Peoples Climate Movement, 350.org, Sierra Club, SEIU, CEJA, and dozens more call on everyone to Rise for Climate, Jobs, and Justice at marches and events across the country and around the world on September 8th.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA — A broad coalition including Peoples Climate Movement, 350.org, Sierra Club, SEIU, California Environmental Justice Alliance, Organizing for Action, and dozens more, are mobilizing tens of thousands of people for Rise for Climate, Jobs, and Justice September 8th, a national and international mobilization for climate action. On September 8th, four days before the start of Governor Jerry Brown’s Global Climate Action Summit (GCAS) and two months before the midterm elections, people from across the country and around the world will take to the streets to demonstrate the power and energy of the climate movement, demand bold action on climate change, and amplify the leadership of those most impacted by the climate crisis.
Over the past week, California’s wildfires have destroyed hundreds of acres of land from the Oregon border to Napa County and Santa Barbara to San Diego. Thousands of firefighters are battling hotter-than-usual temperatures and windy conditions far ahead of when summer fire season usually begins. On the Atlantic side of the United States, Puerto Rico, still recovering from Hurricane Maria, was hit with heavy rain and winds, creating flash-flood conditions on the island and exacerbating power outages that have remained since last year’s climate-related weather crisis. With hurricane season already underway, communities across the Gulf are already bracing themselves for the next wave of destruction.
As climate impacts steadily worsen, the federal government continues to roll back climate and environmental policies, all the while increasing attacks and undermining the dignity and human rights of families and communities.
In the absence of federal action, Rise for Climate, Jobs, and Justice September 8th will set the bar for the Summit by demonstrating what real climate leadership looks like and challenging local elected officials and international governments to accelerate progress towards just and equitable climate solutions. Rise for Climate, Jobs, and Justice September 8th will call on leaders and elected officials to invest in real solutions to the climate crisis that prioritize the most impacted and vulnerable of our communities, like a massive, just transition to a 100% clean and renewable energy economy that ensures safe and healthy communities, the right to organize for all workers, and millions of family-sustaining jobs.
Dozens of events are planned for September 8th. An anchor event in San Francisco expecting tens of thousands of participants will be echoed by marches, rallies, and forums in New York City; Miami; New Orleans; Flint, MI; Joliet, IL; Denver; Minneapolis; and many more around the globe.
Quote Sheet:
“As Trump continues to line the pockets of Big Oil executives, we must push forward a brilliant vision for a fossil free world that is racially and economically just and prioritizes those most impacted by the climate crisis. Everyday, this administration is scapegoating and violating the rights of immigrants and putting the health and safety of communities at risk. That’s why here and around the world, communities are rising up to demand that elected officials step up on climate action. We need a fast, fair, and just transition away from fossil fuels to a 100% renewable energy economy, that protects vulnerable people already impacted by climate change and creates good paying jobs and opportunities for all. We are rising for climate on September 8th ahead of the Global Climate Action Summit to put ourselves on the path to a safe and just future for everyone. Now, our leaders must step up to the plate.” – May Boeve, Executive Director, 350.org
“The time to act is now. All across California we have seen the effects of climate change through the intense wildfires. This is only the beginning. If we don’t act, more people will continue to get hurt.”“This march is going to be a space for those who care about the environment to show that there is a need for us to change the relationship we have with the environment, because the one we have right now isn’t working. Our work will continue the momentum we build at this march. In Sonoma County, we have been working on directly addressing the lack of access people have to a clean environment. The first step in this work is to change the way we, as people, perceive the environment. People’s lives are affected everyday by environmental racism, therefore we won’t stop working until all communities have access to clean air, water, and a clean environment.” – Raquel Guevara Bolaños, Justice for the environment task force, North Bay Organizing Project.
