Join Us on September 8th to RISE for the Climate! | Amazon Watch
Amazon Watch

Join Us on September 8th to RISE for the Climate!

July 18, 2018 | Zoë Cina-Sklar | Eye on the Amazon

 

On September 8th, Amazon Watch staff, Ecuadorian indigenous leaders, and hundreds of thousands of people around the world will rise to demand that our elected leaders take real climate action to get us off of fossil fuels in speedy and equitable fashion.

We hope many Amazon Watch supporters (including you) will join us!

Here in the California Bay Area, we will hold the largest-ever climate rally on the West Coast and creating dozens of street murals telling the story of the better world we believe is possible.

This massive mobilization, which organizers are calling Rise for Climate, is far bigger than a single rally. There will be hundreds of actions on six continents, led by indigenous and people of color leaders from around the world and other communities fighting fossil fuel extraction and pipeline projects. They will head up this march in recognition of the fact that their communities are the the most deeply impacted by fossil fuel extraction and climate change and because they are some of the most creative and visionary leaders in our collective work for climate justice. They – and we – will remind the world that real climate leadership rises up from the grassroots.

The stories we will share about climate leadership on September 8th will be a stark contrast to the events of the following days, when thousands of politicians and businesspeople will descend on San Francisco for the Global Climate Action Summit. This event, which organizers say will “increase ambition on climate change,” will will be the largest gathering of non-national governments on climate ever and will highlight the steps taken by local and state governments and financial institutions to curb climate change.

While we certainly support increased ambition on climate action, Amazon Watch and our allies are concerned that the summit organizers are not taking a sufficiently holistic view of the issue. Specifically, it seems that the summit will skirt carefully around a critical issue: the need to keep fossil fuels in the ground. Despite the scientific consensus that we need to keep at least two thirds of known fossil fuel reserves in the ground to avert catastrophic climate change, companies continue to explore for new oil and gas reserves and the expand of fossil fuel infrastructure around the world with significant support from governments and financial institutions.

We know that we can’t face the climate crisis without stopping new oil and gas extraction from California to the Amazon and committing to getting off a dirty energy economy as quickly and equitably as possible. That’s the message of the video above and the one Amazon Watch and our indigenous Ecuadorian allies will share during the Summit, along with thousands of others at the California Rise for Climate mobilization and a wide array events planned the week of the summit itself.

We will demand that Governor Jerry Brown, the key organizer of the event, acknowledge California’s role as the largest single importer of Amazon crude and the state’s status as a leading oil producer and refiner, and commit the state to getting off fossil fuels altogether before he leaves office at the end of 2018.

And we will support our partners from the Sarayaku and Sapara people of the Ecuadorian Amazon in sharing their experiences of resistance to oil drilling with a global audience as well as the climate solutions that they propose, from distributed solar energy systems for remote communities to the Living Forest.

As fires burn across the United States’ West Coast and we hear sobering reports about the state of the Amazon rainforest ecosystem, the urgency for us to raise our voices loudly for real climate leadership becomes ever clearer. And all of the events surrounding the the Global Climate Action Summit provides a key opportunity to do just that.

So sign up for the Rise mobilization on September 8th and see you in the streets!

P.S. The Rise mobilization isn’t the only thing happening on the week of September 8th. If you’re in the Bay Area, check out information on the Solidarity to Solutions Week and keep an eye on our events page for forthcoming details on our events page during the week

PLEASE SHARE

Short URL

Donate

Amazon Watch is building on more than 25 years of radical and effective solidarity with Indigenous peoples across the Amazon Basin.

DONATE NOW

TAKE ACTION

No Drilling in Yasuní!

TAKE ACTION

Stay Informed

Receive the Eye on the Amazon in your Inbox! We'll never share your info with anyone else, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Subscribe