SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
diane wilson
'War Is Not Green': Climate Groups Call On Biden to Support Peace Talks in Ukraine
"We must stop this madness before it's too late!" said climate organizers. "For the sake of future life on this planet, we urge you to initiate peace talks to end this war now."
Apr 27, 2023
From greenhouse gas emissions stemming from rocket attacks to the threat of "the ultimate environmental crime" of nuclear war, U.S anti-war and climate action groups on Thursday told President Joe Biden and members of Congress that the long-standing call for peace talks in Ukraine is "all the more urgent" as the damage the Russian invasion has done to the planet so far becomes clearer.
CodePink led more than 2,300 "people of conscience" and groups including Amazon Watch, Rainforest Action Network, and Extinction Rebellion DC in a letter to Biden saying that "based on climate justice reasons alone," the U.S. government can and must use its power to ensure that peace talks between Russia and Ukraine happen swiftly.
The groups detailed a number of harmful effects the war has had on the planet in its first 14 months, including the apparent sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, which the United Nations Environment Program said may have caused the largest-ever single leak of methane, the potent greenhouse gas that can trap 87 times more heat than carbon dioxide in its first two decades in the atmosphere.
On a day-to-day basis, the war is contributing to further fossil fuel emissions as hundreds of thousands of soldiers, their munitions, and people who have been forced to flee their homes make millions of trips across Ukraine. The conflict has also had a considerable impact on public health as communities face the long-lasting byproducts of war even after soldiers retreat from their cities and towns.
"As the fighting has now gone on for a year with no end in sight, Ukraine braces itself for further disruption of local ecosystems, forest fires, blackened trees, air pollution, sewage leaks, and chemical contamination of rivers and groundwater in Ukraine," said the groups in the letter.
"If any leader of a nation is even remotely serious about protecting the sanctity of life, they would push for a cease-fire and use their influence to establish peace talks."
Lennard de Klerk, a Dutch carbon accounting expert who is preparing a report on the war's climate impact that's expected to be presented to the U.N. in June, toldTime in February that the carbon footprint of the conflict in its first year was an estimated 155 million metric tons—the equivalent of the Netherlands' yearly output—due to explosions, the reconstruction of buildings, transportation, forest fires, and other factors.
The Thursday letter also points out that Western sanctions on Russian oil have led the U.S. to increase its energy exports to Europe, doubling liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports from 2021 to 2022 and sending 1.75 million barrels of crude oil across the Atlantic Ocean daily—a 70% increase from 2021.
CodePink reported that when organizers delivered the letter to congressional offices on Thursday, they encountered Capitol Hill staffers who "were unaware of the deadly environmental consequences of militarism and active war."
"We will continue to educate, organize, and disrupt until not only the connection is made but action is taken to save people and the planet," said CodePink organizer Teddy Ogborn. "War can no longer be a policy option for nations. If any leader of a nation is even remotely serious about protecting the sanctity of life, they would push for a cease-fire and use their influence to establish peace talks."
The more than $100 billion the U.S. has spent on aid to Ukraine in the last year—and billions more spent by European countries—has come with an opportunity cost, said the groups, as the Global South has been left waiting for wealthy countries to fulfill "their 2009 promise to invest $100 billion a year to help poorer countries adapt to climate change."
"Now the world is looking to the wealthier nations for a loss and damage fund," they wrote. "Instead of pouring our resources into war, we should be investing these resources into seriously addressing the climate crisis."
The letter was delivered to the White House and Congress a day after CodePink co-founder Diane Wilson received the Goldman Environmental Prize for her work to hold petrochemical giant Formosa Plastics accountable for illegally dumping toxic waste on the Gulf Coast of Texas.
During the award ceremony at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., CodePink organizer Olivia DiNucci walked onto the stage as Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) addressed the crowd. DiNucci carried a sign that read, "War Is Not Green," while other activists chanted: "Stop the war in Ukraine. We need peace talks."
\u201cBREAKING NEWS: Pelosi disrupted! \n\nShame on you @SpeakerPelosi for speaking about the environment at a ceremony @kennedycenter. \n\nThe Pentagon is the biggest polluter in the world and your nearly $1 TRILLION war budget is fueling the climate crisis.\n\n#WarIsNotGreen\u201d— CODEPINK (@CODEPINK) 1682557471
"It's a huge hypocrisy to have Nancy Pelosi speak at an environmental ceremony," said DiNucci. "Pelosi voted for almost a trillion-dollar Pentagon budget. That money should go for climate justice. The people awarded today represent communities that have been devastated by our war machine."
Prior to the event Pelosi had explicitly told CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin, "We don't need peace talks. We need victory."
U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency documents leaked earlier this month showed that American officials believe that "negotiations to end the conflict are unlikely during 2023 in all considered scenarios."
"We must stop this madness before it's too late!" said the groups in their letter on Thursday. "For the sake of future life on this
planet, we urge you to initiate peace talks to end this war now."
Update: This article has been adjusted to correctly identify some of the backers of the letter.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Goldman Prize Goes to Activists Who Scored Huge Victories Over Corporate Polluters
One Goldman Environmental Prize recipient was Diane Wilson, who won a historic $50 million settlement in a case against Formosa Plastics.
