Contents
- Workers of the World Unite
- Fast For the Climate
- Spotlight on Canadian Faster For the Climate, Joe Gunn
- PEOPLE'S CLIMATE MARCH
- Join ClimateFast in Ottawa
- National Climate Assessment, Time to Get Real on Climate Change
- REMI REPORT
- Unity for the Climate Update
- WORLD LIVESTREAM EVENT
- The Great March for Climate Action Update
- THE LEAD-UP TO COP 20
- Climate EMERGENCY Countdown
Workers of the World Unite – For a Clean Energy Future and Green Jobs
by Frances Deverell
As Labour Day approaches, we are all thinking of working people in Canada and all over the world. So much of our economies depend on extensive use of coal, oil and gas. Those who would accuse us of unrealistic idealism say ... more
Fast For the Climate, September 1, 2014
The international Fast for the Climate shares the following news:
As September 1approaches, we extend warm greetings to you, and look forward to coming together again to fast and stand in solidarity with those most vulnerable to dangerous climate impacts. More and more individuals and organisations are joining the movement by signing up at www.fastfortheclimate.org.
Here is what Fourth-Grade Filip Zembowicz from Carolina, USA had to say about why he wanted to join Fast for the Climate:
... more
Spotlight on Canadian Faster For the Climate, Joe Gunn
Joe Gunn is executive director of Citizens for Public Justice, an Ottawa-based ecumenical group advocating for social justice. He has worked for churches and church organizations, mainly Catholic, in Canada and Latin America, and he was director for the Social Affairs office of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.
THE PEOPLE'S CLIMATE MARCH SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 21st - UNITED NATIONS , NEW YORK CITY
by Margaret Rao
This is "an invitation to change everything." (350.org founder Bill McKibben)
On September 23, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon is hosting a Climate Leadership Summit for heads of state from around the world to address the climate crisis. This summit will be the only time in which many of the world’s leaders will get together before a new International Climate Agreement is adopted at the COP21 Climate Conference in Paris in 2015.
This is our chance to greet world leaders with the largest mobilization on climate in history. Let’s turn out hundreds of thousands of people in the streets of New York City — and around the world — to demand climate justice and a new economy that puts jobs, people and planetary health first. This will be a peaceful, impactful, family-friendly event.
The People's Climate March will be the anchor event among numerous actions, symposia, and presentations prior to and following the Climate Summit. ClimateFast will participate in the People’s Climate March, alongside Fast for the Climate.
Over 625 organizations, including international and national unions, churches, schools and community and environmental justice organizations have endorsed this event to date.
Toronto350 plans to send buses to NYC for the Peoples Climate March in September. If you are interested in coming or organizing additional buses, either from Toronto or another city, go to Toronto350.org and sign on today!
Join ClimateFast in Ottawa
ClimateFast returns to Ottawa September 28 - October 2, 2014. To date, 117 MPs have signed the ClimateFast Pledge for Politicians. Please help us reach out to and engage those who have not yet signed. Please consider joining us in Ottawa. Learn more at climatefast.ca
National Climate Assessment, Time to Get Real on Climate Change, and Canada in a Changing Climate
by Rita Bijons
On May 6, 2014, the U.S. released its most recent National Climate Assessment, four years in the making. Not only did national media cover this broadly in the U.S., but President Obama spoke publicly, even addressing this year’s graduates at West Point Academy and telling them that wars will now be waged because of climate change. The front page of the Toronto Star declared the “real and present danger”. Authors of the NCA have taken great care to assure the language is as accessible as possible, and that resources are similarly accessible on their site. A two-hour press conference with a high-powered panel launched the release. Here is the correct link to that press conference.
Three days later, Bill Moyers interviewed David Suzuki as he said it ‘s Time to Get Real on Climate Change
Little is it known that in June 2014, Natural Resources Canada released Canada in a Changing Climate: Sector Perspectives on Impacts and Adaptations.
No fanfare. No public statement by any Minister. Particularly conspicuous and irresponsible by her silence was Minister of Environment Leona Aglukkaq. Where is our two-hour press conference, our statement by the Prime Minister that acknowledges the clear and present danger? Where is the accessible language and resources?
Canadians deserve better than this.
REMI REPORT SHOWS CARBON PRICING ENHANCES ECONOMY
by Lyn Adamson
A study by the well-respected US consulting firm REMI (Regional Economic Modelling Inc) has concluded that carbon pricing shows significant benefits for the economy, and would be worth doing for the economic benefits alone, even without benefits in carbon reductions. One reason for this is that there are more jobs in other forms of energy development than fossil fuels. Another reason is that the dividend that comes back to households across the country positively impacts local economies and the typical individual household shows an overall economic benefit to the household.
The REMI report looks at the impact on different regions of the United States, some would benefit more, some less. There are few areas that would not show substantial economic gains with the introduction of carbon pricing. It shows that the fears that are expressed about pricing carbon (that it will negatively impact jobs and the economy) are not grounded in reality. The carbon pricing model used is the ‘carbon fee and dividend’ option that is being put forward by Citizens Climate Lobby, one of the many grassroots climate action groups that supports ClimateFast.
You can read the REMI report (PDF) here. It’s time we had a report like this in Canada!
