OntheWilderSide

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It’s time to bridge the divide between the peace movement and the climate action movement! For far too long, our groups have been working on one or the other of these issues, but now is the time to acknowledge the ways in which these issues are linked and take action to end both war and climate change!

Several months ago, VotersForPeace initiated the NoWarNoWarming coalition with national peace and climate organizations. As a first step, VotersForPeace, United for Peace and Justice, Peace Action, CODEPINK, Global Exchange and others are supporting the StepItUp campaign, an exciting national day of climate action on April 14th which is hosting more than 1100 local events.Congress is in recess this week so it’s the perfect opportunity to focus attention on the connections between our work for peace and the growing efforts to stop climate change. Please join tens of thousands of people throughout the United States in organizing local actions on April 14th to say NO WAR, NO WARMING!

Below are details on how you can organize a small but powerful local action that demonstrates the link between climate change and peace. But in case you’re still wondering what climate change has to do with the peace movement, scroll down to the bottom of this email to read about how oil is the critical link between war and climate change.

Join Us in Action – Organize a NO WAR, NO WARMING Action on April 14th!

On April 14th, tens of thousands of Americans will gather all across the country to call for action on climate change. The demand: Step it up Congress! Cut carbon 80% by 2050. We urge peace groups to join this day of protest. Send the message Fight Climate Change, Not Wars for Oil by organizing an action that visually or symbolically unites the two issues. Here are a few ideas submitted to us by fellow Peace Voters:

– Organize a protest at a local gas station. What better location to send a message about war, oil and the consequences of oil addiction than a gas station? Teach auto drivers how they can lessen their own oil addiction and utilize eco-friendly alternatives!– Host a “bikes not bombs” public teach-in.

– Host a community march or parade! March from a gas station to a recruitment station or to a Congressperson’s office. Residents of Takoma Park, MD, will be using their parade route as a showcase of ecological living models and will also stop at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center for a moment of silence and to talk about the connection between war and global warming.

– Find more ideas at www.NoWarNoWarming.org.

We will provide you with posters you can download and use at your protests, educational flyers you can hand out to passersby and a template press release you can use to get local media coverage. Just let us know you’re organizing an action by emailing your protest information to action@VotersForPeace.org. You can also post new actions or look for actions already planned in your community at the StepItUp website http://www.stepitup2007.org. There are already more than 1100 protests planned for April 14th. Let’s get the peace movement involved in this great day of action!

 

 

 

 

 

Sincerely,

 

Linda Schade
Executive Director
VotersForPeace.USOil is the critical link between war and climate change.

There would have been no invasion of Iraq if that country’s main export were broccoli. It was the US addiction to oil that drove our country into the Iraq war and will fuel future resource wars, unless the US ends its addiction. Additionally, the US military is the largest single consumer of petroleum in the country, so as the military grows, so does our addiction to fossil fuels.Oil is also the main cause of climate change. Our addiction to greenhouse-gas- emitting oil is melting the Arctic and Greenland before our eyes, destroying Indigenous cultures and peoples. It is disappearing small island nations as sea levels rise, and it’s creating extreme climate events and super storms like Hurricane Katrina around the world. In fact, as the situation gets even worse, as people run out of water and eco-systems wither, climate change is an emerging global security threat that could make current wars pale by comparison.

Meanwhile, who suffers from war and climate change? In both cases, it is the poorest people, people of color and people from the global South, who suffer the most, and it is oil companies, Halliburton and other corporate pillagers who reap the profits.

To end future oil wars and stop the impending climate crisis, we need to take dramatic steps to end the US addiction to oil and other fossil fuels. What if we shifted the billions of dollars being spent every month on war and destruction in Iraq to investment in clean, efficient, jobs-creating, and renewable energy sources? Let’s make it happen! US out of Iraq and into Kyoto !

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