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Dear Friends and Allies,
As we move into a new decade and welcome a new year, we are reminded of the power and magnitude of women and feminist globally who are rising, speaking out, and working everyday to build solutions that protect, defend, and restore the Earth and our communities.
The first few weeks of the new year have not been easy. Fires are ravaging Australia, flash floods have proven deadly in Indonesia, and around the world the impacts of climate chaos are being felt every single day. We are in a climate emergency, and in 2020 we will and are working ceaselessly for global climate justice.
With astounding diversity and great strength, women are standing to lead movements to protect and defend all we hold dear, calling for systemic change and justice on the issues that we know are inseparable - from gender justice to workers' rights, from racial justice to Indigenous rights, from climate justice to economic inequality. This moment in time demands that we unite across borders and experiences, and take our collective efforts to the next level. We find that it is essential to remember that we are not charged with bearing this great weight alone. We carry the strength of our ancestors, matriarchs, and each other, as we connect with millions of women and allies worldwide who want to live in a healthy, just, and thriving world - and who will work diligently to bring this sustainable vision to fruition.
We thank all of you for standing with the Women's Earth and Climate Action Network as we dive into a new decade filled with mobilizations; trainings; advocacy and education for climate justice and a feminist agenda for a Green New Deal;
divestment and just transition campaigns; f
orest protection an
d regeneration;
rights of nature and Indigenous rights; a
nd strong solidarity and collaboration with frontline women and Earth defenders around the world.
2020 is already off to a fierce start! Please read further for our first update of the new year.
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Save The Date: February 5, 2020
WECAN Network Wide Call
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With enthusiasm the Women's Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) International would like to invite you to join us for a Network Wide Call on Wednesday, February 5, 2020.
During the call we will provide a brief report back of the COP25 climate negotiations, outline some of WECAN's plans for 2020, including an introduction to WECAN's regional hubs, and hear from you all about announcements you wish to share as we work together to collectively engage and support a global women's climate justice movement.
WECAN International Network Wide Call
Wednesday, February 5, 2020
1:00 pm PST/ 4:00 pm EST USA time
Please check your own time zone to coordinate!
How to Participate:
This call will be hosted on Zoom, a free online platform that can be joined by phone or computer. To join, please use the instructions below to dial in by phone, or download the Zoom application and join via internet.
Option A - Join via your computer // internet connection:
- Click here to download Zoom
- Click here to join the call
Option B - Join by phone:
- Dial +1 408 638 0968 or +1 646 558 8656 (US Toll numbers)
- Enter the Meeting ID: 415 415 2016
Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions to
Timing is always a challenge on these international calls, and we chose a time that worked as best as possible for folks reaching from South Africa, Australia to Europe. We will generate a blog after the call to
capture main points for those who are unable to join us.
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Help us kick off 2020
by donating today!
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Stop The Money Pipeline Campaign
Shuts Down Chase Bank in Washington, D.C.
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Osprey Orielle Lake, WECAN Executive Director demands financial institutions stop funding climate chaos during the occupation of a Chase Bank branch in Washington D.C. on January 10 in parallel to Jane Fonda's Fire Drill Fridays. Photo via Ken Cedeno/Greenpeace
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On January 10, WECAN joined dozens of protesters to occupy and shut down a Chase Bank branch for over two hours in Washington D.C. to kick off the new "Stop The Money Pipeline" campaign. As part of the organizing coalition, we are demanding that banks, asset managers and insurance companies stop funding, insuring and investing in climate destruction!
JP Morgan Chase is the leading funder of fossil fuels, sourcing billions to the fossil fuel industry in its quest to drill oceans, frack our land and build more pipelines. Held in parallel to Fire Drill Fridays with Jane Fonda, we were in Washington D.C. calling for JP Morgan Chase to divest from dirty fossil f
uels. We cannot let Chase and so many other financial institutions continue to fund global fossil fuel extraction, deforestation, disrespect for Indigenous rights, and climate catastrophe.
11 dedicated activists were arrested at the Chase Bank shutdown, joining the nearly 150 people who were arrested on Capitol Hill during Fire Drill Friday.
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Police put up a makeshift "closed" sign after dozens of protestors shut down a Chase Bank branch in Washington D.C. Photo via Aishah Nyeta Brown/WECAN International
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Jane Fonda, Susan Sarandon, and other activists stand in solidarity with the demonstrators inside the shutdown Chase Bank to demand an end to fossil fuel funding in conjunction with Jane Fonda's Fire Drill Friday rally. Photo via Greenpeace USA
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Throughout the year we will join our colleagues, including 350.org, Rainforest Action Network, Amazon Watch, Oil Change International, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth U.S., and many others to target JP Morgan Chase, BlackRock, and Liberty Mutual, the top funders of the climate crisis, and demand they divest from the fossil fuel industry. Stopping this money pipeline is one of the most important ways we can quickly address the climate emergency. Thank you to all our colleagues who have been working tirelessly to challenge these corporations to divest, and please join us!