Apr 24, 2023
Activists from Zambia, Indonesia, Turkey, Finland, Brazil, and the United States were awarded the 2023 Goldman Environmental Prize on Monday for fighting destructive mining projects, working to protect imperiled marine ecosystems, shielding Indigenous land from corporate plunder, and holding a powerful plastics company accountable for dumping toxic waste on Texas' Gulf Coast.
"Now that the world has awakened to acute environmental crises like climate change, fossil fuel extraction, and pollution of our air and water, we are much more aware of our connections to each other and to all life on the planet," said John Goldman, president of the Goldman Environmental Foundation. "A grassroots activist in Malawi working to combat plastic pollution in her own country is directly connected to us, and vice versa; and she has much to teach us about how we can do that work at home, where we live. This work, and our fates, are all intertwined."
This year's recipients of the prize, awarded annually to grassroots campaigners from the world's six inhabited continents, were Chilekwa Mumba of Zambia, Zafer Kizilkaya of Turkey, Tero Mustonen of Finland, Delima Silalahi of Indonesia, Alessandra Korap Munduruku of Brazil, and Diane Wilson of the United States.
In 2019, Wilson—a fourth-generation shrimper—won a $50 million settlement in a landmark case against the petrochemical behemoth and notorious polluter Formosa Plastics. The Texas Tribunenoted that the 2019 settlement, which a judge ordered the company to place in a trust devoted to habitat restoration and other efforts on the Texas Gulf Coast, was "the largest in U.S. history involving a private citizen's lawsuit against an industrial polluter under federal clean air and water laws."
Other Goldman prize recipients helped score victories against powerful companies.
Alessandra Korap Munduruku of Brazil "organized community efforts to stop mining development by British mining company Anglo American in Brazil's Amazon rainforest," forcing the firm to "withdraw 27 approved research applications to mine inside Indigenous territories," the Goldman Environmental Foundation noted.
Chilekwa Mumba of Zambia, for his part, coordinated legal action against Vedanta Resources, the United Kingdom-based parent company of a massively polluting mining operation in the African nation's Copperbelt Province.
"Chilekwa's victory in the U.K. Supreme Court set a legal precedent—it was the first time an English court ruled that a British company could be held liable for the environmental damage caused by subsidiary-run operations in another country," the Goldman Environmental Foundation said. "This precedent has since been applied to hold Shell Global—one of the world's 10 largest corporations by revenue—liable for its pollution in Nigeria."
A formal award ceremony will be held in Washington, D.C. on Monday at 8:30 pm ET.
Watch live:
Keep ReadingShow Less
'David-and-Goliath Story' as Texas Environmental Activist Diane Wilson Wins $50 Million Judgement Against Plastics Giant Formosa
The settlement funds will go to environmental projects and cleanup efforts in the Gulf Coast region.
Dec 04, 2019
Environmental activist Diane Wilson on Tuesday celebrated the approval of a settlement with plastics giant Formosa Plastics Corp. that will see the company devote $50 million to remediating areas of the Texas Gulf Coast it polluted.
U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Hoyt approved the settlement (pdf), which was reached in October.
"If this isn't a David-and-Goliath story, I don't know what is," tweeted Texas Tribune reporter Kiah Collier.
\u201cIf this isn't a David-and-Goliath story, I don't know what is:\n\nTexas judge approves historic settlement agreement in Formosa Plastics case https://t.co/MTu5xEaYrf\u201d— Kiah Collier (@Kiah Collier) 1575401429
Wilson and a coalition of environmental groups sued Formosa for its Point Comfort plant's pollution of Lavaca Bay area, about 125 miles east-southeast of Houston
Collier's reporting in the Tribune Tuesday about the settlement detailed the way the money will be used:
TRLA said the $50 million settlement is the largest in U.S. history involving a private citizen's lawsuit against anindustrial polluter under federal clean air and water laws. The money will be poured into a trust over the next five years and used to pay for programs supporting pollution mitigation, habitat restoration, public education and other environmental efforts on the middle Texas Gulf Coast.
In a statement, Wilson expressed her satisfaction with the settlement's approval.
"Having the $50 million settlement go to local environmental projects feels like justice," said Wilson. "Formosa polluted Lavaca Bay and nearby waterways for years. Now it will pay for strong community projects that will improve the health and welfare of our waterways and beaches."
\u201c2/ In 2017, Diane Wilson filed a lawsuit alleging that a Formosa plant had illegally discharged thousands of plastic pellets and pollutants into nearby waterways. \n\nShe spent years painstakingly collecting waste to prove it in court. https://t.co/p4LnP5YEsa\u201d— Texas Tribune (@Texas Tribune) 1575504848
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, took to Twitter to congratulate Wilson and remembered their shared activism from decades ago.
"So proud of Diane Wilson, a fantastic activist who just won $50 million settlement against Formosa for illegal dumping into Lavaca Bay," said Jayapal. "I went on hunger strike with Diane almost 20 years ago against Dow Chemical for dumping--she has not stopped. Congrats, Diane!"
Wilson's lawyer, Erin Gaines, said that the agreement is an example of how the public can fight for the environment--and win.
"This is a standard that citizens all over the country are fighting to get enforced in their communities," said Gaines. "Another key point is that Formosa must clean up illegally discharged plastics. This comprehensive settlement means that the natural resources in the Point Comfort area will not only be protected, they will also be revitalized."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular