In Case You Missed It

Fracking ban: In an historic victory, the Brazilian states of Paraná and Santa Catarina have both passed a law to permanently ban fracking – within 2 weeks of each other. It means Latin America’s largest shale reserves will go untapped, and 12.5 million people in Paraná state are safe from the direct impacts of fracking. “We will continue city by city, state by state, until fracking is banned across Brazil,” said one activist. Find out more

People gather water at a dried lake in Chennai in June. Photo: Reuters – P. Ravikumar

This is an emergency: Large parts of the world are sweltering with heatwaves this week, and much of India is still suffering from devastating drought. Meanwhile in Nepal and Bangladesh, floods have claimed hundreds of lives and affected millions more. Farmers who have lost their crops due to extreme heat are marching, and over half a million people have already signed on to a youth-led petition urging their government to declare a climate emergency. Read more

Protests in San Juan on Monday shut down a main highway. Photo: Carlos Giusti, AP

Island-wide strike: More than 500,000 people vowed to go on strike across Puerto Rico. They were calling on the governor to resign because of corruption, sexism, homophobia and awful mismanagement and neglect in the wake of Hurricane Maria which claimed thousands of lives. The protests were sparked by leaked messages showing the governor’s callous attitudes towards Puerto Ricans. On Wednesday evening, he announced his resignation. Read more

Deathly dairy: One of New Zealand’s biggest polluters, dairy giant Fonterra, has committed to stop building new coal boilers, which they use to dehydrate milk for export. Read more about the win (and be sure to catch their hilarious parody video, too!)

Outside CBC offices in Ottawa, activists display “climate emergency” on sandbags used to protect against flooding. Photo: Nhattan Nguyen

Tell the truth: People gathered in cities around Canada last Thursday, to demand Canada’s public broadcaster hold a televised debate on the climate crisis and a Green New Deal ahead of national elections. Just weeks ago, wildfires raged across Alberta. Read more

Divestment: Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen a wide range of fossil fuel divestment wins continue to roll in:

The UK’s National Trust will divest its £1 billion of assets from oil, coal and gas. More
The London Pensions Fund Authority will divest from Exxon
Chubb becomes the first insurer in the United States to divest from coal More
Royal College of Emergency Medicine and Royal Society of Arts will fully divest More
Largest city in Wales divests its pension fund More
German cities Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, and Brandenburg commit to partially divest pension funds (they still have holdings in gas)

If you’re curious about divestment, you can sign up to follow the Financing the Future Summit on September 10-11 in Cape Town, South Africa here.

One to Watch

Here’s a new video featuring a characteristically frank plea for action from adults this September from Greta Thunberg and others from around the world.

“If you not you should do it, then who? If not now, then when?” Greta has a point. Please watch and share today, to help us invite millions more people to join the Global Climate Strike this September.

Use Your Power

As one climate striker from the Philippines says in the video above: “It’s time to take charge of the future that belongs to us, not to the fossil fuel companies.”

Young people have been leading the latest wave of global action on the climate crisis – now it’s time for people of all ages to stand with them and join them on #ClimateStrike.

After you share the video, head over to the Resources section of globalclimatestrike.net find out how to spread the word and make this September the turning point the world needs.