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2010 Campaign Report

EarthAction

2010 Campaign Report

 

                                    Image Source: RIANOVOSTI

EarthAction played a leading role in halting the logging in the Khimki Forest in Moscow

In July, we sent an email Action Alert to our Partner Organizations worldwide asking them to take action to support local environmentalists in their efforts to protect the Khimki Forest in Moscow. As the trees were being felled by chainsaws to make way for a highway project between Moscow and St. Petersburg, the local environmentalists were being beaten by thugs and jailed by the police. Within a month of our campaign, the New York Times reported that Russian President Medvedev, “responding to the global public outcry,” reversed his decision and called for a moratorium on the logging. Following his announcement, Medvedev fired Moscow’s mayor over the Khimki issue. Soon after, the two European Banks that were funding the highway construction project withdraw their financial backing. We had also asked our Partners to write to the banks with exactly this request.

Sadly, in January 2011, President Medvedev announced that the building of the roadway from Moscow to St. Petersburg will proceed through the Khimki Forest. EarthAction will continue our work with the local environmentalists, who are being physically attacked and imprisoned, to preserve this land.

 

Other Environment, Development, Peace, and Human Rights Issues Addressed:

• The 10/10/10 Global Work Party that engaged millions of people taking local action to slow-down climate change.
• UN International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples – August 9
• The Elders Project Black Line Journey in Colombia
• Call for proposals from the US Institute for Peace for peacebuilding projects managed by non-profit organizations throughout the world.
• A Report on the UN Millennium Development Goals
• Cultural Survival’s campaign to build support for Guatemala Communities Hit Hard by Tropical Storm Agatha
• The global movement to Free the Hikers who were detained in Iran (One was released, two are still held.)
• Human Rights Violations in Russia
• Creating a World Without Nuclear Weapons
• International Women’s Day – March 8
• Solar Workshop Project in New York City
• Maintaining the World-wide Ban on Ivory Trading as a means to Save the Elephants.
• The Charter for Compassion
• The Story of Stuff

In addition, EarthAction partnered with Solutions magazine to promote our work.

 

[Insert 2020 logo]Launched 2020 Action and the 2020 Education Fund

In 2010, 2020 Vision and the 2020 Vision Education Fund, organizations that Lois Barber (EarthAction’s Co-founder) created in 1986, gave their assets to EarthAction with the intention that it would carry on the work of 2020.

In April, EarthAction updated the names or both groups to 2020 Action and the 2020 Education Fund and ‘went public.’

2020 Action, the advocacy branch, sends monthly action postcards to its members via email and mail, each focused on a critical environment or peace issue. Each postcard asks members to take one small action and provides all the information needed. The postcards feature photographs that celebrate the beauty and wonder of the natural world. By the end of 2010, 2020 Action had 200 members. A membership costs $20/year.

The 2020 Ed Fund works to promote active citizen participation in our democracy by educating Americans about how our government works and about critical environment and peace issues with a focus on climate change and nuclear weapons. It also produces monthly postcards that ask members to contact decision makers other than members of Congress.

 

[Insert the ARE logo]

The Alliance for Renewable Energy (ARE) & the ARE Education Fund

In 2010 EarthAction continued to provide leadership for the Alliance for Renewable Energy—ARE and the ARE Education Fund, a coalition of businesses, NGOs, academics, and others that promote the world’s most effective renewable energy policy: feed-in tariffs (FITs). Lois Barber, EA’s Executive Director, serves as co-chair of ARE and the ARE Ed Fund.

EAN maintains ARE’s website: AllianceForRenewableEnergy.org, and Lois organizes and chairs monthly Steering Committee conference calls and meetings.

In addition, in 2010 Lois gave many presentations on FITs in Colorado and elsewhere. In May, she represented ARE at a gathering focused on FIT policies convened by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund held at Pocantico, RBF’s conference center. She continues to work with the strategic planning group that emerged from that gathering.

Feed-in tariff policies have been adopted by several states, cities and provinces in the US and Canada and are being considered by many more.

 

“Science and Spirituality in the Global Awakening: An Exploration with The World Future Council”.

As part of an ongoing project funded by the Fetzer Institute (through Amherst College), EAN helped to organize a three-day meeting on sustainable and compassionate economics that was held at the United Nations, May 8-10, 2010 during the 18th session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development. The workshop was designed to be the first in a series of working meetings organized by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs in the context of the preparation of the "United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development" (also called "Rio+20"), to be organized in Brazil in 2012.

The title of the meeting was: The Challenge of Sustainability: A Workshop in Preparation for Rio + 20. Participants included 20 of the world’s leading economists and thought leaders from North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. Also participating were representatives of the World Future Council, EarthAction, and the Fetzer Institute. A paper summarizing the discussions of the meeting and written by meeting participants can be found on EarthAction’s website.

