Dear Community,

In the Northern Hemisphere, the days are growing longer as we emerge from winter, and we hope that across the world, as the seasons change, you are taking care and finding moments to honor and celebrate the natural world.

Our connection to Nature supports us while we navigate the difficulties of these times and work to challenge systems of capitalism, patriarchy, racism, and colonization that persist in harming our communities. And, we do not turn away from the horrific violence and hardships in Gaza and Israel, Ukraine, Sudan, DR Congo and other regions—our issues are interlocking. There is no climate justice without human rights. In these struggles, we are consistently buoyed by the abundant power and solutions and campaigns of women and feminists rising and organizing for climate action, justice, peace, democracy, and a thriving planet for all generations.

In the United States, it is Black History Month and we are taking this time to further uplift and celebrate Black women’s climate and environmental justice leadership and solutions globally. From historic groundbreakers like Hazel M. Johnson, the mother of the environmental justice movement, to current day warriors like Sharon Lavigne, Founder of Rise St. James, and Roishetta Ozane, Founder of Vessel Project, these are some of the many remarkable women fighting to stop fossil fuels, build just climate solutions, advocate for strong and crosscutting climate policies, and push for collective liberation for people and planet!

Please continue on in this newsletter to learn of upcoming events for International Women’s Day, and updates on our campaigns and programs.

Please join WECAN for our virtual International Women’s Day 2024 Convergence: "Calls for Action to End the Era of Fossil Fuels and Accelerate a Just Transition"

Register today!

Friday March 8, 2024

10:00am PT // 1:00pm ET // 6:00pm GMT

We are in a climate emergency, and now more than ever we need to end the era of fossil fuels, and advance solutions for a Just Transition to ensure a healthy and just planet for current and future generations!

Confirmed speakers to date with more to be announced:

• Puyr Tembé, Secretary of Indigenous Peoples in Para State, Brazil 
• Mitzi Jonelle Tan, Convenor and International Spokesperson for Youth Advocates for Climate Action Philippines (YACAP), Philippines
• Neema Namadamu, Founder and Executive Director of Hero Women Rising, and WECAN Coordinator in the DR Congo
• Tzeporah Berman, Chair, Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, Canada
• Ruth Nyambura, African Ecofeminist Collective, Kenya
• Osprey Orielle Lake, Founder and Executive Director of Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN), USA

Despite commitments stated at COP28 to “transition away from fossil fuels,” governments continue forward with plans to expand fossil fuels globally. With the escalating climate crisis, we are calling on governments, financial institutions, and corporations to immediately phase out fossil fuels. For the first time ever recorded, global temperatures between February 2023 to January 2024 have exceeded temperatures of 1.5 degrees Celsius over a 12-month period—this is truly alarming, but it can be decreased, yet we must act more boldly than ever now!

As part of an equitable fossil fuel phaseout and Just Transition, there must be significant and transformative policies and investments grounded in a climate justice framework that uplift care economies, community-led solutions, Indigenous rights, human rights, biodiversity protection, and a different vision than business as usual. We are advocating for a vision that ensures climate justice, and compliments thriving and healthy democracies that prioritize the well-being of people and planet above profit.

During this Convergence on International Women's Day, we are bringing together global women leaders in all their diversity to share the many ways they are working and strategizing to build the solutions needed for an equitable and Just Transition— including food sovereignty, gender responsive climate policies, regenerative economics, forest protection, Indigenous rights, rights of nature, demilitarism, phasing out fossil fuels, and much more. The temperature is rising, and so are we!

The Great Lakes are under attack, and Indigenous women and allies are rising to shutdown Line 5! Operating 20 years past its engineered life span, Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline is threatening 20 percent of the world’s surface freshwater at a time of climate crisis, putting at risk sacred ecosystems, clean drinking water, treaty territories, and our global climate. 

Please watch WECAN’s newest video highlighting Indigenous women leaders fighting to stop Line 5 and protect the water, climate, and Indigenous rights:

Tribal leadership, Indigenous leaders, environmental groups and allies are calling for the immediate shutdown and decommissioning of Line 5. Instead of shutting down Line 5, Enbridge is proposing to expand the pipeline, despite strong opposition. Enbridge's proposed new route will cut through hundreds of waterways that flow into the Bad River Reservation, their extensive fisheries, the navigable waters of Lake Superior, and the Straits of Mackinac. 

The existing Line 5 pipeline must be shut down and decommissioned, not simply re-routed and expanded. As climate catastrophes impact communities worldwide, it is imperative to stop the expansion of all fossil fuels now! 

