Spotlight: People Vs. Fossil Fuels

Hi Hamama Friends!

Today is Indigenous Peoples’ Day: A day dedicated to celebrating, honoring and advocating for Indigenous People. From October 11 - 15, Indigenous Peoples’ and their allies are going to be making their voices heard and demand that the White House does everything to ensure that we can have a future without destruction from climate change!

Climate change is the long-term alteration of temperature and typical weather patterns in a place. The cause of current climate change is largely human activity, like burning fossil fuels, like natural gas, oil, and coal. Burning these materials releases what are called greenhouse gases into Earth's atmosphere.¹ Climate change is affecting the world and is continuing to get worse every year. From record breaking flooding in the northeast, hurricanes and wildfires, we’re experiencing these natural disasters more and more throughout the year! Indigenous people have been at the forefront of trying to protect their land from big corporations and this week they are asking that we stand with them and demand that the Biden Administration do something about it!

The People Vs. Fossil Fuels are determined to make sure that the Biden Administration keeps the promises that were made to fight off climate change. Multiple leaders of the movement have written letters to invite us to action and to stand in solitary to fight this battle.

Here is just part of the written invitation:

“Dear Relatives,

We, the undersigned, come from the trenches in the fight against fossil fuels. From fracking sites and oil wells, to pipelines and refineries, to plastic plants and more, we are impacted Indigenous, Brown, Black, and low-income communities living on the frontlines of this climate emergency. Over the years we have written thousands of messages to politicians, attended countless hearings, testified hundreds of times, and have placed our bodies on the line when needed, all the while our government continues to ignore the science and Indigenous traditional ecological knowledge and steers us toward climate catastrophe.

We have everything to lose and no time to wait. President Biden promised to address the climate emergency and a history of environmental injustice, but so far, his administration continues to allow the fossil fuel industry to poison our communities and desolate our Mother Earth. The President could stop dangerous fossil fuel projects like the Line 3 pipeline and Formosa Plastics plant with a stroke of his pen, but his inaction is continuing widespread environmental injustice and the violation of Indigenous rights and rights of nature. We will hold Biden to his “Justice 40” initiative; we expect him to help stop the destruction of fenceline communities, homelands and neighborhoods by the fossil fuel industry, and demand equity, restorative justice actions for the same.

If we all come together, put our bodies on the line in the name of climate justice, we may be able to change the course of history. Please consider joining us on October 11-15 for one day, for the entire week, or for whatever time you can offer.

In solidarity for the protection of Mother Earth and the next seven generations of life.”

You can read the rest of the letters from the front line leaders here! Or check out the video below:

The time to act is now and support and allyship is needed for this movement. If you are in the Washington D.C. area you can visit the website and find out ways that you can support the activities going on between October 11-15. If you are unable to make it to the D.C. area, there are still things that you can do to support people vs. fossil fuels. Make noise online, share this information with your friends and family. You can also write into the Biden administration and demand that these changes are made. If we all join together we can make a huge difference and protect our generation and the many generations that after us!

Sources:

1. National Geographic Society. (2019, March 27). Climate change. National Geographic Society. Retrieved October 9, 2021, from https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/climate-change/.