 

[Insert photo from the Elders Project]

The Elders Project

In late 2009 EarthAction launched The Elders Project to preserve and protect the indigenous culture of the peoples of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia. In January 2010, Rick Harlow, the Program Coordinator, and a film crew organized and accompanied a group of 13 indigenous leaders and 4 support staff on a two-week long journey along The Black Line of the Sierra Nevada region. The Black Line, as the mamos or spiritual leaders call it, is the ancestral territorial boundary of the four Indigenous pueblos and is in great need of restoration. A written report and a 25-minute film were produced documenting the journey.

Later in 2010, Rick Harlow returned to the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta region to begin work initiated by Saga Benerexa of the Arhuaco tribe to train and support women's spiritual work that has been an integral aspect of the indigenous tradition and is considered crucial for maintaining the harmony and balance of spiritual forces in “the Heart of the World.”

 

The Endangered Languages Project

The Endangered Languages Program (ELP), sponsored by EAN, supports the preservation and restoration of Native languages and the Earth-honoring worldview at their core. Mariyam Medova, who lives in Alaska, is ELP’s Project Coordinator. One of the overarching goals of this program is to help revive indigenous traditions, ways of life, and continuity in knowledge transmission through preservation of the language. Small, effective teaching programs in languages that are endangered in North/Central America and Siberia are given priority. The projects are chosen primarily according to the level of urgency to protect the language and the likely effectiveness of the proposed projects. In 2010 ELP supported 6 projects in Siberia with grants totaling close to $14,000.

 

2011 Campaign Report

                                                                                 Image Source: RIANOVOSTI

In 2011, EarthAction continued its work to help preserve the Khimki Forest in Moscow. Despite local and international campaign efforts, logging was resumed in April by a Russian company hired by the French construction firm Vinci. Attacks against opponents of the planned Moscow-St. Petersburg highway continued throughout 2011. On behalf of Save Khimki Forest, we requested our Partners to ask President Medvedev to route the path away from the woods to stop the socially, economically, and ecologically unsustainable road, and to end fabrication of criminal charges against grassroots activists. We also requested our Partners to ask Vinci to stop cutting the trees and to pursue an alternative route for the highway.

As a result of the Khimki Forest defenders’ struggle, the width of the highway has been cut to 4 traffic lanes. Nevertheless, this does not solve the issue of Khimki’s ecosystem destruction. Over 10 alternative routes were shown by the independent expertise to spare Khimki Forest. EarthAction will continue working with the local defenders to preserve the forest.

 

EarthAction also addressed the following issues in 2011:

• Saving sacred sites in Mexico from mining
• Requests to the King of Norway to stop farm fishing in British Columbia
• The Global Day of Action to Reduce Military Spending
• Stopping development of nuclear power in the wake of Japan’s earthquake
• Promoting Earth Day
• Stopping uranium mining in the Grand Canyon in the USA
• Saving the Mekong River in Southeast Asia
• Promoting the Dignity Movement and Ending Rankism
• Calling on the heads of government of the five major nuclear weapons nations to take steps “to achieve the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.”
• Ending human trafficking
• Promoting, ‘I AM the documentary’
• Saving the Prey Lang Forest in Cambodia

 

In 2011 EarthAction also sponsored the following projects

 

2020 Action

2020 grew to over 500 members. It produced 12 monthly action postcards in 2011, each one focused on a current U.S. environment or peace issue. Victories included:

• Increased funds in the U.S. budget for securing the world’s nuclear materials
• The U.S. Environment Protection Agency (EPA) instituted new national standards to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve fuel efficiency of heavy-duty trucks and buses. Once implemented, these new standards will achieve 7-20% reductions in emissions from these vehicles and save up to 500 million barrels of oil over the lives of the vehicles produced in the first five years of the program.
• The U.S. Senate and the President successfully opposed most of the efforts to cripple the EPA and undermine the Clean Air and Water Acts.
• Cuts to military spending: The failure of the Super Committee to reduce the budget deficit requires additional automatic cuts to military spending equaling half of the $1.2 trillion that the committee failed to specify.
• President Obama announced he would postpone the decision on the Keystone XL Pipeline that would carry tar-sands oil from Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico, until 2013.

In 2012 we will have a membership drive to increase 2020’s membership. We will need your help.

 

 

 

The Alliance for Renewable Energy

In 2011 EarthAction continued to provide leadership for the Alliance for Renewable Energy—ARE, a coalition of businesses, NGOs, academics, and others that promote the world’s most effective renewable energy policy: feed-in tariffs (FITs). Lois Barber, EA’s Executive Director, served as Co-chair of ARE, and organized and chaired monthly Steering Committee conference calls. EarthAction also regularly updated ARE’s website: AllianceForRenewableEnergy.org

It’s been slow, but steady progress. Feed-in tariff (FIT) policies have been adopted by several states, cities and provinces in the US and Canada and are being considered by several more.

