Tag Archives: activism

10:10:10 in Utrecht – Cradle to Cradle Climate Action

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In conjunction with the Global Work Party, Cradle to Cradle, a event informing children and adults about sustainability was held today in Utrecht, the Netherlands. The Cradle to Cradle event was packed with kids and families, enjoying the sun, learning about sustainability and creating cool things with recycled materials. The photographs below show kids making wallets from old milk cartons and art from recycled material.

The Global Work Party was organized by 350.org and 10:10 and is being heralded as the world’s largest day of civil action ever. Be sure to hop on over to 350.org for more photography around the world.

1500 Scouts gather for 10:10 Climate Aerial Photo

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This past Saturday, in the little town of Vlaardingen near Rotterdam, an estimated 1500 Scouts gathered to create this aerial image of 10:10. The event was organized by JMA (Jongeren Milieu Actief) in Amsterdam. This is arguably the largest 10:10 image ever recorded and was a lot of fun to create, (at 20 meters in the air). The image reminds us of the goal to stop climate change by reducing emissions by 10% in 2010. It is important that we to get to work during and after the Global Work Party on October 10, 2010.

What are you planning for 10:10? If you are in the Netherlands, check out this site.

In Amsterdam on October 10 a series of workshops will be held at the Dok Huis Gallery @ Plantage Doklaan 8 Amsterdam. Currently the prospective line up is below. If you want to get involved in helping plan either of these workshops or just want to come along, contact me.

  • In the POWER workshops, participants will gain practical skills in how to create electric power off the grid.
  • In the ART workshops, participants will utilise recycled/waste/sustainable materials to create quality art works.
  • In the MUSIC workshops, participants will create instruments with recycled/waste materials.
  • In the LIFE workshops, participants will learn how to create sustainable urban gardens and do some shared vegetarian cooking.

10:10 the netherlands aerial image

Activism, Coal and Arizona

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“Just seeing the future for us and knowing that they [our parents] wanted a better future for us, fern benallyI have the same feeling for, not myself, but the kids and for my relatives and that something better will be in the future for them, that keeps me going. Knowing that we have succeeded in one step and maybe we can continue on and see a better future for all of us.

[One of] the other things that keeps me going is knowing that one of my great aunts and my great uncles [had] respiratory problems. Their breath was taken away slowly inch by inch, feeling like they were being suffocated. When they died, thinking about them and thinking that how much better it would be for the rest of the people here. I don’t want them to die that way anymore, I want them to be able to breathe.” Fern Benally, Navajo Activist.

Shadia Fayne Wood from Project Survival Media and I just finished an assignment in Arizona, covering an incredible group of activists that are working hard to stop dirty energy on the Navajo Reservation and pushing the envelope on clean energy development. We are focusing on the closing of one of the coal mines in the area, the tactics that were used and what this means to the people affected by the closure.

The former coalmine is in the Benally’s backyard, land that has been the families for thousands of years. For the last 30 years, 24 hours a day, the large coal trucks would rumble by the house and the coal crusher would drown out nature. Now, thanks to incredible co-operation and dedication amongst groups like the Black Mesa Water Coalition, Grand Canyon Trust and the Sierra Club, the life of mine permit was revoked in January. Now, the Benally’s can hear the birds sing and watch the stars like their ancestors did long before Europeans came here.

There are still many examples of environmental racism here in Arizona and across our planet. But, it is important to celebrate victories and share the knowledge so that we can all move towards a sustainable future. More to come on this project in the future.

Project Survival Media launches Solutions for Survival

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Planet not profit image Copenhagen COP 15A unique and important media project, Project Survival Media, has just launched their newest plan, Solutions for Survival (S4S). This new program, is about challenging the industry-sponsored myth that we just can’t meet our energy needs without investing in dirty energy. S4S will do this by creating a documentary series in the United States on current clean energy potential and current dirty energy subsidies

How can you help?

  • You can support PSM, all donations go to supporting young journalists to gain experience and focus on the most important issue today.
  • Join the Facebook group
  • Come to the Launch Party in San Fransisco on May 20th.

My experience with PSM….

I got involved with PSM back in 2009 as the European Team leader. The initial project for PSM was to set up a team of youth journalists around the world to focus on climate change reporting. Within a short time span of a few weeks, PSM had engaged over 100 youth journalists around the world, raised over $40,000 and produced an incredible array of reporting around the climate issue leading up to COP 15. PSM also financed several southern youth representatives to join the team in Copenhagen and report on the summit. It was a wide success and I am excited about working with PSM throughout the foreseeable future to continue to focus on climate change reporting.

To that end, I will be heading to Arizona in a couple of weeks to focus on indigenous energy projects with PSM director Shadia Fayne.  Stay tuned for more.

Climate Change 2009 – Explosion of a social movement

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In 2009, millions of people came together around the world to pressure leaders to sign a legally binding and ambitious deal in Copenhagen. Although the final result in Copenhagen was a failure, 2009 was the year that the climate movement exploded. This energy will carry forward and we will continue to build in numbers until sustainability is achieved.