Let’s stand with Indigenous women leaders and Tribal leadership to Stop Line 5 — join us today by signing this petition urging the Army Corps of Engineers to take action: 

The petition drive joins growing national and regional efforts to stop Line 5 permanently. Petition signatures will be delivered on March 13 ahead of the premiere of the BAD RIVER documentary film, taking place in Washington D.C. with invited government leaders and officials. Indigenous women leaders, WECAN, Sierra Club-Wisconsin and others will deliver the petition signatures on March 13 to the Army Corps offices in Washington D.C. — more details coming soon!

WECAN has been honored to engage in work along Lake Superior and its tributaries through our Stop Line 5 campaign and facilitation of the Indigenous Women’s Treaty Alliance, which includes powerful Indigenous leaders from the Great Lakes region. Learn more about our work here.

A broad coalition of Alaska Native Tribes, commercial fishers, small tourism businesses, conservation groups, and other forest advocates including WECAN are taking legal action to defend last year's reinstatement of National Roadless Rule protections across the Tongass National Forest that supports Tribes, communities, sustainable local economies and intact ecosystems.

We are fighting to protect America’s largest forest, preventing industrial logging and damaging roadbuilding on over 9 million acres of forest. This effort is vital to biodiversity protection and climate mitigation. See the statements below from the WECAN Team and learn more in the press release here.

Wanda Culp (Tlingit), Tongass Hub Regional Coordinator, Women's Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN): “The Tongass Forest is home to the ancient Tlingit and Haida Indigenous Nations. It is where my ancestry originates, my bloodline is Indigenous to this land, its DNA is my DNA. The air we breathe, the water we depend on, the land we live upon, all pristine. This is why we need to ensure the Roadless Rule stays in place—to protect the forest from harmful interests and to ensure a liveable future for all generations." 

Osprey Orielle Lake, Executive Director, Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN): "Old-growth and mature forests are vital to climate mitigation. We must take action to support protection of our national forests across the country, and particularly listen to the leadership of Indigenous peoples when their traditional forest homelands and territories are at risk. By defending the Roadless Rule in the Tongass we are ensuring that old-growth and mature forests remain standing, Indigenous and local communities thrive, and that our global climate is protected for all.”

For more details about WECAN’s ongoing work to protect the Tongass, please visit our website.

Please join WECAN in celebrating our Founder/Executive Director’s new book “The Story is in Our Bones," which was just released on January 30! Thank you Osprey Orielle Lake for the vision you have presented in this incredibly inspiring and informative new publication.

The book was launched at the event “How Worldviews and Climate Justice Can Remake a World in Crisis,” which was also a fundraiser for Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, on February 1, 2024.

Thank you to everyone who joined us in-person and online! Please find recordings of this event on Facebook and YouTube at the links below:

Many thanks to the amazing speakers! Speakers included:

• Corrina Gould (Ohlone) — Tribal spokesperson for the Confederated Villages of Lisjan and Director of Sogorea Te’ Land Trust

• Isabella Zizi (Northern Cheyenne, Muskogee Creek and enrolled Three Affiliated Tribes) — Organizer with Idle No More SF Bay and Movement Rights

• Leila Salazar-Lopez — Executive Director Amazon Watch

• Osprey Orielle Lake — Founder and Executive Director Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) and author of “The Story is in Our Bones: How Worldviews and Climate Justice Can Remake a World in Crisis.”

• Moderation: Tracey Osborne — Associate Professor in the Management of Complex Systems Department at the University of California, Merced

Please join us in welcoming WECAN's newest Women Speak Researchers: Grace Gubbins, Nina-Chene Chambers, Lottie van Wijck, Emily Sands, Samantha Landsman. They join our current researchers, Aparna Packer and Tatianna Sitounis. Read everyone's bio's here!

As researchers they will support the ongoing efforts of the WECAN Women Speak database, documenting the many struggles and solutions of women worldwide for climate justice. Learn more about Women Speak here.

We send gratitude and appreciation to our outgoing Women Speak researchers Mahati Shastry, Alyssa Orozco, Maria Nembo, Amanda Barreto Salgueiro, Amelia Staples, Ilinca Drodoe, and Britt Wilson. Thank you!

If you are interested in learning more about WECAN intern and volunteer opportunities, please see our website.

Please consider supporting WECAN as we continue to uplift the leadership and solutions of women worldwide fighting for climate justice and the defense of the planet for current and future generations.