greenpeace--2020-03-08--Meet the Greenpeace Women and Gender Non-Binary Staff Fighting for Climate Justice

Meet the Greenpeace Women and Gender Non-Binary Staff Fighting for Climate Justice The staff here at Greenpeace contains many astounding individuals who have dedicated themselves to organizing , campaigning , and amplifying the issues we care so passionately about .
And today , in honor of International Women ’ s Day , I ’ d like to introduce you to a handful of the incredible women and gender non-binary staff who help empower and drive the environmental movement .
I come from matriarchal families and culture , and I was raised with no shortage of female role models to look @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of strength and resilience , the women in my life ( specifically my mom ) instilled in me a love for Mother Earth and all her beings .
Growing up in the Mojave desert of California , my mom worked as a conservation biologist with a crew of archaeologists .
When I wasn ’ t in school , I would tag along with her in the field to monitor local desert tortoise populations and help catalog Indigenous artifacts .
I loved these excursions , and now I can look back and see how @ @ @ @ @ @ @ woman I was going to become .
For as long as I remember having career aspirations , I have wanted to be a part of the environmental movement in some way .
My time in the desert with my mom had shown me at a very young age that nature and wildlife are worth protecting .
When I was 12 years old I somehow got my hands on a poster of the iconic Greenpeace ship , the Rainbow Warrior .
It hung on my wall through middle and high school , and every @ @ @ @ @ @ @ daydream about my future and wish for the opportunity to join a Greenpeace expedition onboard one of the ships .
Now—17 years later—that dream has been realized in the form of a six-week expedition to Antarctica about the Greenpeace ship Esperanza .
It inspires me how , despite the many challenges we face , women and non-binary activists are creating intersectional solidarity and spaces where we can band together to fight for the many causes that demand justice .
I am proud to be a part of an organization that recognizes the importance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ environmental , and gender justice .
Every day I am inspired by the women of this movement and this organization , and I ’ m so grateful that I get to share their stories with you in this piece .
I identify as non-binary/gender fluid , and I am hopeful for a world where gender is seen as autonomous choice .
I am a research specialist with Greenpeace , which means I work with our team of campaigners , scientists and storytellers leading investigations that expose environmental destruction , responsibility , and solutions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was inspired by my 8th grade science teacher , Mrs. Greffly , who helped me with a research project on elephant conservation and illegal wildlife trade , and later by many women who taught me how to climb and deploy both aerial blockades and people-powered science to protect forest ecosystems from corporate logging .
I ’ ve always sought out women mentors to learn trades and skills I didn ’ t always see other women doing , and most have helped me articulate a niche for myself .
I am proud to work @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other to expose things that are deliberately kept hidden and figure out how we will make both the problems and the solutions visible , which requires a lot of imagination and creativity to stay ahead of despair .
I am inspired daily by the women here and around the globe who drive environmental movements .
Women tend to be impacted disproportionately by health impacts , and in many contexts , women are on the frontline as the “ managers ” of things like food cultivation , domestic waste management , family-making and child-rearing—often @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tenure or wealth-making—and thus , are well-suited to identify problems and solutions .
The emotional labor often delegated to women sharpens skills in organizing , negotiation , the health of the collective , pattern recognition and detail awareness , reading people , and so on .
These are all important skills for strategy and activism , as people-based movements make lasting change—not government or legal policy .
Being a woman in the environmental movement is very empowering .
I have always looked up to the many female activists , scientists , scholars , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ criticized for working towards environmental progress , yet they continue to fight on .
The services that women provide for environmental protection have become more imperative every day .
So much so , that the common theme of “ mother nature ” as representing the land and earth , is embedded into our outlook .
As we waver between various global crises , it is clear that we need women : their skills , their wisdom , and their knowledge .
From a very young age , I knew that my role in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who can not .
I am proud to be using my voice to amplify the rights of nature , animals , and communities affected by climate change .
I have always taken interest in the protection of our fragile planet , and it has been incredible to widen my passion for the environmental and social justice through Greenpeace .
I am inspired to work for an organization that fights for a just world that promotes and protects human rights , gender equality , and the integrity for the environment .
And it is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ extraordinary and dedicated women .
My sister sent me a Greenpeace email in 2007 , the email had a petition about saving the whales .
I realized that I wanted to part of something big , so I signed up to receive Greenpeace emails .
I realized after signing a few petitions how powerful my voice was when I heard back from my state senator .
Three years later , I started working for Greenpeace .
I started as a canvasser and now I ’ m a National Mobilization Organizer .
I ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ environmental and progressive movement , and I ’ ve had the privilege to speak up through civil disobedience against dirty corporate money in politics .
I am a proud Latina , and I am motivated every day by women who continue to fight the good fight—even when faithless .
I see us rising .
I see us creating our own stage , for our planet , for human rights , and for social justice .
The diversity we bring inspires me to speak up for those who can not speak for themselves , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ until the good fight no longer needs me .
Women play an incredible role in the environmental movement .
We need women .
We make up a little over half of the Earth ’ s population .
Greenpeace was co-founded by Dorothy Stowe , a woman .
Greenpeace USA is now run by a woman , Annie Leonard .
Women in the Chipko Movement coined the term “ tree hugger ” in India in the 1970s .
We use the term “ Mother Earth.
” We will never stop needing women , in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are a family and we take care of each other .
The way of setting and meeting goals is very motivational .
The way we inspire strangers to get involved is one of the best feelings .
It ’ s very freeing compared to working retail or an office .
Through learning at my job , I grew to really love our organization , our independence , how we take action in creative ways , and how we incorporate social justice with the Jemez Principles .
I am fighting for everything and all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this planet , we ’ re all affected by it , and we need to leave something livable for the next generations , our animals who don ’ t have a voice , and also us in the present .
This is the world .
This is existence .
This is our health and our lives .
It gives me hope seeing how many people on the street care , and how much they ’ re willing to invest in our work .
When they thank us for being out there , it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ waste living is the latest lifestyle trend for Instagram influencers , but for frugal immigrants households , it ’ s long been our way of life .
My 엄마 and 아빠 , immigrants from South Korea , born during the Korean war and raised in difficult times of post-war shortages , can not bear to be wasteful .
We ’ ve always reused plastic containers , ziploc bags , straws , paper towel sheets , recycled aluminum cans ( hello , 5¢ deposit return ! )
, and reduced food waste ( overripe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Why throw something away when you can reuse it ?
Why create unnecessary waste ?
While their efforts were more an attempt to save money than to save the environment , my parents practice of frugality taught me the importance of conservation when I was able to see the benefit to the environment as well .
I proudly credit my immigrant parents and their conscientious lifestyle as the foundation for my environmentalist values .
Though the vast majority of climate change has been driven by corporate polluters , everyday people are doing their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ m inspired by these everyday activists taking action with Greenpeace and being part of the environmental movement .
We ’ re all working together to channel the power of our diverse backgrounds and perspectives and seek a more equitable , just , and free world for all .
Ever since I was young , I always knew I would be an artist .
I also knew that I would never conform to the norm , or a system of patriarchal oppression , hell no !
But most importantly , I knew that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who could not stand up for themselves—including not only other humans , but animals and our planet overall .
To me , there is no separation between us as individuals , or us and the earth—we are all one .
My great love for art and doing what ’ s right has led me to where I am today .
Art has the powerful ability to educate , expand the mind , heal , bring people together , and so much more—it is truly amazing .
With all the pain and trouble in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ compassion and creativity can save us .
That is why I am proud to be utilizing my creative communication skills alongside so many other talented and passionate folks at Greenpeace to assist in advancing humanity and our planet forward toward a more green and peaceful future .
I moved to DC after college and figured to make the most of my time there , I should pursue connecting with one of the awesome non-profit organizations in town .
Greenpeace was my # 1 dream , so I wrote to the director of HR @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the “ Creative Department ” ( now Communications ) , and I started coming in a few days a week .
There was no intern program , no orientation .
I was to show up and try to make myself useful .
Which I actually think is a good way to start .
After six months volunteering I was hired part-time .
I went on a ship and fell in love with everything , and I ’ ve worked here ever since .
People have asked me if it ’ s sad @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Greenpeace works on .
For me , it would be sad not to .
I feel lucky to work with people fighting for a green and peaceful world .
I met actor/rapper Ice-T when I was in college and he told me you can have anything you want , think about it—anything you ’ ve really wanted , you ’ ve gotten .
The secret is knowing what you want .
At Greenpeace , asking for the world we want makes that world possible .
And that gives me hope .
At Greenpeace @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to dream big and take risks .
I still am .
I believe in the Commons and a system that values cooperation over domination .
In that system , a lot of skills traditionally seen as feminine are valued rather than discouraged .
I ’ m happy to celebrate the awesome women I ’ ve worked with on International Women ’ s Day .
IWD also happens to be my mom ’ s birthday .
Happy birthday , Mom !
I realized that I was passionate about preserving and conserving our environment when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ no idea what I wanted to do with my life , but I knew I wanted to work in a space where I was making a difference in the world , whether that be working to protect the environment or working to promote social justice .
I wanted to be able to go to work and feel like the work I was doing was genuinely important .
I always thought Greenpeace was the most impactful of all the environmental non-profits , and that Greenpeace activists made the most effort to get out there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we all need .
I always believed that it was essential for all women , especially women of color , to be environmental activists .
For a long time , the forerunners of the environmental movement have been white men , but we live in a world comprised of so many different people from so many different backgrounds and our environment does not solely belong to white men .
What gives me hope is that the environmental movement has grown significantly to include people of every background you could imagine , and that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and more women as forerunners of the movement .
It ’ s exciting stuff !

