 July 2014 |
Dear Friends and Allies,
As summer moves into full season, we are delighted to share updates on our many events and actions, including WECAN's agenda for the People's Climate March, UN Climate Leadership Summit and NY Climate Week this September; our recently completed Regional Solutions Trainings in the Middle East North Africa region and the Democratic Republic of Congo; and the upcoming Economics of Sustainability Conference in San Francisco.
We also want to give a shout-out to our dedicated allies who've just completed their fifth and final Healing Walk at the Tar Sands in Canada. Click here to view their inspiring video. The fight goes on, and we stand with you in the many years to come.
|
|
|
WECAN Women's Climate Declaration & Summer 2014 Signature Campaign
WECAN International officially launched its Women's Climate Declaration website and Women's Climate Declaration Summer 2014 Signature Campaign on June 24.
With support from our growing global community, we continue to add thousands of signatures to this call for urgent action on climate change and sustainability solutions, to be presented to the UN Climate Leadership Summit on September 23.
|
 People's Climate March & Climate Week: Actions & Events in New York
 | |
Leaders at the International Women's Earth and Climate Summit
drafting the Climate Agenda.
|
This September, top international politicians, business figures and activists will gather in New York City for the UN Climate Leadership Summit, a foundational meeting called by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in preparation for the 2014 and 2015 UN Climate Negotiations. In the days preceding this crucial assembly, civil society organizations worldwide - including WECAN International - will be leading a variety of events and actions, demanding that global leaders end years of stagnation and come to the table with innovative proposals and the collective political will to make clear, concrete commitments to climate action. We welcome you to join us, and also learn more here.
WECAN will commence related action on September 9 with the release of our '
Women's Climate Action Agenda,'
drafted by more than 100 women leaders during the Women's Earth and Climate Summit held last September in NY. The Action Agenda analyzes the root causes of the environmental destruction and social injustice which today threaten people and planet in an unprecedented way, ultimately presenting powerful recommendations and alternative solutions to the climate crisis. It also contextualizes why transformative change is necessary, articulates what must be done, and provides clear means for doing so, leaving no room for inaction as world leaders enter into Climate Negotiations this year. Continue Reading Below...
|
WECAN Regional Solutions Trainings Completed in the DRC & Morocco
June 2014 was an exhilarating month for our Regional Solutions Trainings program. Under the leadership of our outstanding local WECAN coordinators, Fadoua Brour and Neema Namadamu, we partnered with the Moroccan Youth Climate Movement in the MENA region and SAFECO in the Democratic Republic of Congo to hold our first WECAN trainings, which were met with tremendous success.
WECAN Regional Solutions Trainings offers both online and on the ground programs to create place-based action plans that address local socio-ecologic need, develop climate solutions, and support women in their role as key environmental stakeholders . Ongoing working groups have been established for long-term action. Continue Reading Below...
|
Economics of Sustainability Conference
WECAN is honored to announce 'The Economics of Sustainability Conference: Emerging Models for a Healthy Planet', to be held Oct. 6 to 9 in San Francisco, in partnership with the Praxis Peace Institute.
The conference coincides with the vision of the WECAN Earth Economics program, calling for a new economic model that aligns with the earth's true carrying capacity, challenging developmental models based on destructive growth and demanding that the ecologic costs of our activities be counted.
|
|
|
6/24/14
Launch of Women's Climate Declaration Summer 2014 Signature Campaign (Global)
9/9/14
Release of Women's Climate Action Agenda (Global)
9/21/14
WECAN delegation attendance at People's Climate March (NYC)
9/22/14
"Women Leading Solutions on the Front Lines of Climate Change" event (1:00-3:00 pm, UN Church Center, NYC)
"Wall of Women" action in response to UN Climate Summit in NYC (Global)
9/23/14
Women's Climate Declaration signatures presented at UN Climate Leadership Summit (NYC)
"Rights of Nature & Systemic Change in Climate Change Solutions" event with Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature (2:15-3:00 pm, UN Church Center, NYC)
10/6/14-10/9/14
"The Economics of Sustainability: Emerging Models for a Healthy Planet" Conference (San Francisco)
|
|
Find WECAN on Social Media
|
|
Read, Sign,
and Share
the Women's Climate Declaration
|
|
 |
|
Climate Week Agenda (continued...)
On September 21, a delegation representing WECAN will take to the streets of New York City, joining thousands of allies in raising our voices at the 'People's Climate March'. Soon to be the largest climate action of its kind on record, the People's Climate March seeks to "bend the course of history," drawing global attention and exerting direct pressure on attendees of the UN Climate Summit. We encourage everyone who is able to march with us on this momentous day as we mobilize for the rights of women, indigenous peoples, nature, and future generations. If you are unable to be in NY, view these ways to mobilize in your own community.
