GO GREEN WEEK ACTION GUIDE 8 - 13 FEBRUARY 2016

s e n i l d e r r u o w time to dra

ARE YOU SEEING RED? think orange

the unifying colour of the global Fossil Free movement

think RED

to represent the Red Lines our movement is drawing up

THIS GO GREEN WEEK, WE’RE DRAWING UP OUR RED LINES FOR FOSSIL FREE FRIDAY! Go Green Week is People & Planet’s annual national week of student action on climate change. Are you in?

think renewables use symbols of clean energy to represent the energy democracy we need

think

dinosaurs to represent the dirty, old fossil fuels of the past

MONDAY 8 Build Support TUESDAY 12 Raise Awareness WEDNESDAY 14 Get creative THURSDAY 16 hit the headlines FRIDAY 18 RED LINES DAY OF ACTION

get support from people & planet

People & Planet offers a range of fantastic training and workshops for school, college and university students and staff. Get in touch to book:

[email protected] | 01865 264 180

PEOPLEANDPLANET.ORG/FOSSIL-FREE

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a changing climate If it is wrong to wreck the climate, then it is wrong to profit from that wreckage Climate change is already having massive effects on some of the most vulnerable people on the planet. If the fossil fuel industry had put people before profits, millions of people would not be losing their livelihoods or becoming refugees in their own countries and beyond.

And worse is still to come. Fossil fuel companies hold five times more carbon in their fossil fuel reserves than we can safely afford to burn to stop runaway climate change - and are still spending billions searching for more.

reflections from paris: cop21 “The Paris accord is a trade agreement, nothing more. It promises to privatise, commodify and sell forested lands as carbon offsets in fraudulent schemes such as REDD+ projects ... Essentially, those responsible for the climate crisis not only get to buy their way out of compliance but they also get to profit from it as well.” ~ Alberto Saldamando, Human Rights Expert & Attorney “To say that this is a bad deal is not giving in to despair. It is opening the door to a different kind of hope ... We need to take our dreams away from politicians and invest them in ourselves. Through our own actions, we can make fossil fuels politically, economically, physically impossible to extract.” ~ Jess Worth and Danny Chivers, New Internationalist*

‘KEEP IT IN THE GROUND’ DECLARATION: BIT.LY/INDIGENOUS_RISING

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* Why we should feel positive about Paris (December 2015), newint.org/features/web-exclusive/2015/12/13/why-we-should-feel-positive-about-paris/

UK universities and colleges support the fossil fuel industry directly through their research, their £5.2bn investments in fossil fuel companies, and their partnerships with some of the worst-offending companies in the world like BP and Shell. We want all universities and colleges to move their money out of the fossil fuel industry, stop greenwashing, and support a clean energy future for all through their investments, research, teaching and careers. The COP21 Paris agreement in December was insufficient and we cannot leave it unchallenged. Politicians and the market aren’t going to do the job for us. In February, we need to make our movement bigger and more diverse than ever, so we can be back out in force demanding an end to fossil fuels and a safe future for all.

This Go Green Week, join students across the UK taking action to demand that our universities, colleges and schools break their links with a corrupt industry that has no place in our futures.

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we are winning! • Struggles led by Indigenous people have got Shell to pull out of Arctic drilling and the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline. • Since People & Planet launched the Fossil Free campaign in 2013, already 19 UK universities have divested! • Globally, almost 500 institutions and individuals have divested over $3.4 trillion from fossil fuels. • Notable divestment commitments include the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Guardian Media Group, University of Glasgow, World Council of Churches, and the British Medical Association.

MORE DIVESTMENT WINS: GOFOSSILFREE.ORG/ COMMITMENTS

going Fossil FREE The fossil fuel industry breaches indigenous rights & causes climate crisis From Canada’s dirty tar sands to Arctic drilling and fracking for shale gas, the fossil fuel industry is scraping the bottom of the barrel, whilst destroying homes and communities across the world. Communities on the frontline of fossil fuel extraction are already seeing their land and ways of living destroyed. Indigenous communities across the globe are resisting the expansion of extractive projects. Their struggle is our struggle.

