Global – This weekend people are joining over 820 actions in 91 countries under the banner of Rise for Climate to demonstrate the urgency of the climate crisis. Communities around the world will shine a spotlight on the increasing impacts they are experiencing and demand local action to keep fossil fuels in the ground. There will be hundreds of creative events and actions that challenge fossil fuels and call for a swift and just transition to 100% renewable energy for all.
Tens of thousands of people will take to the streets in the city of San Francisco in the largest climate march the West Coast has ever seen that will also include the largest ever street mural.
This will be led by frontline groups urging Governor Jerry Brown and elected officials attending the Global Climate Action Summit taking place on September 12 to commit to phasing out fossil fuel extraction and begin a just energy transition that focuses on racial and economic justice.
Elsewhere actions and events will include:
- Groups in the UK and Germany pushing for more divestment
- Large marches and rallies in Portugal and major European cities including Copenhagen, Paris, and Kiev
- Women spearheading anti-coal marches in countries across Asia where one of the first ever virtual mobilisations will project holograms into public spaces
- Creative actions in Latin America, the Pacific islands and Africa including local renewable energy summits
- Protests outside the UN climate talks in Bangkok, Thailand
- Activists taking aim at town-halls and banks around the world for continuing to support and finance fossil fuels
People are rising to support urgent action before 2020 to accelerate to the rapid phase out fossil fuels and a just transition to clean and fair energy systems for all. There is no time to lose. Already this year the world has experienced catastrophic heatwaves in North Africa, Europe, Japan, Pakistan, Australia and Argentina; deadly wildfires in Greece, Sweden, the USA and Russia; drought in Kenya and Somalia; major water shortages in Afghanistan and South Africa; extreme storms and flooding in Hawaii, India, Oman and Yemen; record melting of the Bering Sea ice; and the 400th month in the row of above-average global temperatures.
This weekend Rise for Climate will demonstrate the growing strength and diversity of the climate movement and the people who won’t wait for governments to act, but will lead by example and hold them to account.
NOTE TO EDITORS:
- Here is a full map of events
- Here you will find high quality photos and video reel from key events as they come in
- Other photos will be available here
- Here are key spokespeople available for interview
- Highlights of actions are here
- Here a special section on how art is being used to convey the climate message
Media contacts:
Hoda Baraka
Global Communications Director
hoda@350.org
+201001840990
Brett Nadrich
GreenFaith, Communications Director
brett@greenfaith.org
+17325886162
QUOTE SHEET:
“Climate change is the defining issue of our time, it is a crisis of democracy, justice and human rights. The climate movement is made stronger by its sister movements: for human rights, economic justice, democracy, and much more. This weekend Rise for Climate will demonstrate the growing strength and diversity of the climate movement. People power is accelerating the change we need to see, and usher in a new era of clean air and better health. Communities everywhere will show loudly and clearly what is expected from decision-makers to deliver on real climate leadership and build a fossil-free economy.” – May Boeve, Executive Director, 350.org
“We say yes to 100% renewable energy to combat the climate crisis” – Fadel Wade, activist and community leader, Bargny, Senegal
“Australians will be among the first communities to Rise for Climate on 8th September 2018, as people of strong faith and courageous hearts stand up for climate action from Cairns to Hobart, from Adelaide to Darwin, and sailing across Sydney Harbor as the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change (ARRCC) hoists our banner aboard a tall ship. It’s a sign of the times that people of faith will stand shoulder to shoulder with indigenous elders, teachers, students and people from all walks of life calling for real action on climate and clean energy across this vast continent.” – Philippa Rowland, ARRCC Representative & President of the Multifaith Association of South Australia
“Nothing marks a defining moment like thousands of people from every corner of the globe moving in unity and asking with one voice all governments to go 100% renewable energy. The only acceptable response by leaders would be higher ambition and stronger commitments for an energy transformation that will eradicate poverty, created jobs and secured health and prosperity in their countries.” – Wael Hmaidan, Executive Director, Climate Action Network International
“Australia is already feeling the impacts of our changing climate. We are fighting bushfires in winter, suffering a crippling drought, and scientists fear the first-ever incidence of back-to-back of coral bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef during our next summer. Our country has so much renewable energy potential, yet we export climate change in the form of coal and gas to the rest of the world. Australians want climate action and today we are rising to demand real leadership.” – Blair Palese, CEO, 350.org Australia
“We rise for our elders past. We rise for our people present. We rise for a fast and fair transition to a fossil free world.” – Isso Nihmei, Vanuatu Coordinator of the Pacific Climate Warriors
“Global Warming is already affecting our livelihoods in the Southern border provinces of Thailand. We cannot afford even a single coal-fired power plant to be built. We are rising to stop coal and call for renewable and sustainable sources of energy.” – Lamai Manakarn, Activist and Representative in Pattani, Southern Border Provinces of Thailand Network
“This mobilization is the voice of Iquitos, about something we have witnessed for many years and in which we have seldom joined, this event is the voice of the Peruvian Amazon for a clean and peaceful future. We want clean towns, without conflicts and injustice. We want policies that promote clean technologies. We want real change that makes it possible to leave behind more than 40 years of oil exploitation in our region and its impacts”- Victoria Espinoza, environmental management engineer, activist and coordinator of the event in Parque Zonal, Iquitos