“Migration and the climate crisis are inextricably linked. Not only are families fleeing violence, they are leaving their home countries due to the economic hardships they live under, oftentimes made worse by climate change. The mindset that allows for corporations to plunder land in Mexico or Central America for profit, is the same as the one that ignores the pain caused by separating families seeking asylum and a better life. We need to respect the right to clean air, water and land and the right to due process.” – Antonio Diaz, Organization Director, PODER
“Our democracy is being shredded, our rights are being taken away, our most vulnerable communities are under attack, and our planet is in crisis. We must show up on September 8th to demand the bold climate action that we need and that will leave no one behind. Then, we must – and will – educate people on why they should, and how they can, vote for Climate, Jobs, and Justice on November 6th.” – Paul Getsos, National Director, Peoples Climate Movement
“With increased attacks on our families and communities, health and environmental threats worsening, and a green light at the highest levels to discriminate, now is the time to take action for our people and our planet! We must engage in the joint practice of standing up with fierce love, being a caring neighbor, and realize that long term wins for the climate are won when we lock arms together and demand change. It isn’t going to come from the top down, it seldom does.” – Angela Adrar, Executive Director of the Climate Justice Alliance
“Climate action” cannot be top-down, market-based, or removed from frontline solutions. Our organized communities – indigenous, black, people of color, working class, immigrant, women, LGBTQ people, all those on the frontlines of climate change and economic exploitation – are those who should be leading the solutions we need. Any approach to tackling climate change must acknowledge this and recognize that this is one symptom of systems crisis, interlinked with militarization and violence globally as a product of capitalism, institutional racism and patriarchy. As It Takes Roots, we are working with this broad coalition for the Rise for Climate, Jobs, and Justice mobilization to provide that grassroots voice for a just transition to a new and regenerative system.” – Maya Bhardwaj, It Takes Roots National Coordinator
“It is important that Indigenous people and our voices are uplifted at the Rise march in San Francisco in September. Many of us have a deep understanding of the balance of life on Earth, and many intact traditional Indigenous communities continue to maintain the knowledge of how to live within the natural laws of our planet. We understand that the false solutions by elected officials are not in alignment with what is necessary for life to continue. As an Indigenous person growing up near a refinery, the impacts I have faced daily are alarming. Even more so because of the false solution of carbon trading which allows refineries like Chevron in Richmond, CA to continue to harm my community and the climate.” – Isabelle Zizi, organizer, Idle No More SF Bay
“Here in California, our summer has gotten off to an ominous start, with an unprecedented heat wave and dangerous wildfires kicking off the start of what could be an especially dangerous fire season. As summer heats up, so too is organizing for the Rise for Climate, Jobs and Justice march, and with good reason. Our climate emergency requires true climate leadership, and California can lead the way by standing up to Big Oil and keeping fossil fuels in the ground. This September, the streets will be filled with concerned community members demanding nothing less.” –David Turnbull, Strategic Communications Director, Oil Change International
“We stand with indigenous and grassroots leaders in the global call to keep fossil fuels in the ground from California to the Amazon. They demonstrate the real climate leadership we so desperately need in the face of this climate crisis and the world must hear their voices loud and clear at the RISE mobilization and beyond.”- Leila Salazar-López, Executive Director, Amazon Watch
“For people of faith, the Earth’s sacredness and our duty of care are non-negotiable. Rising for climate, jobs and justice is a profound expression of our deepest moral values – to protect life, to protect families, workers and communities, to protect our precious planet. People of faith and spirit are ready to rise!” – Reverend Fletcher Harper, Executive Director, Green Faith
“At this critical juncture in human history, with the very future of the Earth and our lives on the line – people are standing up around the world with bravery, hope, and transformative, strategic vision for a healthy and livable world. Women, though most adversely impacted by climate change, are continuing to rise up on the frontlines of struggles for social and ecological justice everywhere we look. Women community organizers, activist, students, advocates, and educators are the backbone of our peoples movements – with Indigenous and women of color standing strong as lights to lead the way forward. This September, expect the voices, solutions and resistance efforts of women for climate justice to be bold, creative, and unstoppable.” – Osprey Orielle Lake, Founder and Executive Director of the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) International
“Now more than ever, Americans are rising up to demand real leadership on the systemic injustices that plague our communities. From flooding on the coasts to rampant wildfires on the west, Americans are hurting and demanding change over contrition. When our leaders fail us in Washington, we will take to the streets and create the groundswell to raise the tide for political action. We demand justice – justice for jobs, for public health, and for our environment.” – Rebecca Sobel, Climate and Energy Senior Campaigner, Wild Earth Guardians
“Climate Change affects us all but some are affected disproportionately. Real climate solutions must involve abolishing the racism and social injustices that give rise to inequality in those communities most impacted by extreme climate occurrences” – Sharon Lewis, Executive Director, CT Coalition for Environmental Justice
“As Dr. Martin Luther King eloquently put, ‘we are caught in an inescapable network of mutualities…whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly’. This is at the very core of our work on climate actions and our shared understanding on justice, jobs and climate specifically.” Bettina Hausmann, Executive Director, UN Association San Diego Chapter.
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Press Contact:
Thanu Yakupitiyage, 350.org, [email protected]; 413-687-5160
Paige Knappenberger, Climate Nexus, [email protected]; 602-549-0344
Paul Getsos, Peoples Climate Movement, [email protected]; 646-732-0041