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This edition of our Fossil Free Newsletter is so timely because more and more of us are facing the same struggles: increasing cost of living, rising energy bills, polluted air, water and surroundings and severe climate impacts.
In some places, people are rioting by (wrongfully) placing the blame on others instead of asking for accountability from the true culprits: big oil and gas companies that are making ridiculous profits by providing dirty and costly energy. Expensive energy = higher and higher living costs.
In other places, people are taking matters into their own hands by joining forces across different communities, and coming together to demand energy justice from the big guys – our politicians, fossil fuel giants, and anyone who will listen. And they are the ones achieving true results!
Don’t believe me? Have a look at all the wins our incredible people have managed to achieve by working with and including each other within our movement over the last 15 years. Now this is what we like to call – the true people power!
Read on for even more stories of people who came together recently to demand their energy rights in different parts of the world.
Why don’t you join our Fossil Free mailing list for all the latest stories on climate organizing from around the world? Stories that matter. Campaigns that inspire. All delivered directly to you every month!
Marching for Pacific Resilience
Did you know that the sea level rise in the Pacific is above the global average and urgently threatening the survival of its communities? This is being caused by greenhouse gasses generated by burning fossil fuels. The time is NOW to ensure access to safer, cleaner, and affordable energy sources for the Pacific people.
Earlier this week, our climate advocates urged the Australian government to take bold action at the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in Tonga. As the Pacific’s largest fossil-fuel producer, Australia has a duty to lead a just energy transition and repair the damage caused by its industry. Our activists also marched with Tongan youth in the Build Better Now parade, demanding political leaders enable Pacific Islanders to resist the impacts of the climate crisis.
Joseph Sikulu, 350 Pacific climate activist, calls on the Australian government to stop financing fossil fuels in a press conference ahead of the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting. Photo: Fenton Lutunatabua
Calling for Energy Justice
As temperatures are soaring to dangerous highs with unaffordable energy bills, millions of vulnerable families are struggling to keep the power on across the United States. At the same time, the greedy, for-profit utility companies who are in charge of electricity are just focused on making more and more profits while providing unreliable (and expensive) sources of energy.
So we gathered with our friends at People’s Action and 350 Network Council along with partners, locals and activists in 17 states and demonstrated in over 25 locations across the country to uplift a national call for utility justice. We joined hands in protest against the monopoly utility industry in the US to demand affordable, clean, and safe energy. We want energy systems run by and for the people!
Local citizen protests on the streets of Cincinnati, Ohio to demand access to affordable energy in the United States. Photo: Eli Hiller
Demanding Heat Pumps For All
Our Canada team has been hard at work with a new Heat Pumps for All campaign demanding the federal government to introduce a universal heat pump program for the whole country. A program like this is so important, especially for areas experiencing extreme heat. It will save lives by providing equitable access to cooling, cut our dependence on fossil fuel heating, and make life more affordable!
So far, we’ve already collected thousands of signatures from our supporters to identify local leaders who can help us and run a program that coaches and provides resources to our local communities and volunteers. Our campaign has pushed eight (and counting!) Members of Parliament to promote our demands.
Community members came together in Port Alberni, Canada in early August to learn more about adapting homes and neighborhoods to extreme heat, and take collective action for community resilience. Photo: Jordana Pangburn
If you are wondering how do heat pumps actually work, have a look at our short film that beautifully showcases the story of how heat pumps saved lives in a Canadian community during brutal heat waves:
Exposing Energy Frauds
We are so tired of dangerous and fraudulent energy solutions being peddled out as ‘real solutions’ to the climate crises. One big example is Carbon Capture Storage (CCS), a technology for which more coal must be mined, transported and burned to generate energy. This only serves to extend the life of fossil fuels, and adds to the suffering of communities. The fact is, CCS is super expensive and fails to reduce carbon pollution!
Our team in Indonesia along with our partners held a series of activities, public discussions, media briefings and symbolic actions at the site of the International & Indonesia CCS Forum 2024 where this dirty technology is being actively promoted in the country. We know that community-centered renewable energy is a far better alternative and we will keep opposing these big projects like the CCS until the money goes to the right energy solutions.
350 Indonesia carry the symbol of a corpse, an illustration of the victims of mining pits left by the coal industry in East Kalimantan which caused children to die. Photo: Firman
In Aotearoa (New Zealand), communities are struggling with strong floods, droughts, polluted air, blackouts and soaring energy bills. All this while five major power companies are making insane profits from burning coal!
We are pushing the country’s politicians to invest in affordable, community-controlled and renewable energy. This will give people better access to their local energy systems and strengthen community ties.
Join us in asking incoming Energy Minister, Simeon Brown, to set a global benchmark and make a commitment to help Aotearoa achieve increased community energy generation and storage by 2035.
This is a special one for us. Last year, we tried to halt the expansion of the Vaca Muerta gas pipeline in Argentina by blocking funding from the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES).
The Vaca Muerta region, in Patagonia, Argentina contains the second-largest reserve of shale gas and the fourth-largest reserve of shale oil in the world. These fossil fuels were being extracted through fracking (hydraulic fracturing), a ruthless technique that threatened the well-being of Argentinian people and contributed to rising global temperatures.
Our feature documentary ‘Esto es Fracking’ (This is Fracking), covering this issue premiered globally in 2023. It won the Gaia Award for Best Environmental Film at the Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival in Vermont and got honorable mentions at film festivals in Argentina, and Mexico.
And for the first time ever, we have released a new, never-before-seen cut of this documentary for you to watch online for free!
So what exactly is fracking, and why is it so bad? Watch to find out:
We all know by now that we need to discard fossil fuels and move towards renewable energy ASAP. But do we know how much green energy is needed to say bye bye to dirty energy for good?
Fret not, this new report by the Rockefeller Foundation has the answer. It calculates we need 8,700 terawatt-hour (TWh) of clean power (also known at the “Green Power Gap”) across 72 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America & the Caribbean, and the Middle East to stop using costly, polluting and inefficient energy systems aka coal, oil and gas.
In other words, to get rid of fossil fuels, we need to generate two times the amount of renewable energy that the whole country of the United States currently generates in one year.
What’s more – the report identifies decentralized solar and a mix of other energy sources as two main ways to reach this goal. Basically, you and I now have more evidence supporting that community-centered energy projects are the future!
Quote of the month
“(If) we have to start taking care of life, we have to think about our society. We do not only have to think about one or two people. We must do this together to protect the damage to our Mother Earth.”
— Luis Uribe Ramirez, Yukpa Indigenous People of Cesar, Colombia
IN OTHER NEWS
