Happy New Year, climate activists one and all, and welcome to the first dispatch of 2015 from the Climate Action Hub. Pull up a seat at the table and join me for some news on climate change happenings here at Daily Kos.
Photo by Overpass Light Brigade.
All indicators point to 2015 as the long awaited (and, hopefully, not too long overdue) tipping point when massive civil engagement, coupled with private sector, NGO and political action coalesce around the urgency to take action and move rapidly towards a zero energy future to combat global climate change.
Earlier this week, Pope Francis expressed his growing concerns about alarming changes in the climate in Vatican City (and, in fact, all over the world) and announced his desire for "direct influence" with the 2015 UN Climate Conference in Paris this December.
According to Bishop Marcelo Sorondo, chancellor of the Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the Pope wants to be directly involved with the 2015 UN climate conference in Paris. This meeting will determine the planet's future.
"The idea is to convene a meeting with leaders of the main religions to make all people aware of the state of our climate and the tragedy of social exclusion," Sorondo was quoted as saying in the Observer.
"Just as humanity confronted revolutionary change in the 19th century at the time of industrialisation, today we have changed the natural environment so much," he told a London meeting of Cafod, the Catholic development agency. "If current trends continue, the century will witness unprecedented climate change and destruction of the ecosystem with tragic consequences."
As mainstream American media has failed in its responsibility to inform (and, in all too many cases, has flagrantly misinformed ) the public about the impending climate chaos, the environmental community here at Daily Kos has relentlessly championed the message that global warming, green energy solutions, systems change and sustainable development are without doubt the most important issue of the 21st century. If we don't get this right, and quickly, nothing else matters. Groups like Climate Change SOS, Climate Hawks, DK Greenroots, and the new Climate Action Hub have attracted experts in the fields of climatology, meteorology, climate activism, and clean energy.
There's no question about it: 2014 was a pivotal point in raising public awareness about climate change, primarily as a result of the release of the IPCCs Fifth Assessment Report and the extraordinary coalition which mobilized the largest environmental movement in history. (For an overview of the Top Climate Movement Victories of 2014, check out Ted Glick's article in EcoWatch.)
Over 400,000 participated in the People's Climate March in NYC, with over 700,000 marching in solidarity around the world. Numerous Kossacks from all over the US traveled to the New York, including eeff, AllTheWayWithLBJ, VL Baker, mole333, raines, The Poet Deploreate, WarrenS, mimi, Tool, Poco, sidnora, KathyNY, and boatsie. (if you were there and your name is not included, please mention this in comments below.)
The Road to Paris
The Climate Action Hub launched soon after the People's Climate March here at Daily Kos, when several of the NGOs working on amplifying awareness and activism in 2015 agreed to use The Hub to publicize their work to promote mass involvement in 2015.
Many, including Joshua Wiese, Tierney Smith, Joy Hyvarinen, and Mattias Söderberg reported live from December's COP20 UNFCCC Lima Climate Talks. (Scroll down for some short bios and check out The Guardian's extensive overview of the Lima Talks).
There is some major organizing work ahead to prepare for a 1 million strong rally this December in Paris, designed to coincide with the UNFCCC's COP21. After over 20 years of failed negotiations, nations are expected to sign an internationally binding treaty on climate action this year. (For more info on Why COP21 is so important, read the Q&A with Jennifer Morgan, the World Resource Institute's director of Climate and Energy programs: How Do We Secure a Strong, International Climate Agreement by 2015?)
Prior to the Paris Climate Talks and mobilization, a second and larger NYC Climate March is scheduled in late June. This will occur alongside the UN High Level Meeting on June 29. Another huge mobilization is being planned in Germany this fall. Here at The Hub, members will be working to inform the community on the key issues which are stalling progress at the UN talks, initiating discussions on ensuring that climate justice is a key priority, and introducing spokespeople from developing countries and organizations focusing on equity in the outcome.
Here at Daily Kos
Many folks at Daily Kos have created organizations and projects focusing on the issues relating to climate change.
Here are a few examples (in alpha order by user name.) Please add your project or relevant employment in the comments below so we can include it.
citisven has been working for the
Ecocitizen World Map Project, a global initiative connecting neighborhoods on-the-ground with online crowd-mapping tools designed to explore, understand, and measure holistic urban health from a citizen’s perspective. EWM is a collaboration between Oakland-based NGO Ecocity Builders and UNEP, the World Urban Campaign, and the US Department of State, among others. More info
here,
here, and
here.