“I ask that as temperature rises, that we rise”

Indigenous and frontline communities are drawing up their Red Lines and their clarion call is clear: keep it in the ground.The Fossil Free divestment campaign seeks to support this call and make sure we are amplifying the voices of affected communities. Every time someone gets displaced, is poisoned near an extraction site, loses access to their land and water, has fracking imposed on their community, and experiences the dismissal of Indigenous voices and struggles, our Red Lines are crossed.

- Osprey Orielle Lake, Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network

It’s people who lead movements, not politicians. It is up to us to create a diverse movement with a clear message: Red Lines are not for crossing. It’s time to decolonise and decarbonise our economies.

Let’s put the voices of affected communities at the heart of the struggle. Let’s work together to expose the fossil fuel industry’s climate lies and human rights abuses. Let’s put a Red Line between us and them.

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red lines are not for crossing Our Red Lines are the communities on the frontline of climate change and oil, coal and gas extraction who are sacrificed so that fossil fuels can be burnt. Our Red Lines are the false solutions promoted by Western governments and corporations which uphold the power of markets and allow Co2onialism to continue. Our Red Lines are the economic and political systems that put corporate profit before people. The crossing of these Red Lines cannot go unchallenged. We stand behind indigenous communities calling for fossil fuels to be kept in the ground and a just transition to a decarbonised and decolonised economy. We stand for Climate Justice.

BUILD SUPPORT it’s time to build our groups, our communities, and the movement To keep momentum going for the climate and global justice movement post-Paris, we need to get serious about building our groups, strengthening local and global communities, and linking up our struggles.

Build your group

[MONDAY]

All good campaigns start with a strong team. Get together with your friends, recruit the best activists on campus, and remember to think outside the box about who to invite: a diversity of experiences and opinions makes a group stronger and more effective. Hold a big open meeting to kick off Go Green Week and share ideas for taking action on Fossil Free Friday. Why not ask your Student Union to help you advertise your event and reach out to other student societies on campus and beyond?

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ucu supports fossil free Student activists and staff are invited to contact their local UCU branch to discuss the campaign. In 2013 the union passed national policy supporting divestment campaigns, and UCU reps have been very active in building some of the campaigns in places like LSE and Birkbeck. Arrange a meeting with the UCU branch rep in your college or university in the lead up to Green Week to discuss potential joint activities.

FIND YOUR BRANCH: UCU.ORG.UK/ YOURCONTACTS

BUILD THE MOVEMENT This Go Green Week, take some time to reflect on your group's relationship with other societies on campus and in your local community, and invite them to link up struggles. We love these words from organiser Tisha Brown, writing for New Internationalist:

“DO NOT POLLUTE THE EARTH AFTER IT HAS BEEN SO WHOLESOMELY SET IN ORDER”

“If we are serious about building a mass movement, then we have to become more intersectional in our politics. We have to reach out to black and brown organisations and ask how we can help and maintain that relationship if we want them to build a mass movement.

- QUR’AN 7:56

“However, be careful that the invite isn’t just a tick-box exercise to fill a diversity quota. These groups should be involved in the planning and messaging of the day. Ask them what they think and take their concerns and ideas on board.

MADE in Europe supports young Muslims who are taking action on environmental issues with their local mosques and Muslim communities. MADE can connect you with your local Muslim environmental group to learn about and support each other’s campaigns. Get in touch:

“Intersectional organising needs to be at the heart of what we do. For us to fight off the worst effects from climate change and help support the people in the Global South fighting on the frontlines, we are going to need

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[email protected] 020 8127 6110

BUILD SUPPORT the help of everyone. That means we need to ensure that our spaces are not only welcoming and safe but also accessible. We have to look at power and privilege in groups and be serious about finding ways to address it.”