“The climate justice solution I long for is one that seeks to protect all living beings with no exception.” – Danilo Moreira, Call Center Workers Union, part of the Climate Jobs campaign in Portugal
“Yasunidos was established to combat the exploitation of oil in the Yasuní National Park, more specifically in block 43, known as Ishpingo, Tambococha and Tiputini. One of our objectives is the transition towards a post-extractivist society, in which economic, political, social and energy proposals are made without the need to exploit hydrocarbons. We join this campaign to stress that this is a global demand from many organizations and many people. We want the Ecuadorian government to understand that there is a need to protect human and nature rights, and that we need to start making decisions not only as a government but as a society.” – David Fajardo Torres, Human and Nature Rights Defender, member of the Yasunidos Guapondelig collective
“There are more than 100 million women in Indonesia. I’m rising for women lighting the way protecting our Sacred Earth.” – Hening Parlan, Aisyiyah National Environment Coordinator, Indonesia
“One of the objectives of the Ríos Vivos Antioquia Movement is the transformation of the mining-energy policy in Colombia, which is why we recognize the importance of joining the global fight for climate and against the ecological footprint of an unsustainable way of life resulting in the impossibility of life on the planet. On September 8 we will be participating in the global action for the transformation of the planetary energy matrix. We demand oil to be left underground and to find a way out of the crisis of civilization affecting humanity today.” – Isabel Cristina Zuleta, coordinator of the Ríos Vivos organization, representing the communities of the Cauca River Canyon in Antioquia, Colombia
“We cannot afford even a single coal-fired power plant to be built. I am rising to stop coal and call for renewable and sustainable sources of energy.” – Lamai Manakarn, Southern Border Provinces of Thailand Network
“PCM is building alliances around climate among different sectors by rooting our work in justice. We are bringing people from frontline and communities of colour, union members, environmental activists, people of faith, and young people together for both a moment: in the streets and at community forums, rallies, and vigils in more than 40 states across the country; and a movement: connecting the actions of Rise for Climate, Jobs, and Justice September 8th to building power at the local and state level, and from the mid-terms to 2020 and beyond. We won’t stop until we’ve won a 100% clean and renewable energy economy that protects our planet, livelihoods, and democracy.” – Paul Getsos, National Director, Peoples Climate Movement
“We are marching alongside thousands of people from around the world who are on the frontlines of fighting big polluters and building new ways to power our neighbourhoods through 100% community-owned renewable energy. We’re sending a message to the elected officials and corporate executives gathering for the summit next week that we need equitable, community-led solutions, not profit-driven approaches like cap-and-trade that allow big polluters to buy and sell our right to clean air and a stable climate.” – Miya Yoshitani, Executive Director, Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN)
“This is not the first time the Climate Justice Alliance and our communities march for Climate, Jobs and Justice or stand in solidarity with solutions for people on the frontline of climate disasters across the world. It will not be the last. Every time we rise to defend communities, our voice gets stronger, the movement gets bolder! With each step, people are awakening to a different way of living with each other and with the planet. We are paving the path to march to the sound of our ecological and cultural roots and with it putting forth the solutions that will protect all people and the planet. The time is upon us to act out of love and compassion for each other and our future; join us!” – Angela Adrar, Executive Director, Climate Justice Alliance
“Today, people across the country are rising up for climate, jobs, and justice in their communities to fight back against Trump’s toxic agenda and to send a message to every politician that the time for action is now. Families living in the shadows of coal plants and oil refineries, losing homes and livelihoods to wildfires and extreme weather, and struggling to make a living wage are coming together because we know we don’t have time to waste. That’s why we’re rising with environmental justice leaders, labor unions, and partners and allies from Miami to San Francisco to Chicago to Big Stone Gap, Virginia and Laramie, Wyoming so we will be heard loud and clear now, in November, and in the months and years to come. We will take every opportunity to rise up together, united against Trump’s hate and fight for a 100% clean energy economy that leaves no one behind.” – Michael Brune, Executive Director, Sierra Club
“Zero Hour believes strongly in the right to dissent and organize. The Rise movement provides the opportunity for everyone to access those rights safely and without discrimination. We will rise up and fight back in San Francisco on September 8th. #ThisIsZeroHour to fight for environmental justice, a just transition, and a livable future.” – Nadia Nazar, Founding Member, Art Director, and Co-Partnerships Lead, Zero Hour
“Our generation is fed up with a corrupt and complacent political establishment that time and again prioritizes the profits of fossil fuel CEOs over the safety and well-being of millions of people across the world. Sunrise is transforming young people’s outrage at witnessing a lifetime of inaction on climate change into grassroots political power and making clear to our leaders: take bold action to stop this crisis, our generation demands it and will not settle for anything less.” – Varshini Prakash, co-founder, Sunrise