Meet the Greenpeace Women and Gender Non-Binary Staff Fighting for Climate Justice
The staff here at Greenpeace contains many astounding individuals who have dedicated themselves to organizing, campaigning, and amplifying the issues we care so passionately about. And today, in honor of International Women’s Day, I’d like to introduce you to a handful of the incredible women and gender non-binary staff who help empower and drive the environmental movement.
Kaitlin Grable – Social Media Associate
I come from matriarchal families and culture, and I was raised with no shortage of female role models to look up to. Along with a sense of strength and resilience, the women in my life (specifically my mom) instilled in me a love for Mother Earth and all her beings. Growing up in the Mojave desert of California, my mom worked as a conservation biologist with a crew of archaeologists. When I wasn’t in school, I would tag along with her in the field to monitor local desert tortoise populations and help catalog Indigenous artifacts. I loved these excursions, and now I can look back and see how these experiences laid the groundwork for the woman I was going to become.
For as long as I remember having career aspirations, I have wanted to be a part of the environmental movement in some way. My time in the desert with my mom had shown me at a very young age that nature and wildlife are worth protecting. When I was 12 years old I somehow got my hands on a poster of the iconic Greenpeace ship, the Rainbow Warrior. It hung on my wall through middle and high school, and every time I saw it, I would daydream about my future and wish for the opportunity to join a Greenpeace expedition onboard one of the ships. Now—17 years later—that dream has been realized in the form of a six-week expedition to Antarctica about the Greenpeace ship Esperanza.
It inspires me how, despite the many challenges we face, women and non-binary activists are creating intersectional solidarity and spaces where we can band together to fight for the many causes that demand justice. I am proud to be a part of an organization that recognizes the importance of—and fights for—intersectional social, racial, environmental, and gender justice. Every day I am inspired by the women of this movement and this organization, and I’m so grateful that I get to share their stories with you in this piece.
Ivy Schlegel – Senior Research Specialist
I identify as non-binary/gender fluid, and I am hopeful for a world where gender is seen as autonomous choice.
I am a research specialist with Greenpeace, which means I work with our team of campaigners, scientists and storytellers leading investigations that expose environmental destruction, responsibility, and solutions. My interest in science and activism was inspired by my 8th grade science teacher, Mrs. Greffly, who helped me with a research project on elephant conservation and illegal wildlife trade, and later by many women who taught me how to climb and deploy both aerial blockades and people-powered science to protect forest ecosystems from corporate logging.
I’ve always sought out women mentors to learn trades and skills I didn’t always see other women doing, and most have helped me articulate a niche for myself. I am proud to work in a team where we challenge each other to expose things that are deliberately kept hidden and figure out how we will make both the problems and the solutions visible, which requires a lot of imagination and creativity to stay ahead of despair.
I am inspired daily by the women here and around the globe who drive environmental movements. Women tend to be impacted disproportionately by health impacts, and in many contexts, women are on the frontline as the “managers” of things like food cultivation, domestic waste management, family-making and child-rearing—often with less access to things like land tenure or wealth-making—and thus, are well-suited to identify problems and solutions. The emotional labor often delegated to women sharpens skills in organizing, negotiation, the health of the collective, pattern recognition and detail awareness, reading people, and so on. These are all important skills for strategy and activism, as people-based movements make lasting change—not government or legal policy.
Mariah De Los Santos – Online Content Associate
Being a woman in the environmental movement is very empowering. I have always looked up to the many female activists, scientists, scholars, mothers, and writers who have been criticized for working towards environmental progress, yet they continue to fight on. The services that women provide for environmental protection have become more imperative every day. So much so, that the common theme of “mother nature” as representing the land and earth, is embedded into our outlook. As we waver between various global crises, it is clear that we need women: their skills, their wisdom, and their knowledge.
From a very young age, I knew that my role in this world was to speak for those who cannot. I am proud to be using my voice to amplify the rights of nature, animals, and communities affected by climate change. I have always taken interest in the protection of our fragile planet, and it has been incredible to widen my passion for the environmental and social justice through Greenpeace. I am inspired to work for an organization that fights for a just world that promotes and protects human rights, gender equality, and the integrity for the environment. And it is a privilege to stand alongside so many extraordinary and dedicated women.
Linda Rodriguez – National Mobilization Organizer
My sister sent me a Greenpeace email in 2007, the email had a petition about saving the whales. I realized that I wanted to part of something big, so I signed up to receive Greenpeace emails. I realized after signing a few petitions how powerful my voice was when I heard back from my state senator. Three years later, I started working for Greenpeace. I started as a canvasser and now I’m a National Mobilization Organizer. I’ve had many opportunities to support the environmental and progressive movement, and I’ve had the privilege to speak up through civil disobedience against dirty corporate money in politics.
I am a proud Latina, and I am motivated every day by women who continue to fight the good fight—even when faithless. I see us rising. I see us creating our own stage, for our planet, for human rights, and for social justice. The diversity we bring inspires me to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, and I will continue to do so until the good fight no longer needs me.
Cara Capone – Greenpeace NYC Fundraiser
Women play an incredible role in the environmental movement. We need women. We make up a little over half of the Earth’s population. Greenpeace was co-founded by Dorothy Stowe, a woman. Greenpeace USA is now run by a woman, Annie Leonard. Women in the Chipko Movement coined the term “tree hugger” in India in the 1970s. We use the term “Mother Earth.” We will never stop needing women, in any movement.
At Greenpeace, we are a family and we take care of each other. The way of setting and meeting goals is very motivational. The way we inspire strangers to get involved is one of the best feelings. It’s very freeing compared to working retail or an office. Through learning at my job, I grew to really love our organization, our independence, how we take action in creative ways, and how we incorporate social justice with the Jemez Principles.
I am fighting for everything and all of us. We all live on this planet, we’re all affected by it, and we need to leave something livable for the next generations, our animals who don’t have a voice, and also us in the present. This is the world. This is existence. This is our health and our lives. It gives me hope seeing how many people on the street care, and how much they’re willing to invest in our work. When they thank us for being out there, it restores my faith in humanity.
Irene Kim – Programs Coordinator
Zero waste living is the latest lifestyle trend for Instagram influencers, but for frugal immigrants households, it’s long been our way of life. My 엄마 and 아빠, immigrants from South Korea, born during the Korean war and raised in difficult times of post-war shortages, cannot bear to be wasteful. We’ve always reused plastic containers, ziploc bags, straws, paper towel sheets, recycled aluminum cans (hello, 5¢ deposit return!), and reduced food waste (overripe kimchi makes better kimchi stew!) Why throw something away when you can reuse it? Why create unnecessary waste?
While their efforts were more an attempt to save money than to save the environment, my parents practice of frugality taught me the importance of conservation when I was able to see the benefit to the environment as well. I proudly credit my immigrant parents and their conscientious lifestyle as the foundation for my environmentalist values.
Though the vast majority of climate change has been driven by corporate polluters, everyday people are doing their part to help the environment. I’m inspired by these everyday activists taking action with Greenpeace and being part of the environmental movement. We’re all working together to channel the power of our diverse backgrounds and perspectives and seek a more equitable, just, and free world for all.
Jayne Worth – Visual Content Designer
Ever since I was young, I always knew I would be an artist. I also knew that I would never conform to the norm, or a system of patriarchal oppression, hell no! But most importantly, I knew that I would ALWAYS stand up for those who could not stand up for themselves—including not only other humans, but animals and our planet overall. To me, there is no separation between us as individuals, or us and the earth—we are all one.
My great love for art and doing what’s right has led me to where I am today. Art has the powerful ability to educate, expand the mind, heal, bring people together, and so much more—it is truly amazing. With all the pain and trouble in the world, I strongly feel that compassion and creativity can save us. That is why I am proud to be utilizing my creative communication skills alongside so many other talented and passionate folks at Greenpeace to assist in advancing humanity and our planet forward toward a more green and peaceful future.
Nicole Sands – Deputy Digital Director
I moved to DC after college and figured to make the most of my time there, I should pursue connecting with one of the awesome non-profit organizations in town. Greenpeace was my #1 dream, so I wrote to the director of HR, he connected me with the head of the “Creative Department” (now Communications), and I started coming in a few days a week. There was no intern program, no orientation. I was to show up and try to make myself useful. Which I actually think is a good way to start. After six months volunteering I was hired part-time. I went on a ship and fell in love with everything, and I’ve worked here ever since.
People have asked me if it’s sad working on all of the tough issues Greenpeace works on. For me, it would be sad not to. I feel lucky to work with people fighting for a green and peaceful world. I met actor/rapper Ice-T when I was in college and he told me you can have anything you want, think about it—anything you’ve really wanted, you’ve gotten. The secret is knowing what you want. At Greenpeace, asking for the world we want makes that world possible. And that gives me hope. At Greenpeace, I’ve always been encouraged to dream big and take risks. I still am.
I believe in the Commons and a system that values cooperation over domination. In that system, a lot of skills traditionally seen as feminine are valued rather than discouraged. I’m happy to celebrate the awesome women I’ve worked with on International Women’s Day. IWD also happens to be my mom’s birthday. Happy birthday, Mom!
Layla Anthony – Talent Acquisition Assistant
I realized that I was passionate about preserving and conserving our environment when I was in college. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, but I knew I wanted to work in a space where I was making a difference in the world, whether that be working to protect the environment or working to promote social justice. I wanted to be able to go to work and feel like the work I was doing was genuinely important.
I always thought Greenpeace was the most impactful of all the environmental non-profits, and that Greenpeace activists made the most effort to get out there in the world and create the change we all need. I always believed that it was essential for all women, especially women of color, to be environmental activists. For a long time, the forerunners of the environmental movement have been white men, but we live in a world comprised of so many different people from so many different backgrounds and our environment does not solely belong to white men.
What gives me hope is that the environmental movement has grown significantly to include people of every background you could imagine, and that its continuing to grow to include more and more women as forerunners of the movement. It’s exciting stuff!


