ready to pack their bags and head over. I managed to catch up with a couple of them - Jinty MacTavish (New Zealand) and Kelvin Anthony (Fiji) - to hear their aspirations and reasons for travelling to the summit...
Jinty MacTavish - 27 - after a rich history as a driving force behind 350.org in New Zealand, in 2010, Jinty was elected to the Dunedin City Council. Since then she has been working tirelessly to ensure that Dunedin city becomes a leader on climate change.
Kelvin Anthony - 24 - is a journalist from Fiji, who has been busy organising with 350.org Pacific over the last year and more. He's been selected as the Fiji youth delegate and has scored a post with UNICEF Pacific to report from Rio+20 as a Pacific youth voice.
Why are you going to Rio+20?
Kelvin: 1.To learn as much as possible about climate change and sustainable development, 2.To contribute by sharing experiences on common issues and challenges faced by young people in the Pacific and around the world, and identify possible solutions, and 3. Bring the knowledge gained from this experience back - to share with the youths at home in Fiji and the Pacific.
Jinty: I've been lucky enough to be selected to go with ICLEI Cities for Sustainability - basically a network of cities from around the globe that are committed to becoming increasingly sustainable. As an ICLEI delegate I will be helping build the case that sustainable development is not only imperative but also desirable, as evidenced by the experience of cities around the world that are finding that the sustainable development approach results in happier, healthier, more equitable, more fulfilling lives for their citizens.
Why is Rio+20 important for addressing climate change?
Kelvin: It is simple - we can't wait for another 20 years to find solutions for the threats we face to our survival now.
Jinty: I think Rio+20 offers the opportunity for us to have a wider discussion as a globe around the development direction we are headed in and whether that is where we want to be going. Climate change is basically a symptom of a development approach gone wrong, and I do wonder if the lack of action on climate change at an international level is in part because we are trying to deal with it as an issue in and of itself. I'm hopeful that Rio+20 may offer us the opportunity to step back and look at the interrelatedness of all the problems we are facing, and the solutions that will address all of the issues together. Perhaps then we might get some progress in addressing issues like climate change.
What outcomes do you hope to come out of Rio+20? - both at the global and personal level.
Kelvin: I hope world leaders will stop talking the talk and start walking the the talk. It is apparent that even before the Rio+20 decisions are to be made, a lot of people have little hope that this time things will be any different. Will Rio+20 be another of those international negotiations which comes to nothing? Little has been achieved from what was laid down two decades ago. Will the outcomes of the Rio+20 change anything for the better? I know it can! Hope the world leaders think that too.
It is vital for young peoples views to be taken into account. We have the potential to make things happen. Our strength lies in our creativity. Our voice need to be listened to and respected. I do not want to be part of a failed discussions and then in another 20 years time not be able to face up to the future generations.
I hope that young people , particularly in the Pacific region start realizing that every single voice matters in the fight against climate change. You don't have to be a climate change expert to contribute positively and make change happen. What we do now - to find sustainable solutions to this global crisis - will determine the kind of future we want.
Jinty: At a global level, some acknowledgement of the interrelatedness of the problems we are facing, and some clear, measurable steps to address them rapidly. The UN states that, at the conclusion of the conference, 'Governments are expected to adopt clear and focused practical measures for implementing sustainable development, based on the many examples of success we have seen over the last 20 years.' I would really welcome this outcome. At a personal level I am really looking forward to meeting other people working towards sustainability in the local government arena. I think there's an awful lot to be learnt from other cities around the globe that are streets ahead of us here in New Zealand, and I'm hopeful that some of what I learn will be applicable and useful back home. ICLEI is a forward looking organisation that highlights and focuses on successes and approaches the emulate - so a good dose of inspiration and positivity will be most welcome!
A massive thanks and happy travels to Jinty and Kelvin. Readers - stay tuned - there's lots of climate action planned for Rio+20! If you haven't already, please do sign and spread the End Fossil Fuel Subsidies petition far and wide! Just click here.
We will not be silenced.
Dear friends,
If you type "www.350.org" in your web browser today, you’ll notice that our site has gone dark. Our bright colors and vibrant images have been replaced with a simple message: “we will not be silenced.”
Here’s why: the Canadian parliament is currently considering an omnibus bill that would vastly transform our environmental protections while suppressing transparent public discussion. The new budget bill (Bill C-38) would replace the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act with a process that's vulnerable to corruption by powerful oil interests -- shifting power away from expert review boards and toward backroom lobbyists. What’s more, it would target charities advocating for environmental justice and climate change policy. The stakes are high, and we're asking you to help us make some noise about it.
Today, we're joining the “Black Out Speak Out” coalition -- a diverse alliance representing millions of people who are standing up to a dire threat to nature and democracy. We’re blacking out our websites and darkening our profile pictures in a new form of 21st century protest. Together, we'll send a single, unified message to decision-makers: Stand up for our Canadian values. Our land, water, and climate. Our communities. Our human rights and democracy.
Visit BlackOutSpeakOut.ca to join the campaign and to access tools to make your voice heard. Speak Out on Twitter, Facebook, and through your personal networks. Email or call your MP. In this historic Canadian moment, your voice is vitally important.
So speak out today -- because silence is not an option.
Onwards,
The 350.org Team