 
Science and Spirituality in the Global Awakening

As part of an ongoing project with Amherst College, EarthAction provided the transcriptions for a series of interviews between the project coordinators and leading scientists throughout the world who are exploring the relationship between science and spirituality. The interviews will form the basis for an upcoming book by Arthur Zajonc, author, lecturer, and Amherst College Professor of Physics.

 

 

 

 

The Elders Project

In 2009 EarthAction launched The Elders Project to preserve and protect the indigenous culture of the peoples of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia. In 2010 and 2011, Rick Harlow, the Program Coordinator, accompanied groups of indigenous leaders and support staff on several journeys along The Black Line of the Sierra Nevada region. The Black Line, as the mamos or spiritual leaders call it, is the ancestral territorial boundary of the four Indigenous pueblos and is in great need of restoration. A written report and a 25-minute film were produced documenting the journeys.

Rick Harlow has also carried out work initiated by Saga Benerexa of the Arhuaco tribe to train and support the women's spiritual work that has been an integral aspect of the indigenous tradition. This transmission of knowledge is considered crucial for maintaining the harmony and balance of spiritual forces in “the Heart of the World.”

 

Prey Lang Community Network Wins UN Prize

Members of the Prey Lang Community Network, and Lois Barber, Ex. Dir. EarthAction, (center) at the UN,  May 2012

The Prey Lang Community Network, EarthAction Partner,
Wins 2015 Equator Prize

On September 21, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) announced that the Prey Lang Community Network was one of the winners of the 2015 Equator Prize, a prestigious award given by the Equator Initiative that recognizes outstanding community efforts to reduce poverty, protect nature and strengthen resilience in the face of climate change.

Twenty other community initiatives were also awarded this 2015 award. Each initiative will receive $10,000 USD and will be invited to the UN Conference on Climate Change taking place this December in Paris.

In 2011, EarthAction launched a multi-year campaign to support the Prey Lang Community Network in its efforts to protect the Prey Lang forest and the lives of the roughly 200,000 mostly indigenous Kuy who live in or around the forest and who are dependent on it for their livelihoods and culture. The Prey Lang Community Network continues to protect their forest from economic land concessions given by the Cambodian government to developers, as well as rampant illegal logging operations. Click here to add your support to their efforts.

Members of the PLCN are pleased to have received the Equator Prize and recognition of their years of work: “We are of course very happy to receive the USD 10,000, which will allow us to continue our work against illegal logging and deforestation,” said Sokheng Seng, spokesperson for the PLCN. “But what makes us even happier and very proud is the recognition from such an important global player as the UNDP.  “This proves,” he continued, “that our work as a grassroots watchdog is important. Not only to the local communities of Prey Lang, but to all Cambodians, and to the rest of the world as well.”

EarthAction congratulates the winners on their well-deserved success.  

Read the Prey Lang Community Network Press Release here

Read the UNDP 2015 Equator Prize Press Release here

Click here to take Action to Protect the Prey Lang Forest

 

Paris Pledges Falling Short

The 21st United Nations sponsored Conference of the Parties (COP21) will be held in Paris this December. The goal of COP21 is to produce the first meaningful, legally binding international climate treaty since the Kyoto Protocol in 1997. 

Paris may be our last collective chance to enact meaningful climate action to prevent a 2ºCelsius (3.6ºF) rise in global temperatures within this century. Scientists warn that passing the 2ºCelsius tipping point may result in persistent, unpredictable, and extreme weather that will be disastrous for much of life on Earth.

In advance of COP21, countries have agreed to make greenhouse gas reduction pledges, called Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC). These pledges will guide the negotiations. Each nation’s contribution is to be determined by national circumstance. No firm standards were set regarding pledges. We should all be concerned that, to date, most countries have made weak pledges that exploit this ambiguity.

The Citizens’ 2015 Global Climate Agreement Campaign has been organized to keep citizens, environmental leaders, and policymakers around the world engaged and informed about the status of country pledges and other issues related to the success of COP21. The Campaign has set the following standards we believe country COP21 pledges should reach: 

1. As called upon by the UN, all countries should use their 1990 level of carbon emissions as a baseline from which to measure and pledge future reductions.

2. Industrialized countries should pledge to reduce their emissions by 25% by 2025 with further reductions in five-year increments, i.e., 40% by 2030, etc. 

3. Less-industrialized countries should pledge to reduce their emissions by at least 15% by the year 2025 with further reductions in five-year increments, i.e., 25% by 2030, etc.