EXTRACT FROM: NEWINT.ORG/BLOG/ GUESTS/2015/12/02/WE-NEED-TOTALK-ABOUT-OPPRESSION

healthy planet We’re a group of students working to raise awareness of the links between environmental change and health and advocate for the future we want to see.

a group calling on Oxford’s Oriel College to take down their statue of colonialist Cecil Rhodes, following a similar successful campaign in South Africa. By bringing together students determined to decolonise the space, curriculum, and institutional memory of Oxford with those trying to break the university’s ties with the fossil fuel industry, we were able to envision a stronger movement with common goals, based on mutual solidarity.

HEALTHYPLANETUK.ORG

OIL VAY!

operation noah

The Jewish Climate Action Network encourages Jewish groups to disassociate with the fossil fuel industry.

We believe that churches need to divest from fossil fuel companies to retain integrity in the face of climate change.

OILVAY.WEEBLY.COM

If it is wrong to wreck the climate, then it decarbonisation and decolonisation isFossil wrong to profit from that wreckage Free Oxford campaigners recently met with Rhodes Must Fall,

The colonial project pursued human and natural resources for capital accumulation in the hands of the few. As we try to dismantle the system of oppression that also rules our relationship to Nature, we recognise that a struggle for collective liberation needs decolonisation and decarbonisation to go hand in hand.

BRIGHTNOW.ORG.UK

jar bus gon ter

GET UPDATES FROM ALL OUR UK PARTNERS: FACEBOOK.COM/FOSSILFREEUK

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e doing of colonialism; th Decolonisation: the un of es and healing the crim process of recognising sisting the ways in which the empire, as well as re t. nue to act in the presen colonial legacies conti

Photo credit: George Edwards

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raise awareness how can your group stay visible on campus and get support this week?

[TUESDAY]

Don't let your campaign fail because you've turned into back-room negotiators! This Go Green Week, make sure you're finding ways to stay visible and get campus and community support.

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Host a film screening Do the Math: fast-paced and inspiring documentary film about the rising movement to change the terrifying math of the climate crisis and challenge the fossil fuel industry. Sure to provoke discussion.

Holding a social event or action is a great opportunity for people in your group to get to know each other as friends. Make sure it’s open to new people to get involved, and why not also use it as an opportunity to raise some money for People & Planet – we need the cash!

Taking on Tarmageddon: documentary about a youth exchange between students from People & Planet and young indigenous tar sands activists from Beaver Lake Cree, who live right in the middle of the biggest industrial project on Earth. This Changes Everything: the film presents seven powerful portraits of communities on the front lines, from Montana’s Powder River Basin to the Alberta Tar Sands, from the coast of South India to Beijing and beyond. Interwoven with these stories of struggle is Naomi Klein’s narration of the vision that we can seize the existential crisis of climate change to transform our failed economic system into something radically better.

RUN A smashing FOSSIL FREE STALL Organising a stall on your campus for the week is a great way to get other students and staff to support you. You’ll need to: • Plan a location where you’ll get lots of passing trade. • Get volunteers signed up to run the stall. Use an online rota like doodle.com and brief all volunteers on the day. • Promote your stall on social media and by putting up posters, and ask your SU what they can do to help too. • Prepare your stall: with any materials you’ll need like your Fossil Free petition, action cards, props, free food... • Move about: don’t sit behind your stall waiting - you need to get out in front of it, approaching folk with a winning smile! • Follow-up: make sure you contact any new campaign supporters about how they can get involved in the Red Lines day of action this Fossil Free Friday!

organise a DIVEStMENT DEBATE Last term, People & Planet Sheffield hosted a public debate ending with a divestment vote. A stunning 91% of the audience voted in favour! But if debating doesn’t float your boat, why not try a climate critical mass on bikes or even just a pot luck meal? Sharing great food is always a winner.

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get creative get painty making (red) banners and props for fossil free friday...

[wednesDAY]

Throughout Go Green Week, posters, banners and props are key to getting your message across to passers-by and the media. Why not invite all your allies to come lend a hand?