Photo by Overpass Light Brigade.
noise of rain and
badscience originated the idea of the
Overpass Light Brigade, which currently has numerous DK volunteers. An offshoot of the Wisconsin Uprising, OLB has expanded into a network of 50 different chapters throughout the United States, Canada, the UK, and Germany, allowing them to collaborate on street actions and synchronize messages which proliferate on social media.
"The urgency of climate disruption continues to increase, and we have organized many actions individually, and with larger groups such as 350.org, Fossil Free UW, and the Global Climate Convergence, in order to cast light upon the need for serious change regarding our relationship with the planet," noise of rain writes. "We were involved in early planning for some aspects of the powerful People’s Climate March in NYC, and many light brigade volunteers and organizers took to the streets of NYC in October in a strong show of support of People and Planet over Profit. The NYC-Light Brigade was particularly prominent in the march and subsequent nighttime actions."
RL Miller's Climate Hawks Vote is incubating big plans in 2015 in anticipation of the 2016 campaigns. "
"We anticipate an initial release of the Senate Democrats scorecard covering leadership on climate toward the end of January, and we'll be recruiting candidates throughout 2015. Climate Hawks Vote is the only grassroots-funded SuperPAC focused solely on electing climate champions. Hatched in June 2014, we endorsed 17 candidates and won 11 of our races using on-the-ground field organizing backed by social media."
WarrenS has been busy with his Climate Message project as well as the ongoing Playing For The Planet concert series.
"Next year will see a renewed push on Message stuff, and hopefully an expansion of the concert idea to a more frequent event series."
Meanwhile , some exciting news is percolating right here at Daily Kos, where John Crapper, recently designated Daily Kos State Community Builder for Washington, is hard at work in realizing his vision of Washington State as playing a pivotal role in the path the United States should take in the world's climate future.
"Plans are currently under development to highlight and promote the current work of the Climate Action Hub while drawing attention to the regional efforts being made in the Pacific Northwest to address climate change issues," says John. "Specific focus will be aimed at the efforts of Washington Governor, Jay Inslee, featured in the showtime series "Years of Living Dangerously" and touted during that series as the "greenest governor in the country. Stay tuned."
(Note: We are hoping that John's work up North can serve as a template for other Kossack groups to begin regional work on climate change issues and forming coalitions among politicians, environmental, civilian, religious and local media. (Get in touch with John or the Climate Action Hub administrators if you are interested in finding out more about his work if you have an interest in establishing something similar in your region.)
And finally, early in 2015, after over a year of work, I will launch 2050kids, a nonprofit working to engage and empower children in developing nations as actors in adaptation, working in the design and implementation of locally relevant solutions to such issues as health, food security, displacement, water and sanitation, and disaster preparedness.
The Climate Action Hub: 2015 Agenda
• Beginning this month, we will pubish a weekly morning series, hosted by one of our members aor by an invited guest. As many of our newcomers are based abroad, we are considering an 8am Pacific launch time so that they can be available to engage in discussion when possible. (Flexible on this; we are soliciting community input on time and date to ensure the largest audience while not interfering with other regular series)
• We will be running high octane campaigns to promote and publicize actions such as the June Climate March in NYC, scheduled to coincide with the UN June 29 UNGA High-level Event on Climate Change.
• We are inviting representatives from local Kossack groups around the nation to use our team to promote local environmental events and to help us in spreading the word in your communities about local, regional, national and international mobilizations. (see John Crapper's project)
• The Hub will support the projects of other members of our eco community.
• We intend to work to unite all Daily Kos environmental communities to aggressively participate in and promote climate action.
How You Can Help
1. Take a minute to answer the survey below so we can get an idea of which morning (or evening) would work best to publish the CAH weekly series.
2. Take another moment to scan through the bios of the CAH members you might not yet be familiar with. (Most of them have already posted, and there are about ten invites still in limbo to folks who I've enticed to join Daily Kos but have not yet gotten the hang of how to join and post to a group).
3. What are your plans are for climate action in 2015 and how can we assist you in promoting your causes and events?
4. Share your skills and support by joining the Climate Action Hub! We need all the help we can get!
"Here’s to a climate-sane 2015!" says citisven. And here's to our hopes that you'll join us in this work here at Daily Kos, in your communities, and in your personal commitments.
Let's do this!
Below are short bios of some of the newcomers to the Hub.
Joy Hyvarinen is Executive Director of
FIELD– Foundation for International Environmental Law and Development, a non profit organization based in the UK. Her work focuses on climate change, multilateral environmental agreements and the UN post-2015 agenda.
Rhys Gerholdt is the Communications Manager for the Climate and Energy Program at
World Resources Institute. He brings expansive knowledge of WRI’s issues and skills as a communications strategist, with more than eight years of communications experience, and six years with environmental organizations.