WECAN International will also host the 'Women Leading Solutions on the Front Lines of Climate Change' event on Sept. 22, an extraordinary afternoon of women leaders joined in solidarity to speak out against activities and policies that threaten the earth, our communities, and the very future of life as we know it. Presentations will highlight the role of women worldwide as innovators and agents of change, and explore means of strengthening the network of women leaders who are on the frontline of the transition to a just and sustainable future. WECAN's newly released Women's Climate Action Agenda will be shared and discussed at the event, to be held at the UN Church Center in NY from 1:00 to 3:00pm.
Immediately following 'Women Leading Solutions', WECAN leaders and allies will convene for a 'Wall of Women' action. We are asking participants to create a wall (stand in a line) and hold signs about their local environmental issues/solutions and/or messages to world leaders about the need for immediate climate action. Allies across the globe unable to attend the action in NY are encouraged to come together, documenting their actions in photos and videos and submitting them here or directly to [email protected]. All images will be posted on a dedicated webpage and via the WECAN social media channels, and we encourage you to post them via your websites and social media streams using the tags #WECAN_INTL, #ClimateWomen, and #WallofWomen.
On September 23, in partnership with the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature, WECAN will host an event on Rights of Nature, from 2:15 to 3:00pm at the UN Church Center.
To culminate NY Climate Week 2014, the signatures from the WECAN Women's Climate Declaration, along with thousands of other signatures collected by our partners at the Global Call for Climate Action, will be presented at the UN Climate Summit. Please unite with us in sending a powerful message to world leaders by adding your signature and message here.
Additional information is available on the People's Climate March by clicking here. For the latest event information, visit the WECAN International website.
|
WECAN Trainings (continued...)
The 2014 WECAN MENA training focused primarily on establishing a plan for mobilizing women of the region in pursuit of environmental education, climate justice, women's empowerment, and grassroots water, food and energy solutions.
The WECAN DR Congo program centered on the protection of the Itombwe Rainforest and the support of the indigenous communities living in and around it, whose cultural and ecologic heritage is severely threatened by unsustainable and exploitative logging, mining, and agricultural practices. June trainings engaged participants in locally lead workshops on ethnobotanical knowledge, solar cooker construction, holistic indigenous conservation methods, and women's leadership, ultimately culminating in the composition and distribution of a declaration calling for a nationwide movement to protect the rainforest.
According to Neema Namadamu, founder of SAFECO and WECAN DR Congo coordinator; "a secret treasure is lying quietly hidden in the bosom of the Indigenous women of the Itombwe forest. We now have a plan of protection and action for the forest and the people who live there in great wisdom and humility." WECAN is honored to partner with them in this work. Please see our website in the coming weeks for participant blogs and more details.
Click here to learn more about or engage with WECAN's Regional Solutions trainings.
|
|
Economics of Sustainability Conference (continued...)
Through the Earth Economics program as a whole, and the upcoming conference in particular, we plan to further a holistic model that works in balance with diverse communities, indigenous groups, women and the environment.
With a goal of launching a platform for systematic change on a combined economic, cultural and political level, the program will include workshops, networking meetings, action groups and compelling presentations from economists, scientists, activists and leaders in the environmental movement.
Confirmed speakers to date include: Gar Alperovitz (author and co-founder, Democracy Collaborative); Ellen Brown (president, Public Banking Institute); Richard Heinberg (journalist and senior fellow, Post Carbon Institute); Michael Brune (executive director, Sierra Club); Randy Hayes (founder, Rainforest Action Network); Mark Hertsgaard (environmental correspondent, The Nation); Mayor Gayle McLaughlin (Richmond, CA); David Korten (author and founder, YES! Magazine); Andrew Kimbrell (founder & executive director, Center for Food Safety); Janet Redmond (director, Institute for Policy Studies' Climate Policy Program); Jihan Gearon (executive director, Black Mesa Water Coalition); Don Shaffer (president & CEO, RSF Social Finance); Nikki Silvestri (executive director, Green for All); Osprey Orielle Lake (founder & president, WECC); Georgia Kelly (founder & director, Praxis Peace Institute); Pio Aguirre (CEO, OINARRI SGR); and Michael Peck (North American representative, Mondragon Cooperatives).
Click here to learn more about the conference, or visit this link to register (Early Bird rates available until 7/15).
|
|
 Thank you for your continued support of our work for Climate Justice and care for the Earth and Future Generations, Osprey Orielle Lake and the WECAN/WECC Team wecaninternational.org
  
| |
|
|
|
|
Copyright � 2014. All Rights Reserved.
|
|
|
|