What are your Red Lines? Think of a creative action to put across your group’s ideas of Red Lines. We love these inflatable ‘cobblestones’ used in Barcelona and Paris! See them in action:

VIMEO.COM/147180338

~ Artúr van Balen and Verena Meyer, Eclectic Electric Collective*

“We, Indigenous Peoples, are the red line. We have drawn that line with our bodies against the privatisation of nature, to dirty fossil fuels and to climate change. We will protect our sacred lands.” – Tom Goldtooth, Executive Director of Indigenous Environmental Network

Credit: Coalition Climat 21

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“We are interested in tactical frivolity, in finding new ways of protesting, in how the opposition between police and protesters can be subverted ... During the general strike in Barcelona, the police jumped in and out of their cars just for seconds and hit everybody who was in their way. But when they saw this cube, they first hit that. People around us ran away, but we were safe behind the cube. It was amazing to see: the police became so aggressive towards the cobblestone, they wanted to destroy it and that turned their attention away from us.”

Photo credit: Artúr van Balen

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* Interview with Artúr van Balen and Verena Meyer (April 2012), truthisconcrete.org/interviews/you-cannot-give-instructions-to-a-gigantic-inflatable/

hit the headlines creative stunts make a great photo opportunity for locaL press

Planning is everything! this tactic star will help you prepare for great actions

IDENTIFY CONTACTS

regrouping

Goals & Strategy

target

Make sure you’ve got a good ‘hook’ to get the paper interested, a good quote about why you’re campaigning, and be ready to answer any questions.

How do we plan to celebrate and debrief this action? What next?

How does this tactic fit into our strategy and help us achieve our goals?

Who is the target? How will this action help to influence them?

plan a photo op

How will this action affect relationships within the team? And with our allies and key stakeholders?

Think about what print, radio, television and online sources you’d want to have cover your event and try to get in touch with them at least one week before.

[thursdaY]

TELL A STORY

To convince your best press contacts to show up or send a photographer to your action, you’ll need to tell them WHO you are, WHAT you are doing, WHEN and WHERE you are doing it, and WHY.

PRESS RELEASE

One day before, press release your action with an 'embargo' so they can't release it until afterwards! You can also send them a press release afterwards if anything changes.

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know YOUR ANGLE

If the paper can’t send a photographer to you, be sure to take pictures yourself and then send the best one with a short press release to your local paper (and to us at People & Planet!).

SHARE YOUR PHOTOS ON SOCIAL MEDIA USING: #GOGREENWEEK #FOSSILFREEFRIDAY #REDLINES

GET TEMPLATES: PEOPLEANDPLANET.ORG/FOSSIL-FREE/RESOURCES

relationships

reputation How will this action affect our organisation and how people perceive us?

location

Tactic Star

Where will the action take place? How does the location support our message?

message Is our tactic understandable and the message persuasive?

tone

resources

timing

What is the tone of the action and how will people react to it?

Is the action worth the limited time, energy and resources of our group?

When should we do the action? Why then? Any external hooks for media coverage?

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This Fossil Free Friday, turn up the heat with a red lines themed action! RED RED LINE

Make a human, fabric or chalk Red Line next to your VC's office or around management building. Make sure that your university's investments are not upholding colonial systems of extraction and supporting the destruction of communities.

STRUGGLE STORIES

Amplify the stories of resistance of those whose Red Lines are crossed by the fossil fuel industry and experience climate-related disasters on a daily basis. Whether it's the Pacific Climate Warriors rising up against those blocking climate action, or the Wayuu people resisting BHP Hilton in Colombia, Indigenous people are leading the movement to keep fossil fuels in the ground. How about an art installation on campus connecting their stories with Red Lines?

Map by transportenvironment.org

FRACKING IN THE UK Check out this map of sites where tar sands are being refined in the UK or look up proposed fracking sites online. Draw your local Red Line. Link up with communities resisting the fossil fuel industry in the UK to tell your uni or college that their investments are also having an impact right here.