Bridget K. Burns is the Advocacy and Communications Director at the Women's Earth And Development Organization (
WEDO), where she specializes in policy advocacy, research and mobilization focusing on the linkages between gender equality, women’s rights and climate change; particularly in the context of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Joshua Wiese is Project Director for
Global Call for Climate Action, responsible for running GCCA's Adopt a Negotiator and Fresh Air projects. Fresh Air is a GCCA initiative that connects climate and energy bloggers to relevant work being done by GCCA partner organizations.
Tom Athanasiou is the Executive Director of
EcoEquity, an activist think tank focusing on the justice-related aspects of the climate crisis. Mr. Athanasiou has been participating in Climate Negotiations for over twenty years and together with the Stockholm Environment Institute, released the first version of Greenhouse Development Rights in 2004, a reference framework designed to deepen our common understanding of what a fair-shares approach to emergency climate mobilization would have to entail. Ecoequity is a project of
Earth Island Institute.
Kelly Rigg, a leader in international climate, energy and ocean campaigns for over 30 years, is the director of the
Varda Group. Rigg served as the Executive Director of the Global Call for Climate Action for four years. Follow
her on Twitter.
David Turnbull is campaign director of
Oil Change International. Prior to working at OCI, he served as Executive Director of the Climate Action Network (CAN)
Environmental journalist Tierney Smith writes for the Global Call for Climate Action
tcktcktck website and updates social media channels. She reports live from UN Climate Talks around the world.
Retired university professor and "eco-agitator' David Millar is a social networker for
Quaker Earthcare Witness, a spirit-led action to address the ecological and social crises of the world from a spiritual perspective, emphasizing Quaker process and testimonies.
Mary Anne Hitt is director of the Sierra Club's
Beyond Coal Campaign, which is working to eliminate coal's contribution to global warming and repower the nation with clean energy.
Jeff Conant directs
Friends of the Earth's international forests campaign; he is co-author of A Community Guide to Environmental Health (Hesperian Health Guides, 2008) and author of A Poetics of Resistance: The Revolutionary Public Relations of the Zapatista Insurgency (AK Press 2010).
Mattias Söderberg is Co-Chair of the
ACT alliance advisory group on climate change advocacy, and senior advocacy advisor at DanChurchAid, Denmark. Mattias have been following the climate debate closely since 2007, and in 2009 he was head of the Ecumenical COP15 secretariat, with the task to coordinate global participation of churches and church based organisations.
The Climate Denier Roundup is a daily look at the upside-down world of climate change denial, so you don't have to. Every day we scan the blogs and media outlets that publish misleading, misinterpreted or misguided climate commentary, and pick out what's most important. We look for emerging arguments, egregious errors and most importantly, keep an eye out for manufactured scandals with potential appeal to the mainstream media. We provide not just notice of these events, but hope to offer rebuttals as well. In fact, some posts will be reporting on formal, peer-reviewed rebuttals or other clever responses to climate denial. That way you'll stay on the cutting edge of the opposition's argument, without having to sift through all the garbage.
Christina Manning is Communications and Learning Manager for the Anglican Alliance, a faith based organization focusing on development, relief and advocacy.
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The Climate Action Hub
Building upon the momentum generated by the People's Climate March, The Climate Action Hub focuses the energy and ideas that converged around the 2014 UN Climate Summit to engage civil participation in local, regional and global climate action. The Hub showcases NGOs, eco writers, scientists, bloggers and YOU in a group mission to amplify messaging and promote action on such issues as climate justice, sustainable development and clean energy. It will also serve as a forum for educating and informing the wider public and expand the civil movement to ensure success at the 2015 UNFCCC Paris Climate Summit. Please add any information on climate actions in comments below.to engage civil participation in local, regional and global climate action.
The Climate Action Hub at Daily Kos seeks volunteer ambassadors of climate activism to work in local communities and here at Daily Kos to disseminate information about the growing role of civil society in climate solutions. Join us here at Daily Kos to contribute your skills and experience. We need all hands on deck!
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Kitchen Table Kibitzing is a community series for those who wish to share part of the evening around a virtual kitchen table with kossacks who are caring and supportive of one another. So bring your stories, jokes, photos, funny pics, music, and interesting videos, as well as links—including quotations—to diaries, news stories, and books that you think this community would appreciate. Readers may notice that most who post diaries and comments in this series already know one another to some degree, but newcomers should not feel excluded. We welcome guests at our kitchen table, and hope to make some new friends as well.