greenpeace--2020-03-05--Global Ocean Treaty: 6 questions about bold new plan to rescue the world’s oceans

The Global Ocean Treaty is a bold new plan to turn things around .
From climate change and plastic pollution , to mining and overfishing , the threats facing our oceans are getting more urgent every day .
Here 's how we turn things around .
Right now , there is a chance to turn things around .
World leading scientists , working alongside Greenpeace , have drawn up a bold rescue plan for our oceans—and it ’ s brilliantly simple : we create huge ocean sanctuaries all over the world , putting millions of square kilometers off-limits to fishing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ industries .
If the plan goes ahead , it will be one of the biggest conservation efforts in human history .
And while sanctuaries can ’ t fix everything , the benefits for ocean life—and for people worldwide—would be enormous .
So , how would this plan work ?
And why does all of this matter ?
First , why is it important to protect the oceans ?
Hundreds of miles offshore , the open oceans are pretty far-removed from the average person ’ s everyday life .
But these waters are truly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more varied than in the tropical rainforests .
They contain the highest and longest mountain range anywhere on Earth and trenches deep enough to hold Mount Everest .
They ’ re the highways for whales and turtles on their cross-planet migrations .
Protecting these natural wonders is the right thing to do .
But this isn ’ t just about conscience .
It ’ s also about survival .
The oceans produce half of our oxygen and food for a billion people .
And because they soak up huge amounts of carbon dioxide @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our best defenses against climate change .
What does the plan involve ?
The Ocean Rescue Plan would create a huge network of protected areas ( ocean sanctuaries ) covering at least 30 % of the oceans by 2030 .
Within these areas fishing , seabed mining , and any other industrial activity would be illegal .
When you see the scale of the change like this , it ’ s easy to understand how big its impact could be .
If we implemented the rescue plan in full , ocean life would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ better able to cope with big global threats like climate change and plastic pollution .
How were these areas chosen ?
It ’ s not just about the total size .
To make the most of their potential , the protected areas need to be in the right place .
To work this out , a team of scientists used data on habitats , species , fishing patterns , and features like undersea mountains and trenches to generate hundreds of different options for where the sanctuaries could go .
They even took into @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and how the protected areas would work together .
How is the Global Ocean Treaty different from existing ocean sanctuaries ?
You ’ ve probably heard about ocean sanctuaries that already exist–either in individual countries ’ national waters , or special areas like the Antarctic .
Sadly , too many of these are so-called “ paper parks ” with lax enforcement , or rules too weak to offer true protection .
But well designed ocean sanctuaries work amazingly well .
These new sanctuaries would be different in two ways .
Firstly , they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rules and well-funded enforcement ( more on this below ) .
And secondly , they ’ d be in places that it wouldn ’ t have been possible to protect before .
How would the new sanctuaries be created ?
At the moment , there is no way to create ocean sanctuaries outside of national waters .
The legal mechanism for countries to agree on something like this simply doesn ’ t exist .
Things like this are usually handled by treaties , and as luck would have it , there ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ could give us everything we need to get started .
A good treaty would create a new UN body that could examine proposals for new sanctuaries using the latest science , then provide strong enforcement to make sure these sanctuaries are genuinely off-limits to harmful industries .
What are the obstacles to a Global Ocean Treaty ?
Although we ’ re likely to get some sort of treaty , a good treaty won ’ t happen by itself .
Destructive industries like industrial fishing are pushing hard to carry on with business as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to argue on their behalf .
To counter this , politicians need to see a popular movement for ocean protection , both in their individual countries and worldwide .
By coming together and speaking out , we can embolden the politicians that are already pushing for change , and force the cautious or undecided countries to properly back a strong treaty .
If you haven ’ t already joined the campaign for a Global Ocean Treaty , you can get involved here .

From climate change and plastic pollution, to mining and overfishing, the threats facing our oceans are getting more urgent every day. Here's how we turn things around.
Right now, there is a chance to turn things around. World leading scientists, working alongside Greenpeace, have drawn up a bold rescue plan for our oceans—and it’s brilliantly simple: we create huge ocean sanctuaries all over the world, putting millions of square kilometers off-limits to fishing, mining, drilling and other destructive industries.
If the plan goes ahead, it will be one of the biggest conservation efforts in human history. And while sanctuaries can’t fix everything, the benefits for ocean life—and for people worldwide—would be enormous.
So, how would this plan work? And why does all of this matter?
First, why is it important to protect the oceans?
Hundreds of miles offshore, the open oceans are pretty far-removed from the average person’s everyday life.
But these waters are truly special. They are home to creatures more varied than in the tropical rainforests. They contain the highest and longest mountain range anywhere on Earth and trenches deep enough to hold Mount Everest. They’re the highways for whales and turtles on their cross-planet migrations.
Humpback whales, enjoy the warm waters off the Pacific ocean, Tonga. © Paul Hilton / Greenpeace
Protecting these natural wonders is the right thing to do. But this isn’t just about conscience. It’s also about survival.
The oceans produce half of our oxygen and food for a billion people. And because they soak up huge amounts of carbon dioxide, they’re also one of our best defenses against climate change.
What does the plan involve?
The Ocean Rescue Plan would create a huge network of protected areas (ocean sanctuaries) covering at least 30% of the oceans by 2030. Within these areas fishing, seabed mining, and any other industrial activity would be illegal.
When you see the scale of the change like this, it’s easy to understand how big its impact could be. If we implemented the rescue plan in full, ocean life would become healthier, more abundant, and better able to cope with big global threats like climate change and plastic pollution.
How were these areas chosen?
It’s not just about the total size. To make the most of their potential, the protected areas need to be in the right place.
To work this out, a team of scientists used data on habitats, species, fishing patterns, and features like undersea mountains and trenches to generate hundreds of different options for where the sanctuaries could go. They even took into account the effects of climate change, and how the protected areas would work together.
Andaman sea, Satun, Thailand. A large school of Banana fusilier (Pterocaesio pisang) swims over the colourful field of soft corals (Dendronephthya sp.) in the reef of Hin Khao, two small pinnacles in the sea of Satun, Thailand, known for massive biological diversity. © Sirachai Arunrugstichai / Greenpeace
How is the Global Ocean Treaty different from existing ocean sanctuaries?
You’ve probably heard about ocean sanctuaries that already exist–either in individual countries’ national waters, or special areas like the Antarctic.
Sadly, too many of these are so-called “paper parks” with lax enforcement, or rules too weak to offer true protection. But well designed ocean sanctuaries work amazingly well.
These new sanctuaries would be different in two ways. Firstly, they’d actually work, with strict rules and well-funded enforcement (more on this below). And secondly, they’d be in places that it wouldn’t have been possible to protect before.
False Bay glaciers, Livingston Island, Antarctica. Greenpeace is documenting the Antarctic’s unique wildlife, to strengthen the proposal to create the largest protected area on the planet, an Antarctic Ocean Sanctuary. © Paul Hilton / Greenpeace
How would the new sanctuaries be created?
At the moment, there is no way to create ocean sanctuaries outside of national waters. The legal mechanism for countries to agree on something like this simply doesn’t exist.
Things like this are usually handled by treaties, and as luck would have it, there’s a Global Ocean Treaty being negotiated that could give us everything we need to get started.
A good treaty would create a new UN body that could examine proposals for new sanctuaries using the latest science, then provide strong enforcement to make sure these sanctuaries are genuinely off-limits to harmful industries.
What are the obstacles to a Global Ocean Treaty?
Although we’re likely to get some sort of treaty, a good treaty won’t happen by itself. Destructive industries like industrial fishing are pushing hard to carry on with business as usual, and some governments are happy to argue on their behalf.
Amanda Du-Pont holds a ‘Protect the Oceans’ banner in the South Atlantic ocean. Amanda Du-Pont is a Swazi-born South African actress, model and television host. © Richard Barnden / Greenpeace
To counter this, politicians need to see a popular movement for ocean protection, both in their individual countries and worldwide. By coming together and speaking out, we can embolden the politicians that are already pushing for change, and force the cautious or undecided countries to properly back a strong treaty.
If you haven’t already joined the campaign for a Global Ocean Treaty, you can get involved here.


greenpeace--2020-02-21--UPDATE: Governor Newsom Receives His First Climate Report Card!

Just days after his State of the State address , Governor Newsom received his very first Climate Report Card , which evaluates his leadership on phasing out fossil fuels and protecting public health in California .
TLDR : while Newsom has made some promising signals , he ’ ll need to commit to real actions in order to earn high marks .
A year into his term , California Governor Gavin Newsom is coming up short on climate leadership—in fact , he barely even mentioned the climate crisis during his State of the State Address last week .
That ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ issuing Governor Newsom his very first climate report card—and unfortunately , his marks are less than stellar : I joined more than a hundred activists , youth , and Californians on Wednesday , as we gathered outside the California capitol building to deliver a message : climate leadership means phasing out fossil fuels and protecting communities from harmful extraction .
Like many California residents , I have felt the impacts of the climate crisis firsthand .
During the 2018 Camp Fire , I saw people in downtown San Francisco , waiting in lines @ @ @ @ @ @ @ buy masks when all the drug stores were sold out .
I remember not wanting to take deep breaths when I was outside because the air quality had reached hazardous levels .
My experience pales in comparison to the thousands of people who lost their homes to California wildfires that year— and to the communities just across the bay living near the Chevron oil refinery in Richmond , CA .
Their air quality is polluted year round , and their children have roughly twice the rate of asthma as their neighbors .
It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ourselves on standing up to Trump ’ s anti-environment agenda , while our state is one of the top producers of oil and gas in the country .
California—and Governor Newsom—can ’ t be a climate leader without addressing our role in fueling the climate crisis .
With this first report card , it ’ s clear that Governor Newsom has a long way to go to earn an “ A ” on climate .
We are doubling down on our calls for real climate leadership here in California in three ways : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Fire Drill Fridays , and through the work of the 750+ organizations that make up the Last Chance Alliance .
As we build the pressure , we ’ ll be issuing periodic report cards that give Newsom a chance to show improvement .
Join the call for climate leadership in California : urge Governor Gavin Newsom to be a climate leader and phase out fossil fuels along with a just and equitable transition that protects workers , communities , and economies .