PROPOSED UK FRACKING SITES: FRACK-OFF.ORG.UK/ LOCATIONS

[fossil free friday]

[fossil free friday]

red lines day of action What’s your red line? choose a fun creative action to embody your idea BANNER DROP Drop a banner from a visible spot on campus, or use helium balloons to float it to the ceiling indoors!

carbon bubbles

DIVESToSAURUS

oil spill

March around campus dressed as dinosaurs – check out our prop making guide online.

Molasses and vegetable oil make a great fake oil spill to raise awareness.

build a pipeline

divest picnic

Dress as carbon bubbles or blow up black balloons for great visual impact.

Build a pipeline or oil rig in your SU to grab people’s attention and get them to sign your Fossil Free petition.

teach-in

break-up time

Hold a teach-in about the struggles led (and won!) by frontline communities globally.

Get dressed up in white and break up a wedding between big oil and your uni!

Find yourself some pom poms and be a cheerleader telling your institution to divest now.

chimney sweeps

aerial photo

if i can’t dance

Dress up as Victorian chimney sweeps to clean up investments...

Use human bodies (dressed in red!) to spell out your ‘Red Lines’ message.

Run a comedy gig, club night or ceilidh to raise money for People & Planet.

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A great way to involve new members, have some fun and raise awareness (yum).

cheerleading

Photo : 10:10

To fight climate change we need a global movement of people pushing back against the fossil fuel industry. Here are some of the communities on the frontline who are leading the way.

canada

england

“In my home, the Beaver Lake Cree Nation, treaty six territory in Alberta, Canada, I am part of a community of 900 Woodland Cree people who have walked the land for thousands of years.

“The project came about originally after the [2013] protests in Balcombe over fracking. A group of local people were keen to do something positive about the energy future of Balcombe, and make their own decisions about that, rather than have have it imposed on them. So a group of us got together with the aim of providing the energy needs of Balcombe village from solar power - through locally-generated, renewable power that benefited local people, on which local people had a say. It’s fantastic to see the panels going up - to start generating electricity in Balcombe.”

Under the land we call home sits the Alberta tar sands, the largest known reservoir of crude bitumen oil in the world – an area larger than England. Most of our land has now been leased out to the oil industry without the Canadian and provincial government following due process in their duty to consult the local people. Photo: This Changes Everything

Tom Parker, one of the directors of Repower Balcombe

Photo: 350.org

Papua New Guinea This is no longer an “Indian” problem. If you breathe air and drink water, this is about you too. The battle is to protect one of the world’s most important carbon sinks – the boreal forest – and to stop the expansion of Canada’s largest industrial producer of greenhouse gases. It is about the inherent rights of First Nations people, collective basic human rights and the rights of nature.” Crystal Lameman, climate change campaigner from Alberta, Canada “We are hopeful that our journey here as Pacific Climate Warriors is a peaceful journey. We bring with us our culture, our tradition, we bring with us our people. We travelled to Newcastle, Australia, to highlight these impacts of climate change, to share our stories with the rest of the world. And to get Australia to reconsider their commitment to expanding the fossil fuel industry. Because if they continue to expand the industry, it will continue to expand the destruction to the Pacific. We are here to tell the world as warriors that we are not drowning, we are fighting.”

Yazmin Romero Epiayu, an indigenous leader of the Wayuu people in northern Colombia fighting against the Cerrejón coal mine part-owned by BHP Billiton.

italy “About 1900 olive trees will be destroyed due to the pipeline. The environment will be deeply changed. This project is an act of blind arrogance, the people that live here will receive nothing back and our livelihoods will be hurt. We need a different energy model but it’s not enough to simply replace fossil fuels with renewable energy sources. Who controls the energy is just as important.” Olive farmer Alberto Santoro standing on the coast of Puglia, Italy, where a huge piece of gas infrastructure that will run 4000 km from Azerbaijan would come ashore. He’s organising with many others in his municipality to stop the pipeline.