This multimedia piece looks at the growth of this movement throughout 2009. Take a moment and watch hundreds of those around the world taking action and inspiring others in the fight for climate justice.

All images (unless provided by 350.org) ©Robert van Waarden
Music: Open Road Kisses by The Small Affairs.

Best of 2009 – 20 Images of Climate Change Activism

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The Rise of a Climate Change Movement – 20 Images from 2009 – I spent the majority of 2009 focusing on the climate change social movement and working closely with the international youth climate movement, ngo’s and the TckTckTck campaign.

Youth Climate Photographer Shows at Barcelona Negotiations

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Cross Posted from Itsgettinghotinhere

If you are a youth climate activist, if you have been to a Powershift conference, and/or if you read this blog, you have seen some of these amazing images that are on display, right now, in front of delegates at the Barcelona intercessional meetings –only one month before Copenhagen.

Barcelona Climate Talks - UNFCCC meetings

I wanted to take a moment and share this work, and also a message from my amazing co-worker, Robert van Waarden:

babyballoonbyrobertPower Shift '09 ©Robert vanWaarden

“Youth have been documenting the movement on the front lines of the global climate crisis and now, we are bringing our message to negotiators at Barcelona.

For years now, the global youth climate movement has been organizing, building momentum and strength, and influencing the debate through our actions, documentation, and networking from the front lines of the climate crisis. Actions by individuals have inspired groups and movements across Earth to fight for a dependable, stable climate. It is the issue that defines our generation.

I have had the pleasure of documenting and photographing this movement across the globe. From the halls of Powershifts to the high level segments of the Conference of Parties, from the G20 to the High Arctic, I have been honored to lend my skills as a photographer, and help give the international youth movement a voice and image. Now, we at Fired UP! Media and Project Survival Media are seizing the opportunity to place large, professional, compelling images directly in front of the negotiators and delegates in Barcelona RIGHT NOW.

This last intercessional meeting will be instrumental in crafting the outcome of Copenhagen and it is absolutely essential, and wonderful that our story is being shown. But we need your help to support the display. All of this photographic coverage has been undertaken on a volunteer basis and because of this, we need to seek financial support to cover the shipment of these images to Barcelona. If you feel that displaying your voice at the UN is important, then please consider donating to Project Survival Media so we can continue to sound our voices loud and clear at the meeting before the most important meeting in the world. Survival is Not Negotiable. The youth of the world are here.” – Robert van Waarden

Help us support the photographers that so greatly amplify our voice, and influence our decision makers.

Thank you for your inspiration and dedication.

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Photography of PowerShift UK – Reporting by Project Survival Media

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Crossposted from Itsgettinghotinhere
More Photography and Gallery Here.

By: Adaeze Umolu

Young men and women at the reception and registration desk are in high spirits as UK Powershift 09 has brought hundreds together to tackle our climate future here in London. Irrespective of physical, cultural or social differences, the determination of these young men and woman begs one to wonder if United Kingdom or world leaders can ignore such a movement.

Powershift UK is not just another campaign event to gather young people. It is a conference where workshops have been organized to teach skills to the young people in attendance with the end result of taking a meaningful action. It is “not just swapping to low energy light bulbs, but how to campaign and communicate effectively within their local communities.” It aims to inspire and educate drawing from the vast experience of the speakers lined up for the conference such as Ian Katz, Deputy editor of The Guardian and Emily Cummings, a 22 year old inventor using her designs to tackle climate change issues within Southern African countries.

Organized by the UKYCC, and modeled after the Powershift conferences held in the USA and Australia. The passion and focus of this conference is a serious one. It is about climate change, our planet and our future. Yet, these young people have set out to tell a more positive story and get people involved. The future and our planet’s future looks bright here today and I am more optimistic as the events of the day continue that our voice will be heard. I intend to remain here for the full duration of the conference and more articles are on the way.

Writer Adaeze Umolu reports for the Project Survival Media team in Europe.

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Z Magazine – Capitol Coal Action – the story behind the photographs

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Below is an extract from a magazine article that Joshua Kahn Russell wrote on the Capitol Coal Action in Washington in March. Joshua is a good friend of mine and when he requested some of my images for the article and I was happy to provide them.

‘On March 2, 2009 around 4,000 people came to the Capitol Power Plant in Washington, DC, with over 2,000 risking arrest through civil disobedience. The vast majority had never been to a demonstration before, let alone engaged in non-violent direct action. People from communities most directly impacted by coal’s lifecycle—from Navajo reservations in the Southwest to Appalachian towns in the Southeast—led the march. With multicolored flags depicting windmills, people planting gardens, waves crashing, and captions like “community,” “security,” “change,” and “power,” we blockaded five entrances to the power plant that fuels Congress (the belching smokestacks just two blocks from the Capitol building made a fitting national target). We called the whole thing the Capitol Climate Action (CCA).’

Read more here

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