Just days after his State of the State address, Governor Newsom received his very first Climate Report Card, which evaluates his leadership on phasing out fossil fuels and protecting public health in California. TLDR: while Newsom has made some promising signals, he’ll need to commit to real actions in order to earn high marks.
A year into his term, California Governor Gavin Newsom is coming up short on climate leadership—in fact, he barely even mentioned the climate crisis during his State of the State Address last week. That’s why today, we’re issuing Governor Newsom his very first climate report card—and unfortunately, his marks are less than stellar:
I joined more than a hundred activists, youth, and Californians on Wednesday, as we gathered outside the California capitol building to deliver a message: climate leadership means phasing out fossil fuels and protecting communities from harmful extraction.
Like many California residents, I have felt the impacts of the climate crisis firsthand. During the 2018 Camp Fire, I saw people in downtown San Francisco, waiting in lines wrapped around the block, trying to buy masks when all the drug stores were sold out. I remember not wanting to take deep breaths when I was outside because the air quality had reached hazardous levels. My experience pales in comparison to the thousands of people who lost their homes to California wildfires that year— and to the communities just across the bay living near the Chevron oil refinery in Richmond, CA. Their air quality is polluted year round, and their children have roughly twice the rate of asthma as their neighbors.
It’s troubling that Californians simultaneously pride ourselves on standing up to Trump’s anti-environment agenda, while our state is one of the top producers of oil and gas in the country. California—and Governor Newsom—can’t be a climate leader without addressing our role in fueling the climate crisis.
With this first report card, it’s clear that Governor Newsom has a long way to go to earn an “A” on climate. We are doubling down on our calls for real climate leadership here in California in three ways: with our California pressure team, during Fire Drill Fridays, and through the work of the 750+ organizations that make up the Last Chance Alliance.
As we build the pressure, we’ll be issuing periodic report cards that give Newsom a chance to show improvement. Join the call for climate leadership in California: urge Governor Gavin Newsom to be a climate leader and phase out fossil fuels along with a just and equitable transition that protects workers, communities, and economies.
sign the petition


greenpeace--2020-02-20--Recycling isn’t dead, but plastic is killing it

Recycling isn ’ t dead , but plastic is killing it A shocking new Greenpeace report reveals that most types of single-use plastic are not recyclable in the United States .
Despite the widespread use of “ recycling ” symbols and marketing aimed at convincing us that it is okay to use throwaway plastic , only bottles and jugs meet the minimum legal standard to be labeled recyclable .
What that actually means for the dutiful recycler is that most of those plastic items you are encouraged to wash , sort , and put in blue bins — the ones @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 6 , or 7 , and even some of the 1s and 2s – are usually ending up in landfills or incinerators , if not polluting the environment .
And of course , we know very well that what gets burned or landfilled ends up contaminating our environment too , with toxic chemicals ending up in the soil we grow our food , the water we drink , and the air we breathe .
Don ’ t let this report turn you off on recycling .
Plastic packaging is the problem , not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is for marine life and human health , it is also harming our ability to recycle material that can be recycled over and over again , like aluminum , paper , and glass .
Since everything is going in the same bin , plastic waste with no value or market ends up driving up the cost of the whole system , to the point where cities like Memphis , Philadelphia , and many others , are starting to struggle to pay for recycling .
Meanwhile , most of the corporations responsible for producing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to push the costs of dealing with it onto taxpayers .
If all of that throwaway plastic is going to end up coming back to poison us , maybe we should stop making it .
Companies are still dragging their feet , but we are starting to see some very encouraging regulatory proposals from cities , states , and even the US Congress .
The Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act proposed by Senator Udall and Representative Lowenthal is exactly the kind of comprehensive legislation we need right now .
Add your name @ @ @ @ @ @ @ legislation that will tackle the plastic waste crisis .

Recycling isn’t dead, but plastic is killing it
A shocking new Greenpeace report reveals that most types of single-use plastic are not recyclable in the United States. Despite the widespread use of “recycling” symbols and marketing aimed at convincing us that it is okay to use throwaway plastic, only bottles and jugs meet the minimum legal standard to be labeled recyclable.
What that actually means for the dutiful recycler is that most of those plastic items you are encouraged to wash, sort, and put in blue bins — the ones numbered 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7, and even some of the 1s and 2s – are usually ending up in landfills or incinerators, if not polluting the environment. And of course, we know very well that what gets burned or landfilled ends up contaminating our environment too, with toxic chemicals ending up in the soil we grow our food, the water we drink, and the air we breathe.
Don’t let this report turn you off on recycling. Plastic packaging is the problem, not recycling.
Because as bad as plastic is for marine life and human health, it is also harming our ability to recycle material that can be recycled over and over again, like aluminum, paper, and glass. Since everything is going in the same bin, plastic waste with no value or market ends up driving up the cost of the whole system, to the point where cities like Memphis, Philadelphia, and many others, are starting to struggle to pay for recycling. Meanwhile, most of the corporations responsible for producing all of this waste continue to try to push the costs of dealing with it onto taxpayers.
If all of that throwaway plastic is going to end up coming back to poison us, maybe we should stop making it. Companies are still dragging their feet, but we are starting to see some very encouraging regulatory proposals from cities, states, and even the US Congress. The Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act proposed by Senator Udall and Representative Lowenthal is exactly the kind of comprehensive legislation we need right now.
Add your name to show your support for this groundbreaking legislation that will tackle the plastic waste crisis.


greenpeace--2020-04-18--COVID-19 relief must put people first, not corporations

This might be our last chance to make sure Congress gives real people the support they so desperately need .
Now is the time to protect all workers , prioritize everyone ’ s health , and move away from our extractive economy that produces and consumes until no end .
The COVID-19 news today is stark : Close to 20,000,000 people in the U.S. are now unemployed without a way to make ends meet .
More than 600,000 people are fighting to recover from the virus .
And multitudes of essential workers are risking their health and well-being in unsafe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ proper protections .
I ’ m so angry that our government isn ’ t doing enough .
But we can ’ t stop fighting .
Congress is already discussing the next massive economic relief package .
Send this message to Congress right now : Commit to COVID-19 relief that puts people first , not corporations and polluters , for the next economic aid package .
You don ’ t have to look far to see how broken our system was even before COVID-19 .
Those cracks in the system are becoming so big @ @ @ @ @ @ @ going to be crushed if we don ’ t rise up now .
Instead of focusing on helping real people , Trump and Congressional Republicans are taking U.S. taxpayers for a ride in the midst of this human tragedy .
On Tuesday , a new tax loophole for multi-millionaires and billionaires was discovered in the last stimulus package Congress passed that will cost us ~ $ 90 billion this year alone .
Oil companies on shaky financial footing are inventing harebrained schemes right now too .
Instead of slowing down production to coincide @ @ @ @ @ @ @ U.S. oil have come up with a shady , convoluted plan to keep drilling and fracking even though the oil industry is producing so much oil that it ’ s running out of places to store it .
It ’ s never been more urgent to expose the cracks in the system that allow Trump and the oil industry to exploit this pandemic .
Black , Brown , and low-income communities are dying from the coronavirus at a higher rate because they ’ ve typically been exposed to higher levels of air pollution @ @ @ @ @ @ @ This is unconscionable .
Now is the time to protect all workers , prioritize everyone ’ s health , and move away from our extractive economy that produces and consumes until no end .
Once you send a message to Congress telling them to put people first in the next relief package , you ’ ll be part of the millions of people who are rising up right now .
Keep fighting and so will we .
P.s .
It ’ s so important we stay together and stay safe while we ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we have so many opportunities here at Greenpeace to do just that !
Join us this Tuesday for a mask making and messaging training .
We ’ ll walk through everything you need to make your own mask using materials in your home and how to think creatively about the message that best represents you for your mask .