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globaljustice.org.uk/resources/road-through-paris-climate-justice-newspaper

Taken from Global Justice Now's The Road Through Paris newspaper

india

“Our many struggles against massively increasing coal use are struggles to keep India liveable for our children and theirs too. The ruthlessly profiteering coal lobby is out to mine and burn through India’s best forests, coasts and other natural ecosystems, leaving a ruined land to future generations. Coal is NOT the “cheapest source of energy that serves the poor”. Not by a long way, factoring in the enormous environmental and social costs.” Soumya Dutta, fighting against the coal-fired Tatra Mundra power plant in Gujarat, India.

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Arianne Kassman, Pacific Climate Warriors, Papua New Guinea

australia

“We are the people of the land and sea. We have been handed down tribal information on the rights of law, rules and justice to protect and care for life. The six seasons guide us to care for the next generation, not to destroy our land and sea. We need to survive the huge push for fracking as it will destroy our lands and seas. We need to live and survive with our fresh water. I work as an Indigenous educator and campaigner with Lock the Gate for our Protect Arnhem Land campaign against fracking, oil and gas. I feel hope that we will keep fighting to maintain and manage a healthy environment for future generations.” Helena Gulwa, Northern Territory, Australia

globaljustice.org.uk/resources/road-through-paris-climate-justice-newspaper

Photo: Jaya Regan

“For us mining is misery. They say there is coal there for the world, but they don’t realise this comes at the expense of huge loss of human life. BHP Billiton and its associates at Cerrejón are taking out the coal, which for us represents the internal organs of Mother Earth, which is sacred to us. Diverting the river would be like cutting her veins. They are damaging our land and we have to defend it.”

Photo: Justina Pinkeviciute

colombia

beyond divestment It’s not all about the £££! it’s time to break all our ties with dirty fossil fuels As we start making big divestment wins, students across the country are turning their attention to fossil fuel companies' cultural and social ties with our universities and colleges.

It is time to reject this abusive and irresponsible industry once and for all and to declare that fossil fuel companies have no place in our education system.

Fossil fuel companies must no longer be allowed to buy their way into careers fairs and places of learning, research and intellectual exchange, co-opting the legitimacy and social currency held by our institutions.

The fossil fuel industry is bent on a regime of plunder and ecological imperialism, and we refuse to be complicit.

To protest BP’s sponsorship of National Student Pride, a group of queer activists posing as BP reps snuck into London’s Heaven bar to ask pridegoers how best to exploit the queer student community: “What does the term ‘pinkwash’ mean to you? a) A laundry setting for your hot pink underwear b) When a corporation uses the queer community to clean their unethical reputation c) A lesbian hair do?”

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subvertising bp

Warwick People & Planet students cunningly produced their own alternative careers fair guide - a small pamphlet offering some pithy insights into the unseen malefactions of Shell, BAE Systems, Atos, MBDA, Barclays, HSBC, Morgan Stanley and Unilever.

Edinburgh People & Planet students disrupted a BP talk by creating an ‘oil spill’ of BP’s publicity material covered in molasses outside the talk. We used the Q&A format to ask critical questions which their employees had a hard time dodging, and gave out leaflets explaining BP’s contribution to climate change to all students attending. Our action showed that students are not happy with BP being invited onto the campus of an institution which has declared that it wants to be ‘the world’s first socially responsible university’.

Designed to resemble official university literature, the guide proved an instant hit, providing eager would-be employees with some much-needed home truths about the corporations looking to recruit them! And it left BAE reps looking sheepish next to a forlornly vacant stall.

