February, 28 2022, 06:10am EDT
Activists Respond Globaly to Climate Report With Actions Targeting Fossil Fuel Finance
On Monday 28th of February the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will release a seminal report presenting the most comprehensive scientific overview to date of the climate impacts that communities around the world are suffering, due to the ongoing exploitation of fossil fuels.
GLOBAL
On Monday 28th of February the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will release a seminal report presenting the most comprehensive scientific overview to date of the climate impacts that communities around the world are suffering, due to the ongoing exploitation of fossil fuels.
May Boeve, Executive Director of 350.org, said;
"This IPCC report proves the cause of the problem; fossil fuels did this. But there is also good news, we know precisely how to reclaim our futures from the fossil fuel industry: by pushing financial institutions to cut off funding, and closing the doors for Big Oil. Now is the time to support community-led solutions that are sprouting up the world over."
The IPCC's findings, signed off by 195 governments, will show that the most marginalized and vulnerable people are already being hit hardest by a range of devastating climate impacts from wildfires to flooding. In response, 350.org and climate activists around the world are taking action to reclaim their future by launching a series of offline and online actions to keep fossil fuels in the ground and build a sustainable future for all.
**Please note that we are currently in ongoing discussions with activists to determine whether or not all actions will go ahead given the unfolding crisis in Ukraine.**
Climate actions begin on Sunday 27th of February and run until the 25th of March with a global climate strike organized by Fridays for Future. These actions will include*:
Indonesia: campaigners will paint a mural outside of Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) with the message #FossilFuelsDidThis and images of climate impacts caused by BNI financing of Fossil Fuel projects
Africa: across many African countries activists will hold actions to highlight the need for urgency on adaptation and mitigation against climate change. Key targeted actions will include governments, financial institutions and the fossil fuel industry, and will call for a just transition away from fossil fuels.
Brazil: students and environmental activists will challenge the fossil fuel lobby by marching to demand climate action in the capital city of the state that is in the heart of the country's coal extraction region.
Pacific: Pacific Climate Warriors are building "Solar TekPaks", providing emergency energy to communities across the region.
Germany: climate activists will stage actions targeting Deutsche Bank, putting a spotlight on the bank's financing of fossil fuel projects like the East African Crude Oil Pipeline, and 'presenting' the bank with the IPCC report.
France: there will be a march for Climate Justice with Ugandan campaigners targeting TotalEnergies and their support for the East African Crude Oil Pipeline.
- Canada: a Day of Action for a Just Transition Act will highlight the urgent need for this Act as first pledged by Justin Trudeau three years ago, to support workers as we accelerate the shift to away from fossil fuels.
Online:
Launch of the International People's platform for Climate Justice (IPCJ) - a space to gather and highlight stories of resistance and people powered solutions in the face of climate impacts (launching 2nd of March).
- Series of webinars to build and strengthen the movement targeting Deutsche Bank and its continued financing of destructive fossil fuel projects around the world, like the East African Crude Oil Pipeline.
- Online actions to build power for the cross-regional climate coalition tackling TotalEnergies and its support for fossil fuel projects like fracking in Vaca Muerta (Argentina) and the East African Crude Oil Pipeline.
Across the Globe 350.org is helping to build a movement to tackle dirty fossil fuel financiers like Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas, Mitsubishi UFG, or Standard Chartered, that continue to fund projects like the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline and fracking in Vaca Muerta, Argentina.
350 is building a future that's just, prosperous, equitable and safe from the effects of the climate crisis. We're an international movement of ordinary people working to end the age of fossil fuels and build a world of community-led renewable energy for all.
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'This Is What We're Funding': At Least 50 Children Killed in Israeli Strikes on Jabalia
"Civilians and civilian structures... must always be protected in accordance with international humanitarian law," said the head of UNICEF. "Yet these principles are being flouted over and over again."
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The United Nations children's agency on Saturday condemned the Israel Defense Forces' "indiscriminate strikes on civilians in the Gaza Strip" after at least 50 children were reportedly among those killed in attacks on Jabalia refugee camp in the northern part of the enclave.
Northern Gaza has been under siege since early October, when Israel resumed its attacks there, claiming it was targeting Hamas militants.
The current situation in northern Gaza has been called "apocalyptic" by leading humanitarian groups in recent days, with women and children making up the majority of the hundreds of people killed, and Israel imposing a near-total blockade on humanitarian aid.
Now, said Catherine Russell, executive director of the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF), "the entire Palestinian population in North Gaza, especially children, is at imminent risk of dying from disease, famine, and the ongoing bombardments."
In addition to the attacks on residential buildings this weekend in Jabalia, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that an attack on a healthcare center in Gaza City injured at least six people, including four children. The facility was participating in a polio vaccination drive, the second round of inoculations for children across Gaza.
"The Sheikh Radwan primary healthcare center in northern Gaza was struck today while parents were bringing their children to [get] the life-saving polio vaccination in an area where a humanitarian pause was agreed to allow vaccination to proceed," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. "These vital humanitarian-area-specific pauses must be absolutely respected. Ceasefire!"