5 Principles for a Just Recovery
Now is the time to protect all workers, prioritize everyone’s health, and move away from our extractive economy that produces and consumes until no end.
The COVID-19 news today is stark: Close to 20,000,000 people in the U.S. are now unemployed without a way to make ends meet. More than 600,000 people are fighting to recover from the virus. And multitudes of essential workers are risking their health and well-being in unsafe conditions to take care of us without proper protections.
I’m so angry that our government isn’t doing enough. But we can’t stop fighting. Congress is already discussing the next massive economic relief package.
We will fight to uphold these five principles for any and all responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure a just recovery and transition to a better future for those most in need in the wake of this crisis.
Five Principles for a Just Recovery
Ensure all people have access to healthcare, with no exceptions Help everyone pay their bills Protect the workers and communities who keep this country functioning, not corporate executives and Wall Street shareholders Launch a Green New Deal and transform our exploitative and extractive economy to prevent future crises (like the ongoing climate crisis!) Defend our democracy and protect each other across communities and borders
If we’re loud enough, we can get those relief funds directed towards saving lives, helping people pay their bills, centering workers’ safety, and changing our economy so it actually takes care of people and the planet — not towards filling a few billionaires’ bank accounts. This might be our last chance to make sure Congress gives real people the support they so desperately need.
Send this message to Congress right now: Commit to COVID-19 relief that puts people first, not corporations and polluters, for the next economic aid package.
Demand relief for people, not corporations
You don’t have to look far to see how broken our system was even before COVID-19. Those cracks in the system are becoming so big that it feels like we’re going to be crushed if we don’t rise up now.
Instead of focusing on helping real people, Trump and Congressional Republicans are taking U.S. taxpayers for a ride in the midst of this human tragedy. On Tuesday, a new tax loophole for multi-millionaires and billionaires was discovered in the last stimulus package Congress passed that will cost us ~$90 billion this year alone.
Oil companies on shaky financial footing are inventing harebrained schemes right now too. Instead of slowing down production to coincide with plummeting oil prices, Trump and U.S. oil have come up with a shady, convoluted plan to keep drilling and fracking even though the oil industry is producing so much oil that it’s running out of places to store it.
It’s never been more urgent to expose the cracks in the system that allow Trump and the oil industry to exploit this pandemic. Black, Brown, and low-income communities are dying from the coronavirus at a higher rate because they’ve typically been exposed to higher levels of air pollution and have less access to healthcare. This is unconscionable.
Now is the time to protect all workers, prioritize everyone’s health, and move away from our extractive economy that produces and consumes until no end.
Once you send a message to Congress telling them to put people first in the next relief package, you’ll be part of the millions of people who are rising up right now. Keep fighting and so will we.
Demand relief for people, not corporations


greenpeace--2020-04-18--5 Principles for a Just Recovery

5 Principles for a Just Recovery

Now is the time to protect all workers , prioritize everyone ’ s health , and move away from our extractive economy that produces and consumes until no end .
The COVID-19 news today is stark : Close to 20,000,000 people in the U.S. are now unemployed without a way to make ends meet .
More than 600,000 people are fighting to recover from the virus .
And multitudes of essential workers are risking their health and well-being in unsafe conditions to take care of us without proper protections .
I ’ m so angry that our government isn ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t stop fighting .
Congress is already discussing the next massive economic relief package .
We will fight to uphold these five principles for any and all responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure a just recovery and transition to a better future for those most in need in the wake of this crisis .
Five Principles for a Just Recovery • Ensure all people have access to healthcare , with no exceptions • Help everyone pay their bills • Protect the workers and communities who keep this country functioning , not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Launch a Green New Deal and transform our exploitative and extractive economy to prevent future crises ( like the ongoing climate crisis ! )
• Defend our democracy and protect each other across communities and borders If we ’ re loud enough , we can get those relief funds directed towards saving lives , helping people pay their bills , centering workers ’ safety , and changing our economy so it actually takes care of people and the planet — not towards filling a few billionaires ’ bank accounts .
This might be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gives real people the support they so desperately need .
Send this message to Congress right now : Commit to COVID-19 relief that puts people first , not corporations and polluters , for the next economic aid package .
You don ’ t have to look far to see how broken our system was even before COVID-19 .
Those cracks in the system are becoming so big that it feels like we ’ re going to be crushed if we don ’ t rise up now .
Instead of focusing on helping real @ @ @ @ @ @ @ taking U.S. taxpayers for a ride in the midst of this human tragedy .
On Tuesday , a new tax loophole for multi-millionaires and billionaires was discovered in the last stimulus package Congress passed that will cost us ~ $ 90 billion this year alone .
Oil companies on shaky financial footing are inventing harebrained schemes right now too .
Instead of slowing down production to coincide with plummeting oil prices , Trump and U.S. oil have come up with a shady , convoluted plan to keep drilling and fracking even though the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that it ’ s running out of places to store it .
It ’ s never been more urgent to expose the cracks in the system that allow Trump and the oil industry to exploit this pandemic .
Black , Brown , and low-income communities are dying from the coronavirus at a higher rate because they ’ ve typically been exposed to higher levels of air pollution and have less access to healthcare .
This is unconscionable .
Now is the time to protect all workers , prioritize everyone ’ s health , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that produces and consumes until no end .
Once you send a message to Congress telling them to put people first in the next relief package , you ’ ll be part of the millions of people who are rising up right now .
Keep fighting and so will we .


greenpeace--2020-04-21--On Earth Day, let’s shape this plastic-free future together

On Earth Day , let ’ s shape this plastic-free future together On Earth Day , let ’ s use this time to plan together to create the world that we want to see focused on people , the planet , and communities breaking free from plastic .
As the 50th anniversary of Earth Day approaches on April 22nd , I am inspired by Greenpeace supporters who are modeling how we can come together as a community to support and protect each other and the planet .
I want to challenge us to use this fierce solidarity to reflect on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and to imagine what type of world — free from plastic pollution — we want to create when this crisis is over and lives begin to return to normal .
After this pandemic , there will be a power grab by industry elites to rebuild the world they want .
We can ’ t let the oil industry — makers of plastic — lobby us back to the status quo of rampant single-use plastics .
Right now , we as a society have more power than ever to restart our world to focus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ together during this crisis : sustainable systems of resilience and an equitable economy for everyone .
The Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act is a pioneering first step towards getting us to a society free from industry-pumped plastic pollution .
Plastic pollution is destroying our planet , our oceans , and disproportionately impacting low income and communities of color .
As the fossil fuel industry doubles down on plastic as the new frontier for petrochemical production , we must do everything in our power to shape a new future that isn ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
We must work together to create a sustainable economy that doesn ’ t leave anybody behind .
And we must break free from plastic pollution to make this vision a reality .
A just transition free from plastic pollution must work towards a circular economy that embraces reusables and delivery systems built on safe and sustainable sanitation systems .
In order to support that vision , we need to pass strong national legislation that holds corporations and plastic producers accountable for the plastic crisis .
Add your support today to the Break @ @ @ @ @ @

On Earth Day, let’s shape this plastic-free future together
On Earth Day, let’s use this time to plan together to create the world that we want to see focused on people, the planet, and communities breaking free from plastic.
As the 50th anniversary of Earth Day approaches on April 22nd, I am inspired by Greenpeace supporters who are modeling how we can come together as a community to support and protect each other and the planet.
I want to challenge us to use this fierce solidarity to reflect on what changes in our system are possible and to imagine what type of world — free from plastic pollution — we want to create when this crisis is over and lives begin to return to normal.
After this pandemic, there will be a power grab by industry elites to rebuild the world they want. We can’t let the oil industry — makers of plastic — lobby us back to the status quo of rampant single-use plastics. Right now, we as a society have more power than ever to restart our world to focus on the values that have united us together during this crisis: sustainable systems of resilience and an equitable economy for everyone.
The Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act is a pioneering first step towards getting us to a society free from industry-pumped plastic pollution.
sign now
Plastic pollution is destroying our planet, our oceans, and disproportionately impacting low income and communities of color. As the fossil fuel industry doubles down on plastic as the new frontier for petrochemical production, we must do everything in our power to shape a new future that isn’t crafted by these powerful multi-billion dollar industries. We must work together to create a sustainable economy that doesn’t leave anybody behind. And we must break free from plastic pollution to make this vision a reality.
A just transition free from plastic pollution must work towards a circular economy that embraces reusables and delivery systems built on safe and sustainable sanitation systems. In order to support that vision, we need to pass strong national legislation that holds corporations and plastic producers accountable for the plastic crisis. Add your support today to the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act.
On Earth Day, let’s unite together.
sign now


greenpeace--2020-04-21--Cómo puedes ser un activista desde casa

Cómo puedes ser un activista desde casa

El 2019 fue un gran año .
Has participado de las huelgas climáticas y las has convertido en un suceso @ @ @ @ @ a los representantes de tu gobierno y se han realizado cambios .
Se han reunido @ @ @ @ @ sus voces .
• Encuentra modos de reutilizar los plásticos que ya tienes .
¿Cómo @ @ @ @ @ dejes de usarlos , puedes lavarlos y , si no puede reutilizarlo , recicle .
@ @ @ @ @ del aislamiento .
Si no sabes por dónde comenzar , tu alcaldía o municipalidad tendrá @ @ @ @ @ te ayudará a no comprar más plástico innecesario .