BP’s pinkwashing

LGBP.INFO

dirty careers

CAREERS ACTION GUIDE: PEOPLEANDPLANET.ORG/FOSSIL-FREE/RESOURCES

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divest/reinvest our reinvestment calls must promote a truly just transition to a new economy As more institutions commit to divest, calls for reinvestment must prioritise building solidarity with frontline communities and investing in real energy democracy. By divesting their fossil fuel holdings, universities, local government and other institutions are freeing up capital that can be invested for public benefit. Reinvestment for a just transition is central to the fight for climate justice. Along with partner organisations Community Reinvest and Platform, we are calling for investments to support infrastructure essential in reducing inequality and meeting climate commitments, including social housing, public transport, and renewable energy. Over time, these are likely to provide a better and more stable return than fossil fuel companies like BP and Shell that have large unburnable reserves. As well as providing safer long-term returns, all of these would create

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reinvest: A TRANSFORMATIVE VISION “At its most transformative, divest/reinvest proposes transferring money to community renewable energy, good quality affordable housing, free education and childcare, universal healthcare, a fair and just energy system, a decent welfare system, and other social ends.

local jobs, improve the lives of local residents, and boost local economies more than investing in multinational fossil fuel companies.

“To make such a future possible and to prevent our common wealth from being captured by transnational corporations, the divestment movement must challenge the passive investment culture within which individuals, businesses and civic institutions effectively outsource important investment decisions to big finance. “Reinvestment should be directed into socially useful activities and decisions made collectively, not by distant pension fund managers. By making these demands, divestment can become a democratic movement that challenges the logic of capital and the financialisation and privatisation of our collective wealth.”

Community Reinvest believes that with divestment and reinvestment, it is possible to create flourishing low carbon, local economies.

~ Jo Ram, Community Reinvest, writing for Red Pepper*

We exist to assist local authorities demonstrate civic leadership by divesting from fossil fuels and reinvesting funds in the local economy, in a manner that has clear social, economic and environmental benefits.

Local government in the UK invests £14 billion in fossil fuel companies like Shell and BP. Platform is campaigning for local authorities to commit to freeze any new investments in fossil fuels and divest from all other holdings within five years. Their interactive online tool allows you to check your local council’s fossil fuel investments.

COMMUNITYREINVEST.ORG.UK

PLATFORMLONDON.ORG

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* Jo Ram, Dirty Money (August 2015), communityreinvest.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Dirty-Money-pg-2.pdf

energy democracy the fight for energy democracy is a vital part of any just transition The divest/reinvest movement must recognise and insist that investing in 'green' companies is not enough. The for-profit model of renewable energy stands to reproduce the current exploitative and colonial practices of the extractivist fossil fuel industry. Green colonialism is already causing large-scale land dispossession and the transfer of vast tracts of land from food to energy production. Instead, we must call for true energy democracy: the inspiring vision of renewable energy produced under participatory popular control and ownership, distributed in ways that prioritise social justice and universal energy access.

A survivable and just energy future means breaking the grip of elite interests on our energy systems, ending dependency, increasing autonomy, building democratic structures - and of course, leaving fossil fuels in the ground.

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Land grabs in southern Mexico In the Tehuantepec Isthmus, where Indigenous communities have a strong attachment to the land and favour local governance of resources, land grabbing has involved coercion, manipulation of information, and repression. Fourteen wind parks have been constructed and many more are under way precisely because corporations have relied on illegal practices. Embedded in this process of land dispossession is the rejection that the Zapotec, Ikoot or Mixe peoples can possess knowledge of the world. But the Indigenous peoples of this region have a long-standing tradition of fighting against what they perceive as unjust and defending what is rightly theirs.

towards energy democracy • RESIST the dominant agenda of the large energy corporations and their allies.

~ Isabel Altamirano-Jiménez (Zapotec)

• RECLAIM the public sphere parts of the energy economy that have been privatised or marketised. • RESTRUCTURE the global energy system to massively scale up renewable and low carbon energy, with community and democratic control over the energy sector.

FIND OUT MORE AT: UNIONSFORENERGY DEMOCRACY.ORG The air, the sea, the land and water are not for sale! love and defend them.