Russell said the vehicle of a UNICEF staffer who was working on the vaccination campaign was attacked by "what we believe to be a quadcopter while driving through Jabalia—Elnazla."
The staff member was not injured, but Russell said "the attacks on Jabalia, the vaccination clinic, and the UNICEF staff member are yet further examples of the grave consequences of the indiscriminate strikes on civilians in the Gaza Strip."
"Civilians and civilian structures, including residential buildings, as well as humanitarian workers and their vehicles, must always be protected in accordance with international humanitarian law," said Russell. "Yet these principles are being flouted over and over again, leaving tens of thousands of children killed, injured, and deprived of essential services needed for survival."
The Gaza Health Ministry reports that at least 43,341 people have been killed in Gaza and at least 102,105 have been injured since Israel began its assault on the enclave more than a year ago in retaliation for a Hamas-led attack. Women and children make up most of those killed, even as Israel and the United States, the largest international supporter of the IDF, have insisted the military is targeting Hamas.
"How can this inhumane situation be tolerated by the Biden-Harris administration?" asked Nina Lahoud, who has served as a special adviser and peacekeeping officer at the U.N., after the death toll among children in Jabalia over the weekend was reported. "How many more Palestinian kids need to die to take urgent action?"
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Political observers expressed shock Saturday evening as the Des Moines Register released its final poll before Election Day showing Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris leading Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump by three points.
Harris was supported by 47% of respondents compared to 44% who backed Trump.
The newspaper's poll, conducted by pollster J. Ann Selzer, is widely regarded as the "gold standard" survey of voters in the state and has been recognized as "predicting" numerous election results in Iowa and giving a potential preview of how candidates could fare in other Midwestern states with similar demographics.
Progressive advocates cautioned against placing too much faith in a single poll—even a widely respected one—and urged Harris supporters to continue canvassing, phone-banking, and taking action to defeat Trump and the far-right MAGA movement.
But the unexpected result in a state that hasn't been considered a swing state in this election, and was widely assumed to be a Trump-supporting state, led political observers to look closely at the poll, which showed significant shifts toward Harris among women.
Women aged 65 and older supported Harris over Trump, 63% to 28%, in the poll. Women who identify as political independents also backed her, 57% to 29%.
Overall, women in the state are backing Harris in the poll by a margin of 20 points, according to the survey.
Lyz Lenz, a journalist based in Iowa, said she believed the poll could be linked to one major change in Iowa since the last presidential election: the six-week abortion ban that took effect in July, banning abortion care after fetal cardiac activity can be detected. Similar abortion bans have been blamed for at least four deaths of pregnant women in Texas and Georgia.
"It's the abortion ban," said Lenz. "Women are furious."
Daniel Nichanian, editor-in-chief and founder of the digital magazine Bolts, said the result could preview losses for state Supreme Court justices who have upheld abortion bans in a number of states, including Iowa.
In 10 states this year, voters will make their voices heard on ballot initiatives regarding the right to abortion care. In traditionally red states including Kansas and Kentucky since Roe was overturned, people have voted to protect the right to obtain an abortion.
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Selzer herself told the BBC that many respondents talked about abortion rights.
"The people who say they're supporting Kamala Harris, the issue they say they're thinking about most is democracy, about half of them saying that's the most important thing," she said. "But then half of that, about 25% roughly, say abortion. And Iowa has one of the strictest abortion laws in place... and that may well have played a part in this."
Sean Trende, senior elections analyst for RealClearPolitics, said it would be "foolish to dismiss [Selzer's] poll," but cautioned election watchers against abandoning "all of [their] prior views about the state of the race."
Dan Pfeiffer, a former adviser to President Barack Obama and co-host of "Pod Save America," said one possible interpretation among several is that "Harris isn't really winning Iowa but the poll is capturing late-stage momentum that bodes well for Wisconsin, Michigan, [and] Pennsylvania."
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"Dr. Davis, what do I do?" asks a man frantically, kneeling near his partner as she writhes in pain on the floor.
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The scenario plays out in the latest ad from Progress Action Fund, a Democratic political action committee that's produced a number of viral videos focusing on how Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's policies and those outlined in the right-wing agenda Project 2025 would impact both men and women's ability to make private decisions.
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Watch:
The ad went viral on social media late Saturday, the day after ProPublica reported on Nevaeh Crain, an 18-year-old in Texas who died last year at six months pregnant, when she was diagnosed with sepsis—a fast-moving and potentially deadly condition that can result from an infection.
Because of Texas' six-week abortion ban, which threatens doctors with prison time if they terminate a pregnancy before a fetal heartbeat has stopped, Crain made three emergency room visits and was required to have multiple ultrasounds as she became increasingly ill. By the time doctors confirmed "fetal demise," Crain's organs had begun failing. She died hours later.
The investigative outlet has also reported on the deaths of another woman in Texas—Josseli Barnica—and two women in Georgia, Amber Nicole Thurman and Candi Miller—from state abortion bans since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022.
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Other viral ads by Progress Action Fund have been more risqué and have even used absurdist humor to warn voters about Project 2025's proposal to ban pornography and emergency contraception.
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