Want to learn more about tax-deductible giving, donating stock and estate planning?
Visit Greenpeace Fund, a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) charitable entity created to increase public awareness and understanding of environmental issues through research, the media and educational programs.


greenpeace--2020-04-21--How to be an activist at home

How to be an activist at home

Now we are in the middle of another historic global moment—one whose magnitude we are still processing .
But the fight against the climate crisis isn ’ t going anywhere .
Staying home right now , if you ’ re able , and helping slow the spread of COVID-19 is our priority right now .
To protect our family , our friends and do our best to relieve a strained medical system and to support communities that are most affected by the pandemic and most at risk , such as Indigenous communities .
However , if you ’ re fortunate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and are ready to add climate action back into your routine , here are some of our favorite ways to stay connected to the movement , wherever you find yourself : Use this moment of social distancing to really engage your close ones in a conversation on the climate crisis ( whether it is online , or at the actual dinner table ) .
Spend time understanding what people are thinking , what issues matter to them in their neighborhood , community or city , and what are the potential remedies .
These @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they do with climate activists , and that ’ s okay !
Remember , spend 70 % of your time listening and 30 % speaking .
Document these conversations , if you want and share them to encourage others to do the same .
Here ’ s a tip : Open with “ what are three things you would change about your city if you were mayor for a week ?
” or “ as a member of this community , what do you think we should be asking of our city council @ @ @ @ @ @ @ your research skills to work !
Find out which local advocacy groups in your city or state are active in the fight for the climate , including water rights , land use , climate justice or any other topic that ’ s important to you .
Learn more about their campaigns , their causes , and see how you start sharing the word now to start building bridges now for future collaboration !
If you have the time , or are looking for an activity the whole family can participate in , make @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ ve always meant to .
Or catch up on some environmental documentaries .
Get inspired by these stories and discuss .
Participate in online forums about the climate crisis Engage in conversations around the climate emergency .
There are many free webinars where you can listen to the experts ’ opinions .
Share these webinars with your friends or , even better , open a discussion about what you have learned .
There are many ways to be an activist digitally in times of quarantine too • Create unique Instagram filters or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ help to make your campaign visible ( Here is an example from an oceans campaign ) and others can share on their own accounts .
• Start a Twitter storm : make people aware of the environmental problem that is occurring , the more tweets there are , the better it will be !
If you know users with a large number of followers , you can ask them to spread the word about your campaign .
• Use Tik Tok and new digital trends to approach a serious and technical problem in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) .
• Use these channels to share news , videos and your ideas about the climate crisis and its impact .
If you find news that you feel passionate about , for example , deforestation , endangered species , air pollution , you can share them on your social networks .
Make sure you always check that the information is accurate and post from trusted organizations and news outlets .
Get your friends and followers involved in the discussion .
Review your daily habits .
If we all look over our regular @ @ @ @ @ @ @ actions can contribute to mitigate the climate crisis .
• What we eat is important to reconsider .
Ask yourself about your meat consumption and try to reduce it , so you can contribute in the fight against climate emergency .
14.5 % of global greenhouse gas emissions come directly from livestock .
And if you have extra time now , what a better time to experiment with plant-based recipes .
See what new dish you can create !
• You can also take this time to battle plastic pollution .
Start by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ currently and if they ’ re necessary .
Spoiler : they ’ re not .
( Unsure if something is reusable or disposable ?
Check your facts ) .
Keep this in mind if you have to go to the market .
And take the time to plan and make a list .
An organized refrigerator will help prevent food waste — a major contributor to the climate crisis— and save you unnecessary trips to the store in this uncertain time .
You can also finally try growing some of your own food @ @ @ @ @ @ @ grow on your windowsill .
• Find a way to reuse the plastic you already have .
How can you repurpose ?
When you ’ ve used up a container , make sure to clean it up and if you can ’ t repurpose , recycle .
Find out where you can take them after the isolation .
If you don ’ t know where to start , your city will have information that might help you .
Reusing plastics are good ways to prevent you from buying more needless plastics .
Use @ @ @ @ @ @ @ creative thinking to move forward .
In a world of quarantines and disruption of offline life , let ’ s make our demands as impactful and innovative as possible .
And don ’ t forget , solidarity is a powerful thing .
Together we can overcome anything .

Now we are in the middle of another historic global moment—one whose magnitude we are still processing.
But the fight against the climate crisis isn’t going anywhere. Staying home right now, if you’re able, and helping slow the spread of COVID-19 is our priority right now. To protect our family, our friends and do our best to relieve a strained medical system and to support communities that are most affected by the pandemic and most at risk, such as Indigenous communities.
However, if you’re fortunate enough to be able to stay home and are ready to add climate action back into your routine, here are some of our favorite ways to stay connected to the movement, wherever you find yourself:
Dinner Table Discussions
Use this moment of social distancing to really engage your close ones in a conversation on the climate crisis (whether it is online, or at the actual dinner table). Spend time understanding what people are thinking, what issues matter to them in their neighborhood, community or city, and what are the potential remedies. These conversations will look a lot different than they do with climate activists, and that’s okay! Remember, spend 70% of your time listening and 30% speaking. Document these conversations, if you want and share them to encourage others to do the same.
Here’s a tip: Open with “what are three things you would change about your city if you were mayor for a week?” or “as a member of this community, what do you think we should be asking of our city council to mitigate this crisis?”
Build Bridges
Put your research skills to work! Find out which local advocacy groups in your city or state are active in the fight for the climate, including water rights, land use, climate justice or any other topic that’s important to you. Learn more about their campaigns, their causes, and see how you start sharing the word now to start building bridges now for future collaboration!
Get informed
If you have the time, or are looking for an activity the whole family can participate in, make that reading list of climate books you’ve always meant to. Or catch up on some environmental documentaries. Get inspired by these stories and discuss.
Participate in online forums about the climate crisis
Engage in conversations around the climate emergency. There are many free webinars where you can listen to the experts’ opinions. Share these webinars with your friends or, even better, open a discussion about what you have learned.
Get Social
There are many ways to be an activist digitally in times of quarantine too
Create unique Instagram filters or a template for your story, which help to make your campaign visible (Here is an example from an oceans campaign) and others can share on their own accounts.
Start a Twitter storm: make people aware of the environmental problem that is occurring, the more tweets there are, the better it will be! If you know users with a large number of followers, you can ask them to spread the word about your campaign.
Use Tik Tok and new digital trends to approach a serious and technical problem in a friendlier language (be creative!).
Use these channels to share news, videos and your ideas about the climate crisis and its impact. If you find news that you feel passionate about, for example, deforestation, endangered species, air pollution, you can share them on your social networks. Make sure you always check that the information is accurate and post from trusted organizations and news outlets. Get your friends and followers involved in the discussion.
Be aware of your consumption habits
Review your daily habits. If we all look over our regular consumptions, we realize that our small actions can contribute to mitigate the climate crisis.
What we eat is important to reconsider. Ask yourself about your meat consumption and try to reduce it, so you can contribute in the fight against climate emergency. 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions come directly from livestock. And if you have extra time now, what a better time to experiment with plant-based recipes. See what new dish you can create!
You can also take this time to battle plastic pollution. Start by checking how many single-use plastics you consume currently and if they’re necessary. Spoiler: they’re not. (Unsure if something is reusable or disposable? Check your facts). Keep this in mind if you have to go to the market. And take the time to plan and make a list. An organized refrigerator will help prevent food waste — a major contributor to the climate crisis— and save you unnecessary trips to the store in this uncertain time. You can also finally try growing some of your own food; start with herbs or veggies to grow on your windowsill.
Find a way to reuse the plastic you already have. How can you repurpose? When you’ve used up a container, make sure to clean it up and if you can’t repurpose, recycle. Find out where you can take them after the isolation. If you don’t know where to start, your city will have information that might help you. Reusing plastics are good ways to prevent you from buying more needless plastics.
Use these ideas as a starting point for creative thinking to move forward. In a world of quarantines and disruption of offline life, let’s make our demands as impactful and innovative as possible.
And don’t forget, solidarity is a powerful thing. Together we can overcome anything.


greenpeace--2020-04-22--Fall in love with our planet

Fall in love with our planet

Fall in love with our planet We are lucky to be born on this magnificent planet , which has a @ @ @ @ @ us each day and makes us fall in love with its beauty all over again @ @ @ @ @ going through these strange times , let ’ s appreciate what we already have .
@ @ @ @ @ born on this magnificent planet , which has a very unique way to surprise us @ @ @ @ @ fall in love with its beauty all over again .
Hit the pause button and @ @ @ @ @ to appreciate mother nature .

Fall in love with our planet
We are lucky to be born on this magnificent planet, which has a very unique way to surprise us each day and makes us fall in love with its beauty all over again.
by Sudhanshu Malhotra
While we all are going through these strange times, let’s appreciate what we already have. We are lucky to be born on this magnificent planet, which has a very unique way to surprise us each day and makes us fall in love with its beauty all over again.
Hit the pause button and take a few moments now to appreciate mother nature.
Moss on tree in Romanian forest. © Mitja Kobal / Greenpeace
Great Bear Rainforest in Canada. Aerial view. © Oliver Salge / Greenpeace
Underwater shot of marine life at Raja Ampat, Papua, Indonesia. Mangroves support many species, and are important nursing grounds for many juvenile fish. © Paul Hilton / Greenpeace
Tapajós river basin, next to Sawré Muybu indigenous land, is home to the Munduruku people, Pará state, Brazil. © Rogério Assis / Greenpeace
The region between the states of Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí and Bahia, known as MATOPIBA in Brazil., is considered the showcase of Brazilian agribusiness, with a high productions of soy and corn for export. © Marizilda Cruppe / Greenpeace
Forest next to the Tapajós river, in Sawré Muybu Indigenous Land, home to the Munduruku people, Pará state, Brazil. © Valdemir Cunha / Greenpeace
The Greenpeace ship, Arctic Sunrise moves through rolling seas as it crosses the Drake Passage after a 6 week tour of Antarctica. © Abbie Trayler-Smith / Greenpeace
The Arctic Sunrise sails past a large iceberg in the Gerlach Strait, Antarctica. © Abbie Trayler-Smith / Greenpeace
Aerial shot over Montagnes Blanches with expanse of water. © Markus Mauthe / Greenpeace
Flamingos at Lake Natron, Rift Valley, Tanzania, Africa. © Markus Mauthe / Greenpeace
Black tip reef sharks swim amongst schools of fish in Raja Ampat, Papua, © Paul Hilton / Greenpeace
Adelie penguins on icebergs near Paulet Island in the Erebus and Terror Gulf in the entrance to the Weddell Sea in Antarctica. © Abbie Trayler-Smith / Greenpeace


greenpeace--2020-04-22--We Were Born For This Fight (The Climate Emergency)