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The Stop The Money Pipeline Campaign is part of WECAN's "Divestment and Just Transition" programming. In light of the intensifying climate crisis, dependency on fossil fuels and their extraction is a bad investment, and financial institutions have an opportunity to invest in renewable, regenerative energy, which has become increasingly cost effective and necessary as the climate crisis escalates. We are organizing for strategic campaigns and targeted delegations to call for divestment; to stop pipelines, fossil fuel infrastructure, and extraction at the source; and to invest instead in an Earth-centered, just transition to renewable, regenerative energy for all.
Learn more about our WECAN divestment advocacy and action programs on our website: https://www.wecaninternational.org/divestment-just-transition
Learn more about the Stop The Money Pipeline action in Washington D.C. at the links below:
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WECAN Video Selected for the
Wild & Scenic Film Festival
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Watch the video!
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Stand with Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, the Amazon and the Climate
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WECAN is honored that our video "Stand with Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, the Amazon and the Climate" is a 2020 Official Selection for the Wild & Scenic Film Festival, premiering January 18 in Nevada City, California.
The short video highlights the advocacy of Sônia Bone Guajajara, a prominent Indigenous leader from Brazil, as she denounces Bolsonaro's assaults on the rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Amazon Rainforest, while calling for climate justice and the protection of Mother Earth and all life.
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BlackRock Announces New
Policies Centering Climate Change
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With almost $7 trillion in investments,
BlackRock is calling for the entire financial community to start taking the climate crisis seriously. While we commend BlackRock's first steps in addressing their role in funding climate disaster, we know actions speak louder than words. This year let's continue to apply pressure to ensure this announcement becomes reality.
Financial institutions must be bold and just in addressing the climate crisis and taking actions to divest from fossil fuels and deforestation projects that harm frontline communities, violate Indigenous rights, and destroy the global climate. WECAN International will continue to advocate for financial institutions to divest from dirty fossil fuels and invest in a renewable and just future for all.
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WECAN Joins the Women's March on January 18
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| Millions of people take to the streets in the historic 2017 Women's March in Washington D.C. Photo via Emily Arasim/WECAN International |
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Since 2017, WECAN has supported the Women's March, joining millions in standing up for women's rights, and the safety and health of our families and communities. As part of the historic inaugural Washington D.C. March, we co-organized, alongside a coalition of diverse women's groups, climate justice leaders and individuals, a 'Women for Climate Justice' contingent, sending a clear message that women are gravely concerned about the accelerating impacts of climate change, and the advancement of fossil fuels, extractive economics, racism, bigotry and sexist oppression.
This year, WECAN will be participating in marches throughout the country. Wanda Culp, WECAN Tongass Coordinator will speak at the Women's March in Juneau, Alaska; Osprey Orielle Lake, WECAN Executive Director will take the stage at the Nevada City Women's March in California; and Katherine Quaid, WECAN Communications Coordinator, will kick off the Central Oregon Women's March with a land acknowledgment. Join us as we stand up for women's rights and the safety and health of our families, communities, and Mother Earth. Find a march near you on the national website. |
More Divestment News:
New Equator Principles Fail on Justice & Accountability
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After two years of engagement and talks with the Equator Principles Association (EP Banks), advocating for Indigenous and human rights and our global climate, the EP Banks released the final version of the new Equator Principles in November 2019. The new principles would most certainly lock us in to climate disaster for decades to come and do little to hold fossil fuel and other extractive industries accountable for the severe damage they are causing to frontline communities and our global climate.
The Equator Principles, a set of voluntary principles adhered to by a group of 94 of the world's largest banks, are failing to address the concerns that ignited this revision process in the first place. Catalyzed by the human rights abuses at Standing Rock, EP banks said they would reform the Equator Principles, and begin a revision process to be completed by 2019 that would more effectively address concerns about potential rights violations and environmental degradation.
Unfortunately, the new Equator Principles are inadequate to uphold or respect Indigenous or human rights, specifically Indigenous peoples right to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent as laid out in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The new EP's also fail in limiting finance for projects that severely contribute to climate disaster. As we plunge further into climate chaos, we need financial institutions to act alongside millions who are calling for an end to business as usual.
Osprey Orielle Lake, Executive Director, Women's Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) commented: "Equator banks' finance for the tragic Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) in the United States, a 'designated country', helped trigger the EP4 update. Two years later, environmental protections have been further dismantled, in the US as well as in other 'designated countries' like Australia. Meanwhile, dozens of new fossil fuel projects are proceeding with disastrous consequences for the climate. Equator banks should have drawn a line in the sand globally, but failed to do so. The new EP's are not operating in effective compliance with the Paris Climate Agreement. The banks also failed to make a commitment to uphold Indigenous peoples' rights worldwide - specifically, protecting their right to grant or withhold consent for projects situated on Indigenous land and territories."
While we are deeply disappointed by the EP Banks negligence in making strong commitments, we will continue to take part in the 'Equator Banks, Act!' campaign, which has vowed to work together to resist the financing by Equator Banks of all new fossil fuel projects and all projects that impact Indigenous peoples' rights and territories. To see our collective response to the new Equator Principles, please read the campaign's most recent press release. This fight is not over! |
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For the Earth and All Generations,
The WECAN International Team
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