Unity for the Climate Update
Climate activist Joseph Boutilier is now in Ontario. Recent articles covering his odyssey can be found here. In case you missed it, in his initial video he brilliantly sums up his call for unity for the climate. Now in Ontario, he is en route to Toronto. Please check for his route and event updates. Consider riding with him, organizing an event at which he can speak, providing accommodation for him.
ClimateFast will host an evening of slides and discussion with Joseph Boutilier at 60 Lowther Avenue, Toronto, at 7 pm, the evening of Thursday, August 28. Please join us in welcoming him.
WORLD LIVESTREAM EVENT September 6 2014
Polly Higgins conceived the law of ecocide, and is calling for mobilization.
WE HOLD THE FATE OF THE EARTH IN OUR HANDS
What happens next is up to us. Help mobilize a law of Ecocide.
A day of global & local direct action planning
Date: 6 September 2014
Join the livestream from Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK online at eradicatingecocide.com and facingcrossroads.org – an interactive documentary following the fate of Ecocide law
People from across the world shall be joining us, both online and in person. Everyone is a participant.
HELP US MAKE THIS EVENT A SUCCESS:
-
Please share this event on twitter, facebook, your local cafes and noticeboards. Copy and paste the above or download the poster here: Earth in our hands
-
Do you have an idea as to how to take Ecocide law forward? Please come and share your plans.
Date: September 6, 2014
Time: UK 10 am – 3.30pm
New York: 5am – 10.30am
Convert your time zone? Go to: thetimenow.com
World livestream can be watched live on the day online at eradicatingecocide.com and facingcrossroads.org
The Great March for Climate Action Update
Marchers are currently in Iowa, voicing opposition to the proposed Bakken pipeline. They will be in Washington, D.C. November 1st. For more information, visit climatemarch.org
THE LEAD-UP TO COP 20
- Stephen Leahy on Inside International Climate Treaty Negotiations
- Pressure mounts on Australian government over G20 climate omission
Climate EMERGENCY Countdown
Here’s what YOU can do! (With thanks to the Climate Emergency Institute and Dr. Peter Carter.)
COMPASSIONATE CLIMATE ACTION is urged by GreenHearted Julie Johnson: blog.greenhearted.org/p/climate-emergency-countdown-heres-what.html
CountDOWN
5 - Tell the whole world. We finally have some power and a hope in hell… Pass it on!
4 - At the September 2014 Climate Summit in NYC, have climate change declared an emergency. (Follow Green Party of Canada example.)
3 - Push to have nations adopt RCP2.6+ (IPCC + CAN International language* ) into the new global agreement at the Dec 2014 UN climate convention in Lima.
2 - Insist that governments stop all fossil fuel subsidies ($1.9 trillion per year, IMF) - and switch them to clean, everlasting energy technologies and new fossil-fuel-free agricultural methods. Put a price on carbon while we’re at it.
1 - In Paris, get the most important agreement in the world signed, one that calls for carbon emissions to start declining immediately and to reach zero by 2050.
ZERO - Achieve zero carbon emissions by mid century.
*RCP2.6+ = the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)'s best-case scenario, which gives us a chance at keeping global warming and climate change to livable levels, PLUS the even-better limits of Climate Action Network (CAN) International's June 2014 position statement.
What to Call For When Contacting World Leaders
- Ask world leaders to declare that climate change is an emergency, because the probability and the possible magnitude of the risks are too high.
- State that a 2ºC rise in global average temperature is catastrophically high, and therefore <1-1.5ºC must be our target.
- Demand that nations start to reduce their carbon emissions by 2015. (For Canadian politicians, this means closing down the tar sands. We cannot afford to burn/emit any more carbon.)
- Call on governments and their negotiators to adopt, at the COP20 climate conference in Lima, the IPCC's RCP2.6 best-case scenario PLUS the even-better positions of CAN International:
- sharp declines in GHG emissions starting 2015
- complete transition to zero carbon (100% renewable energy) by 2050
- Demand that governments stop subsidizing fossil fuel corporations, switch those subsidies to perpetual energy technologies, and put a price on carbon.
Contact Information for World Leaders
Mr. Ban Ki-moon
Secretary General
United Nations
New York, NY
USA 10017
Telephone 212-963-5012
Fax 212-963-7055
Ms Christiana Figueres
Executive Secretary
UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
P.O. Box 260124
D-53153 Bonn
Germany
Telephone +49 228 815-1000
Fax +49 228 815-1999
The Right Honourable Stephen Harper
Prime Minister of Canada
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
Telephone 613-992-4211
Fax 613-941-6900
stephen.harper@parl.gc.ca
Your province's premier
President Barack Obama
President of the United States of America
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC
USA 20500
Comments 202-456-1111
Fax 202-456-2461
Xi Jinping (President Xi), President of the People’s Republic of China
Zhang Dejiang (Chairman Zhang), Chairman of the National People’s Congress
Zhongnanhai
No. 174 Xi Chang’an Jie
Beijing 100017 China
Telephone +86 10 63070913
Fax +86 10 63070900
The Honourable Tony Abbott MP
PO Box 6022
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia
Telephone +61 (02) 6277 7700
Fax +61 (02) 6273 4100
www.pm.gov.au/contact-your-pm