Climate Activism News Roundup #6
After a brief hiatus, the Climate Activism News Roundup is back! We hope you’ll read on and explore the many ways activists around the globe are creatively tackling climate justice.
Dakota Access Pipeline Owner Sues Greenpeace, Alleges it Engaged in Organized Crime During #NoDAPL Campaign
Colorlines | August 22, 2017 –
Linda Black Elk “The racist overtones of this lawsuit are nauseating and have potentially catastrophic impacts to the future of Native American tribal sovereignty.”
Winnemem Wintu, Fishing Groups Sue to Block Ecosystem-Killing Delta Tunnels
Intercontinental Cry | August 22, 2017 –
“On August 17, a California Indian Tribe, two fishing groups, and two environmental organizations joined a growing number of organizations, cities and counties suing the Jerry Brown and Donald Trump administrations to block the construction of the Delta Tunnels.”
“Anti-Fracking Activists Celebrate Ruling Against Major Pipeline.”
Common Dreams | August 18, 2017 –
“Environmentalists are celebrating a federal appeals court ruling on Friday that reaffirmed New York State’s decision to block a 124-mile natural gas pipeline project. ‘This project would have been bad news for New York waters and communities, and the court’s decision will help ensure that important waterways in the state, including the Hudson River and Schoharie Creek, will be protected,’ said Riverkeeper president Paul Gallay.”
Orlando Commits to Using 100 Percent Renewable Energy by 2050
Colorlines | August 10, 2017 –
“Orlando just became the 40th American municipality to commit to using 100 percent clean and renewable energy by 2050. The pledge was the result of a unanimous vote by the city council on Tuesday (August 7).”
Climate justice is Racial justice is Gender Justice
Yes! Magazine | August 18, 2017 –
“Jacqueline Patterson is the director of the NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program. She says she recognized environmental injustice decades ago while working in Jamaica, where Shell Oil contaminated community water supplies. Then later, while volunteering in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, she saw another side of the inequity in climate disaster response. Patterson co-founded Women of Color United and has served as a senior women’s rights policy analyst for ActionAid, integrating a women’s rights lens for food rights, macroeconomics, and climate change.”
Mi’kmag Traditional Chiefs Oppose Junex Projects in Gaspesie, Quebec
Intercontinental Cry | August 24, 2017 –
“Today, we traditional council chiefs from the 1st and the 7th Districts of Mi’kma’ki have gathered at the Junexit Banquet organized by the Camp by the River. We are here not only to support the occupation that has been set up on August 7th against Junex but also to assert our inherent rights and title over our unceded and unsurrendered territory, as affirmed by the 1763 Royal Proclamation. We assert our presence here to protect our territory under the Protection clauses for unceded lands, as protected by Constitutional Rights, Charter Rights, Human Rights, and International Rights.”
How to Get Banks not to Fund Oil Pipelines? Aim Big and Keep Showing up
Yes! Magazine | August 22, 2017 –
“Many of the banks that fund DAPL—including JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo—also fund the four tar sands pipelines. The 17 banks that fund all five pipelines are the primary targets of the campaign. And like the divest movement launched during the Standing Rock resistance last year, this new campaign is led by indigenous groups, including the 121 First Nations and tribes that signed the Treaty Alliance Against Tar Sands Expansion. But there are some differences. While the Defund DAPL campaign goal was to get banks to pull out of loan commitments on a project already begun, this new campaign is trying to convince banks not to get involved in financing tar sands pipelines at all.”