We Were Born For This Fight ( The Climate Emergency ) No one is coming to save you .
Or your kids and grandkids .
Or the planet .
We are the generation that must save ourselves and our world .
That ’ s our climate emergency in a nutshell .
And that is actually the good news .
“ You know what this country is ?
” she said .
“ This country is a man trying to describe a burning building without using the word fire.
” “ You were born for this resistance , for this preparation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ born to fight.
” I listen to a lot of very heavy Doom Metal music , and let me tell you — it feels a lot more hopeful than what our most insightful climate writers have to say right now .
The mood is grim , folks .
They fear the game of life is up .
But there is one thing that unites these apostles of doom .
At the end of an uncompromising song on YOB ’ s deeply emotional new album , Our Raw Heart , the lead singer screams @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this is all there is , there is nothing else , this is all there is , ” over and over again .
In other words , no one is coming to save you .
Or your kids and grandkids .
Or the planet .
We are the generation that must save ourselves and our world .
That ’ s our climate emergency in a nutshell .
And that is actually the good news .
Now for the bad news .
“ It is worse , much worse , than you think , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Earth : Life After Warming .
He continues with writing that is almost too elegant for the brutality of his subject matter .
I can ’ t quote the entire book here , but you get the picture .
Bill McKibben , whose perspective on climate change has been honed over decades of unrelenting activism and scholarship , expresses a similar sense of terror and exasperation in Falter : Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out : Read together , Falter and The Uninhabitable Earth take us from warnings about climate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is already upon us .
Doom Metal doesn ’ t even approach this level of existential darkness .
Both books lay out our climate emergency ’ s primary elements : water , fire , heat , and wind , and the devastating interactions between them , the consequences of which we are just starting to understand .
But wait , that ’ s not even the worst news .
McKibben does a masterful job shedding light on the corporate-conservative Radical Right conspiracy that captured government and has stymied public efforts to address the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ He digs deep into the ideological framework of the Western white male elites that found comfort and safe harbor in the hyper-individualism of Ayn Rand .
McKibben traces “ the most consequential lie in human history : ” Exxon ’ s efforts to “ emphasize the uncertainty ” in the scientific data about climate change to undercut Dr. James Hansen ’ s Congressional testimony on global warming in 1988 .
Yes , the really , really bad news from these authors is that the crisis we are in was preventable .
We had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ address the crisis .
But the Radical Right ’ s seizure of power prevented action then , and they continue to push us to the brink of extinction .
McKibben nails it : Big corporations decided in the early 1970s they needed to pursue a much clearer path to governing power , not just maximizing profits , thanks to a memo from Lewis Powell to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce .
They organized down the pathways of deregulation , privatization , money in politics and attacks on us ( workers , people of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ poor people , immigrants , refugees , asylees ) .
They captured government and its rule-making and regulatory apparatus to remove any and all limits on their desire to profit from extractive industries .
We can not underestimate the centrality of racist panic and white supremacy to the Radical Right in winning and maintaining governing power .
Wallace-Wells explains , “ Beginning in 2011 , about one million Syrian refugees were unleashed on Europe by a civil war inflamed by climate change and drought — and in a very real sense , much @ @ @ @ @ @ @ entire West is passing through now is the result of panic produced by the shock of those migrants.
” Let ’ s be super clear .
The climate emergency was born of genocide , slavery , colonialism , capitalism , and white supremacy .
The stolen wealth of fossil-fuel capitalism has been twice paid by slaves , low wage workers , and the Earth through labor and resource extraction and now climate change .
As the climate emergency escalates , the Radical Right is moving from climate change denial or obfuscation to outright @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on the levers of power .
The climate induced refugee crisis is a through-line from Syria to Guatemala , and one that is only beginning .
The U.N. projections are bleaker : 200 million climate refugees by 2050… .
The high end of what ’ s possible in the next thirty years , the United Nations says , is considerably worse : “ a billion or more vulnerable poor people with little choice but to fight or flee.
” A billion or more.
” What , then , should we do ?
To @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unconditional solidarity , on an unprecedented scale .
“ If you had to invent a threat grand enough , and global enough , to plausibly conjure into being a system of true international cooperation , ” he says , “ climate change would be it — the threat everywhere , and overwhelming , and total.
” McKibben , too , attempts to turn the corner toward hope and solutions : in Greta Thurnberg ’ s school strikes , Extinction Rebellion , the Sunrise Movement and the Green New Deal , McKibben finds hope @ @ @ @ @ @ @ organized in nonviolent movements , and urges us to join and follow them .
The big solution McKibben offers is solar power , and the massive job-creating and hope-filled undertaking to move away from fossil fuels and other drivers of climate change toward renewable energy that benefits the Global South and people on the frontlines of climate and energy crises .
Wallace-Wells takes a different approach to solutions , largely by not landing on a single one .
He says : Neither Wallace-Wells nor McKibben perfectly nail the landing .
Wallace-Wells oscillates between @ @ @ @ @ @ @ laments , “ I do not know that we will make these choices .
I rather suspect we won ’ t — we are faltering now , and the human game has indeed begun to play itself out.
” You could read these books and easily feel crushed by despair you could be energized by the responsibility for our generation to get this right .
I took a break between reading these two books to recharge my own batteries , and see if today ’ s best speculative fiction writers could imagine us @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and McKibben reference the growing genre of climate science fiction , or “ cli-fi , ” which features prominently in A People ’ s Future of the United States : Speculative Fiction from 25 Extraordinary Writers , a new volume edited by Victor LaValle and John Joseph Adams .
As a fan of this genre , I found myself revived by what McKibben calls “ the flow ” of inspiration when reading what these authors propose about what could be , if we are bold enough to re-imagine the future .
LaValle and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ We are seeking stories that explore new forms of freedom , love , and justice : narratives that release us from the chokehold of the history and mythology of the past…and writing that gives us new futures to believe in.
” Two common themes strike me in the work of these twenty-five authors .
First , there is no escaping the apocalypse that is already upon us — the climate catastrophes Wallace-Wells and McKibben survey grimly .
It appears that even if you can paint the future , you can ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ theme is more optimistic : with imagination we just might rise to the challenges of survival , healing , reparations , and repair , even now .
The magical thinking in O.1 by Gabby Rivera is liberating , even though she tells the harrowing story of the first birth after a genocidal climate catastrophe .
Rivera reminds us that sometimes you just have to let yourself dream .
What if solving the climate emergency was not just up to humans ( though we certainly created it ) ?
That future is imagined in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by Charles Yu .
It may come to the reality that Merc Fenn Wolfmoor imagines in Our Aim Is Not to Die , but even then hope rises .
In Read After Burning , Maria Dahvana Headley shares a magical story of resistance and memory as people struggle to hold their histories in the face of oppression .
All is not lost , these brilliant visions suggest , even if our climate catastrophe feels insurmountable .
The human spirit has not perished .
Whenever the path forward is not clear and we lack @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the voices of and stories of women , people of color , Indigenous People , workers , non-binary people , young people , and the people who have paid for the climate emergency coming and going .
They can still imagine our future .
Let ’ s all do this together now .
Remember , we were born for this fight .
Wallace-Wells , David .
The Uninhabitable Earth : Life After Warming .
New York : Tim Duggan Books .
2019 .
McKibben , Bill .
Falter : Has the Human @ @ @ @ @ @ @ New York : Henry Holt and Company .
2019 .
LaValle , Victor and John Joseph Adams , editors .
A People ’ s Future of the United States : Speculative Fiction from 25 Extraordinary Writers .
New York : One World .
2019 .