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energy democracy

take action any day this go green week, take action to demand energy for people, not profits!

displacement in Northern Kenya Lake Turkana Wind Power (LTWP) is building Africa’s largest wind farm in Northern Kenya, on illegally acquired land. The project is causing violence, displacement of indigenous communities and irreparable damage to a fragile region of high biological and cultural diversity. This futile and destructive project, and the 428km transmission line being built especially for it, constitute striking examples of climate colonialism: land, wealth and opportunities are stolen, in the name of ‘sustainability’, from poor nations and vulnerable indigenous peoples. We support the development of renewable energy, but we will not allow a single acre of our land to be leased, sold, appropriated or otherwise controlled by LTWP. We pledge to defend our heritage from neo-colonial intruders and invaders. We owe it to our ancestors and future generations.

Switched On London is campaigning for a publicly owned energy company that London can be proud of. We want an affordable, democratic and environmentally sustainable alternative to the Big Six.

THE SOLUTION

THE PROBLEM

We want an energy company that cuts bills and cuts polluting carbon emissions. A company under public ownership, selling energy for the common good, not for profit. A company with social justice, clean energy and democracy at its core.

Our fuel bills are out of control, leaving us with cold homes and struggling to make ends meet. But the profits of the Big Six energy companies keep on sky-rocketing. Meanwhile, thousands of Londoners die from air pollution each year. And while other major European cities are making bold commitments to renewable energy, London is lagging behind.

We don’t have to accept profiteering, poverty and pollution. There is an alternative.

SIGN THE PETITION: SWITCHEDONLONDON.ORG.UK/ GET-INVOLVED

We invite international civil society to join our efforts to reverse LTWP’s land grab, and to build just and truly sustainable renewable energy alternatives. ~ Sarima Indigenous Peoples’ Land Forum

FIND OUT MORE AND SUPPORT THEIR FIGHT: SIPLF.ORG

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We’re calling on the Greater London Authority – in collaboration with London boroughs – to set up a new, people-powered energy company.

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celebrate/escalate make time to share successes, celebrate your actions, and get ready to escalate... Once Go Green Week is over, make sure you share your stories about your actions, events and any wins! Write blogs, give interviews, share resources, and run workshops to let others learn from your success and what you’ve done well. Big successes are inspirational and your story will encourage others to start campaigns or take theirs up a notch, so it’s really important that you spread the word! But if you’re still not being listened to by your college or university, now is the time to put your plan to escalate into action. You’ll want to regroup to reflect on and redefine your goals, targets and timeline, rebuild your team, your profile and your campaign, and get ready to go big! Escalating your campaign can be a serious decision, as well as very exciting. Remember you’ll have the support of a movement across the globe as you take action – no one will be fighting this fight alone.

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share your pics As soon as your action is over, be sure to select your best photo, video and written stories from your action and send them to People & Planet. This means we can share your stories with the rest of the network! Send to:

Don’t be afraid to take bold action. Often the things students fear will anger or alienate institution management actually make the institution take the campaign more seriously and respond to your demands. You could try:

time to occupy? If you keep getting knocked back, consider escalating by occupying a management building or the VC’s office. At Edinburgh, after ten days of occupation, the university finally committed to divest from the top three fossil fuel giants!

alumni action Organise a group of alumni to hand back their degrees in protest! Works a treat. Another strong tactic is to publicly ask alumni and recent graduates not to donate to your university or college until it has cut its ties with the fossil fuel industry.

FOSSILFREE@ PEOPLEANDPLANET.ORG

dying for love Try a die-in outside your VC’s office or a love-in outside a key Finance Committee meeting. You could also target open days or a graduation ceremony.

Celebrate! Have a party to celebrate all the amazing things you’ve achieved so far! It’s vital to celebrate your successes and share them with the wider movement. Don’t forget to share and celebrate milestones along the way too.

GET NVDA & skills TRAINING We highly recommend joining a Non-Violent Direct Action training before taking action to escalate your campaign. Get in touch with People & Planet to find out about this and other skills training we can offer your group:

[email protected] | 01865 264 180

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