For the Earth and All Generations 
WECAN International Newsletter
August 19,  2015
Dear Friends and Allies,

Since we last wrote the world has faced a string of extreme climate distuptions that remind us just how urgent the crisis that we face truly is. A 'heat dome' across the M
iddle East brought some of the highest urban temperatures ever felt by humankind, in the US hundreds of wildfires broke out across Alaska and California, and Typhoon Soudelor battered Taiwan and the east coast of China. However as global temperatures and oceans rise, so do the people. Across the world people are standing up to call for change, envision and create a new world, and re-claim their role as guardians of the Earth.

Women continue to work at the forefront of this people's movement for climate justice. In this newsletter we honor the voices, struggles, stories, and solutions of women in the DR Congo, Bangladesh, and frontline U.S communities- and share details about how worldwide women and allies can join us as we rise up for the Global Women's Climate Justice Day of Action on Sept. 29. We also: invite you to join us for our 'Women Speak' event in New York City; provide recaps and resources from recent WECAN trainings; and highlight the Women's Climate Declaration and signature campaign.
globalDOAGlobal Women's Climate Justice 
Day Of Action - Sept 29
'Mother Earth is not a commodity' - photo by Emily Arasim
Momentum is building for  the September 29 Global Women's Climate Justice Day of Action. Thank you everyone who is already committed to  participate   - if you have not yet engaged, we encourage you to add your voice to this critical women's climate justice mobilization in  the  lead up to the UN Climate Negotiations in Paris and beyond!  No act is too small and  everyone  can take part.


Please help share the Global Women's Climate Justice Day of Action far and wide. Click here to download and explore the Day of Action Organizing and Media Toolkit which includes a range of resources to invite involvement from other women and allies across the globe.  
 
Join us for a Day of Action  Organizing Call:

Thursday September 3 at 11:00 AM Pacific Time, West Coast USA  (Please check your own time zone to coordinate with us)

Training hosted on Zoom (a free program similar to Skype). 
 
Join via internet:
At time of call: click here to join

Or join by phone:  +1 646 568 7788  (US Toll)
   Meeting ID: 531 608 180  
womenspeakWomen Speak: Climate Justice on the Road to Paris & Beyond - 
WECAN Hub Event in New York City

On Sept. 29th, while women worldwide mobilize as part of the Global Women's Climate Justice Day of Action, WECAN International will present  'Women Speak: Climate Justice on the Road to Paris & Beyond', a powerful hub event to be held at the United Nations Church Center in New York City.

The event will feature presentations and action plans by women leaders joined in solidarity to speak out against environmentally and socially destructive activities and policies, explore why women are key to just and effective solutions, and present the diverse visions and strategies with which they are working to shape a healthy and equitable world.

Speakers include:
  • Mary Robinson, UN Special Envoy on Climate Change & former President of Ireland
  • Jody Williams, Nobel Peace Prize recipient & long-time human, women, & environmental rights defender
  • Melina Laboucan-Massismo,  Lubicon Cree First Nation, Indigenous & environmental activist with Greenpeace Canada
  • Jacqui Patterson, NAACP Environmental & Climate Justice Program
  • May Boeve, 350. org
  • Thilmeeza Hussein, Voice of Women, Maldives
  • Neha Misra, Solar Sister
  • Nina Gualinga, Indigenous leader from Sarayaku, Ecuador
  • Diane Moss, Renewables 100 Policy Institute
  • Osprey Orielle Lake, WECAN International
  • Sally Ranney, WECAN International
  • Welcome by Janice Turner, Lenape Tribe
  • Music by Bethany Yarrow and Rufus Cappadocia
This event is free and open to the public, however registration is required. Click here to learn more and register for the Sept. 29th 'Women Speak' event in New York City.
Jody Williams at the International Women's Earth & Climate Summit. Photo by Lori Waselchuk.
wecanDRCWECAN DR Congo Update & Declaration
Last month WECAN International and partners at SAFECO held a workshop in Bukavu,  Democratic Republic of Congo to to take steps in ongoing work to prevent the deforestation and destruction of the region's  Itombwe Rainforest, support women as local climate leaders, and protect and impelement the Traditional Ecologic Knowledge of the areas Indigenous Peoples.

Delegates from local communities, Indigenous Pygmys from Mwenga Center and the Itombwe savanna, leaders from regional NGO's, and provincial authorities united to discuss the threats facing the region and the solutions developed and proposed by participants at previous WECAN/SAFECO trainings.

written by defenders of the forest in South Kivu Province, DR Congo.

U.S Women's Climate Justice Initiative Training Recaps
resistanceResistance & Solutions: Women on the Frontlines 
Kandi Mossett leading direct action against extraction in her community.
Women stand at the forefront of movements for social and environmental justice across the US and the world. On July 8, Kandi Mossett (Indigenous Environmental Network), Casey Camp Horneik (Ponca Nation), Jacqui Patterson (NAACP), and Pennie Opal Plant (Idle No More SF Bay, Movement Rights) spoke about the harms faced by their communities, and the diverse ways that they are resisting and protecting the Earth. 

RONRECAPRights of Nature & Community Rights  Resources

On July 28 Shannon Biggs of Movement Rights and Osprey Orielle Lake of WECAN International spoke as part of the US Women's Climate Justice Initiative online training 'Rights of Nature & Community Rights: Protecting & Defending the Places We Live.'  Rights of Nature is a powerful advocacy tool that provides us with a new legal framework to protect our communities. Due to enthusiastic  requests from our network,  the training will be repeated in the future!  Click here for a training recap and complete list of resources.
signdecSign & Share the   Women's Climate Declaration
 
Click here to read, sign, and share the Women's Climate Declaration (WCD), drafted by more than 100 women leaders from around the world. The Declaration is available in  Arabic, Spanish, French, Italian, & English. 

Signing the Declaration and organizing to collect other women's signaures is one way to participate in the Global Women's Climate Justice Day of Action. The WCD and collected sigantures will be delivered to world governments at COP21 climate negotiations in December.
Featured Climate Women Voices  
FarahPolitical Will For Climate Actions: Statement of Farah Kabir, Bangladesh 
Farah at the International Women's Earth & Climate Summit hosted by WECAN. Photo by Lori Waselchuk.

"There is no climate justice without gender justice and equity. Women as half of the world's population expect and call for their perspective; their full and equal participation in all aspects of climate policy,"

-Farah Kabir, Action Aid Bangladesh 
FERCRevisiting the Federal Energy Regulatory Commision: A Mothers Plea

Click here to read a powerful guest blog calling for immediate action to revise the mandate of FERC, the body regulating and developing fossil fuel infrastructure across the US. Thanks to Harriet Shugarman of Climate Mama!

Would you like to tell your story as a featured climate woman? We welcome guest blogs and other submissions - emily@wecaninternational.org
                
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DR Congo Regional Climate Solutions workshop in Bukavu, July 2015.

Download The Women's Climate Action Agenda



Click here  for background information on the Action Agenda and our advocacy work, then  download the full document here. 


WECAN International is working to raise up women's voices to the forefront of the climate conversation on the road to COP21 Paris & beyond.

Please 
 to support efforts to bring frontline women leaders to critical actions & events this September & December.

 

Thank you for your continued support of our work for Climate Justice and care for the Earth and All Generations, 
 

Osprey Orielle Lake & the WECAN International Team  
 

wecaninternational.org   

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