We Were Born For This Fight (The Climate Emergency)
No one is coming to save you. Or your kids and grandkids. Or the planet. We are the generation that must save ourselves and our world. That’s our climate emergency in a nutshell. And that is actually the good news.
“You know what this country is?” she said. “This country is a man trying to describe a burning building without using the word fire.”
— Omar El Akkad, Riverbed
“You were born for this resistance, for this preparation, for this life. You were born to fight.”
— Maria Dahvana Headley, Read After Burning
I listen to a lot of very heavy Doom Metal music, and let me tell you — it feels a lot more hopeful than what our most insightful climate writers have to say right now.
The mood is grim, folks. They fear the game of life is up.
But there is one thing that unites these apostles of doom. At the end of an uncompromising song on YOB’s deeply emotional new album, Our Raw Heart, the lead singer screams, “There is nothing else, this is all there is, there is nothing else, this is all there is,” over and over again.
In other words, no one is coming to save you. Or your kids and grandkids. Or the planet. We are the generation that must save ourselves and our world. That’s our climate emergency in a nutshell. And that is actually the good news.
Now for the bad news.
“It is worse, much worse, than you think,” writes David Wallace-Wells in The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming.
He continues with writing that is almost too elegant for the brutality of his subject matter.
“The slowness of climate change is a fairy tale, perhaps as pernicious as the one that says it isn’t happening at all, and comes to us bundled with several others in an anthology of comforting delusions: that global warming is an Arctic saga, unfolding remotely; that it is strictly a matter of sea level and coastlines, not an enveloping crisis sparing no place and leaving no life undeformed… that there is any analogue to the scale or scope of this threat, in the long span of human history, that might give us confidence in staring it down. None of this is true.”
I can’t quote the entire book here, but you get the picture.
Bill McKibben, whose perspective on climate change has been honed over decades of unrelenting activism and scholarship, expresses a similar sense of terror and exasperation in Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out:
“Put simply, between ecological destruction and technological hubris, the human experiment is now in question…And — to kvetch and whine a little further — because of the way power and wealth are currently distributed on our planet, I think we’re uniquely ill-prepared to cope with the emerging challenges. So far, we’re not coping with them.”
Read together, Falter and The Uninhabitable Earth take us from warnings about climate change into the unfolding climate emergency that is already upon us.
“This is what is meant when climate change is called an ‘existential crisis,’” Wallace-Wells explains, “a drama we are now haphazardly improvising between two hellish poles, in which our best-case outcome is death and suffering at the scale of twenty-five Holocausts, and the worst-case outcome puts us on the brink of extinction.”
Now that’s grim.
Doom Metal doesn’t even approach this level of existential darkness.
Both books lay out our climate emergency’s primary elements: water, fire, heat, and wind, and the devastating interactions between them, the consequences of which we are just starting to understand.
But wait, that’s not even the worst news.
McKibben does a masterful job shedding light on the corporate-conservative Radical Right conspiracy that captured government and has stymied public efforts to address the climate emergency in the United States. He digs deep into the ideological framework of the Western white male elites that found comfort and safe harbor in the hyper-individualism of Ayn Rand.
McKibben traces “the most consequential lie in human history:” Exxon’s efforts to “emphasize the uncertainty” in the scientific data about climate change to undercut Dr. James Hansen’s Congressional testimony on global warming in 1988.
“Within a year, Exxon, Chevron, Shell, Amoco, and others had joined together to form what they called the Global Climate Coalition, to coordinate business participation in the international policy debate on climate change…Bush’s pollster, Frank Luntz, further emphasized this point: ‘Should the public come to believe that the scientific issues are settled, their views about global warming will change accordingly. Therefore, you need to continue to make the lack of scientific certainty a primary issue in the debate.’”
Yes, the really, really bad news from these authors is that the crisis we are in was preventable. We had the science, and enough time to address the crisis. But the Radical Right’s seizure of power prevented action then, and they continue to push us to the brink of extinction. McKibben nails it:
“What is certain is that this disinformation campaign cost us the human generation that might have made the crucial difference in the climate fight…So: global warming is the ultimate problem for oil companies because oil causes it, and it’s the ultimate problem for government haters because without government intervention, you can’t solve it.”
Big corporations decided in the early 1970s they needed to pursue a much clearer path to governing power, not just maximizing profits, thanks to a memo from Lewis Powell to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. They organized down the pathways of deregulation, privatization, money in politics and attacks on us (workers, people of color, indigenous people, women, poor people, immigrants, refugees, asylees). They captured government and its rule-making and regulatory apparatus to remove any and all limits on their desire to profit from extractive industries.
We cannot underestimate the centrality of racist panic and white supremacy to the Radical Right in winning and maintaining governing power. Wallace-Wells explains, “Beginning in 2011, about one million Syrian refugees were unleashed on Europe by a civil war inflamed by climate change and drought — and in a very real sense, much of the “populist moment” the entire West is passing through now is the result of panic produced by the shock of those migrants.”
Let’s be super clear. The climate emergency was born of genocide, slavery, colonialism, capitalism, and white supremacy. The stolen wealth of fossil-fuel capitalism has been twice paid by slaves, low wage workers, and the Earth through labor and resource extraction and now climate change. As the climate emergency escalates, the Radical Right is moving from climate change denial or obfuscation to outright xenophobia and racism to maintain its hold on the levers of power.
The climate induced refugee crisis is a through-line from Syria to Guatemala, and one that is only beginning. The U.N. projections are bleaker: 200 million climate refugees by 2050…. The high end of what’s possible in the next thirty years, the United Nations says, is considerably worse: “a billion or more vulnerable poor people with little choice but to fight or flee.” A billion or more.”
What, then, should we do? To Wallace-Wells, the only possible solution is unconditional solidarity, on an unprecedented scale. “If you had to invent a threat grand enough, and global enough, to plausibly conjure into being a system of true international cooperation,” he says, “climate change would be it — the threat everywhere, and overwhelming, and total.”
McKibben, too, attempts to turn the corner toward hope and solutions: in Greta Thurnberg’s school strikes, Extinction Rebellion, the Sunrise Movement and the Green New Deal, McKibben finds hope in the new energy of young people organized in nonviolent movements, and urges us to join and follow them.
The big solution McKibben offers is solar power, and the massive job-creating and hope-filled undertaking to move away from fossil fuels and other drivers of climate change toward renewable energy that benefits the Global South and people on the frontlines of climate and energy crises.
Wallace-Wells takes a different approach to solutions, largely by not landing on a single one. He says:
“There will be those, as there are now, who fight as unrelenting activists, with approaches as diverse as federal lawsuits and aggressive legislation and small-scale protests of new pipelines; nonviolent resistance; and civil-rights crusades. And there will be those, as there are now, who see the cascading suffering and fall back into an inconsolable despair. There will be those, as there are now, who insist that there is only one way to respond to the unfolding ecological catastrophe — one productive way, one responsible way. Presumably, it won’t be only one way.”
Neither Wallace-Wells nor McKibben perfectly nail the landing. Wallace-Wells oscillates between cynicism and cautious hope, and McKibben laments, “I do not know that we will make these choices. I rather suspect we won’t — we are faltering now, and the human game has indeed begun to play itself out.”
You could read these books and easily feel crushed by despair you could be energized by the responsibility for our generation to get this right.
I took a break between reading these two books to recharge my own batteries, and see if today’s best speculative fiction writers could imagine us into a better future.
Both Wallace-Wells and McKibben reference the growing genre of climate science fiction, or “cli-fi, ” which features prominently in A People’s Future of the United States: Speculative Fiction from 25 Extraordinary Writers, a new volume edited by Victor LaValle and John Joseph Adams.
As a fan of this genre, I found myself revived by what McKibben calls “the flow” of inspiration when reading what these authors propose about what could be, if we are bold enough to re-imagine the future.
LaValle and Adams put forward a bold call: “We are seeking stories that explore new forms of freedom, love, and justice: narratives that release us from the chokehold of the history and mythology of the past…and writing that gives us new futures to believe in.”
Two common themes strike me in the work of these twenty-five authors. First, there is no escaping the apocalypse that is already upon us — the climate catastrophes Wallace-Wells and McKibben survey grimly.
It appears that even if you can paint the future, you can’t escape the present.
But the second theme is more optimistic: with imagination we just might rise to the challenges of survival, healing, reparations, and repair, even now.
The magical thinking in O.1 by Gabby Rivera is liberating, even though she tells the harrowing story of the first birth after a genocidal climate catastrophe. Rivera reminds us that sometimes you just have to let yourself dream.
IMBALANCE decimated 40 percent of Earth’s population, hitting the 1 percent first and devouring the rest of the world one consumer at a time. Never in the collective imagination could we, humans, have prepared for a sentient bacterium that preyed on white-supremacist greed. It destroyed the lives we’d known and effectively neutered us. IMBALANCE is the reason my folks got pregnant. You should know that part. The sentient bacterium, birthed of Mother Earth, evolved enough times to affect reproduction forever. As it sought out greed and excess, the bacterium learned to affect life and only allow it to bloom where there was compassion, empathy, and real love between peoples.
What if solving the climate emergency was not just up to humans (though we certainly created it)? That future is imagined in the more light-hearted Good News Bad News by Charles Yu.
Early talks have been fruitful, most likely due to the presence at the summit of the G200’s newest members: delegates from Kingdom Plantae, the world’s first nation-state of sentient trees. Trees are demanding major changes in the relations between flora and fauna. “We’ve long been silent in the face of unspeakable acts. Deforestation. Clear-cutting. Toxins in the soil,” said Eondo’or, an eighty-foot, six-hundred-year-old redwood and senior representative to the U.N. for Kingdom Plantae. “Not to mention getting peed on by drunk people.” “Here’s the thing,” Eondo’or added. “We definitely outnumber you. Also, you need us for food, shelter. Also carbon removal,” he said. “Also oxygen.”
It may come to the reality that Merc Fenn Wolfmoor imagines in Our Aim Is Not to Die, but even then hope rises.
It begins with one person, a stick figure, who holds up a sign in front of a courthouse. DON’T TAKE OUR RIGHTS AWAY, says the sign. The person is arrested. Two more people take their place. They too are arrested. More people arrive, holding signs. Some also are holding phones. From the phones flows a datastream: ones and zeroes forming arrows. The code slips into the courthouse. Police arrive and shoot the people with signs. Still more people come, holding up phones. PURGE displays on the screens… It sweeps them offscreen and then becomes a bridge, connected from the feet of the people to two words in the distance: OUR FUTURE.
In Read After Burning, Maria Dahvana Headley shares a magical story of resistance and memory as people struggle to hold their histories in the face of oppression.
“This story says you can live through anything and that when it is time to go, when the entire world goes dark, then you go together, holding on to one another’s hands, and you whisper the memory of birds and bees and the names of those you loved. When it is not time to go, though, this story says you rise.”
All is not lost, these brilliant visions suggest, even if our climate catastrophe feels insurmountable. The human spirit has not perished. Whenever the path forward is not clear and we lack inspiration, we should stop and listen to the voices of and stories of women, people of color, Indigenous People, workers, non-binary people, young people, and the people who have paid for the climate emergency coming and going. They can still imagine our future. Let’s all do this together now.
Remember, we were born for this fight.
Books Discussed:
Wallace-Wells, David. The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming. New York: Tim Duggan Books. 2019.
McKibben, Bill. Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out? New York: Henry Holt and Company. 2019.
LaValle, Victor and John Joseph Adams, editors. A People’s Future of the United States: Speculative Fiction from 25 Extraordinary Writers. New York: One World. 2019.
First published in Social Policy Magazine, Summer 2019, Volume 49, Number 2.