August 14, 2009
Africa’s wonderful actions for October 24th Day of Climate Action
Hi there, I’m Samantha and work for 350 in the Africa region. I’ve been checking on all the actions people are registering for the International Day of Climate Action on October 24th, and it is so heartening. Africa is going to make its voices heard in wonderfully creative ways!
In South Africa, children and parents are gathering on Noordhoek beach near Cape Town to make a 350 mark, and people are climbing up Table Mountain to spell out 350 on top. In East London, Marius is organising an open-air music concert, while Sandile and his Green Network are marching on their provincial government in KwaZulu Natal.
The Well Worn Theatre Company in Johannesburg is organising a lively entertaining theatrical event to raise awareness, and Fiona and her faith group have started a prayer vigil leading up to and including Oct 24th. In Pretoria, Yolande is working with children in the townships of Mamelodi and Mabopane to make functional art pieces from waste material.
Mangaliso from Swaziland is facilitating scouts from all parts of the country who will be gathering together to learn about climate change and to pass the message on to their own families and communities
In Zimbabwe, George is organising a seminar on rural electrification with non-carbon emitting energy systems, while in Zambia, Gershom is holding a rally in his village with traditional leaders and government to sensitize the community on the importance of sustainably managing forests as a 350 strategy.
Also in Zambia, Lucky is gathering 50 children all under 12 years of age who will be broadcast on national radio reading personal messages on climate change. They will try translate the messages into the 7 major local languages - 50 kids x 7 languages = 350!
In Malawi, Ezilon and Timeyo are organising actions in Zomba, while Chifundo is organising a march in the town of Salima. Simon from Uganda is organising Climate Change Action Roadshow with primary school children presenting testimonies on the impact of Climate Change on their communities using plays, poems and drama.
In Mwamza, Tanzania, Castory and his group are planning activities on the 21st, 22nd, 23rd and 24th of October, while on Zanzibar Island, we have two groups taking action with their communities – one is cleaning up pollution and the other is planting mangrove trees in degraded sea shore areas
In Ethiopia, Tirusew is organising an awareness event in Addis Ababa, while two sisters – Liyu and Lily – are organising a huge rally with various youth clubs and climate activists.
Mohamud in the Sudan is working with a USA-Sudanese youth partnership looking at energy efficient living systems, while in Egypt, Mohamed is organising an awareness event about global warming and solar energy in Cairo, and Habi is arranging a youth conference to look at the gender dimensions of climate change and the need for a new fair global convention.
In Nigeria, Okezie of Abakaliki is planting 3,000 trees with 3,000 people! And Kelechukwu is orgaining a public lecture with key government officials and road transport workers. Umeh and friends are teaching youth about climate change in Anambra, Aliyu is arranging a seminar to educate students and the public about the link between Islam teachings and climate change, Joseph is organising a rally around the two campuses of the Benue State University in Makurdi, Tunde is organising a Go Green film festival for secondary school students in the city of Ibadan and Idowu is organising a climate action festival in Akure.
In addition, the Ogoni Solidarity Forum is gathering 2,000 community representatives, youth and civil society people to carry banners and placards against the continuous gas flaring in Niger Basin area.
In Cameroon, Akonwi of Bameda City is organising an event with rural women to discuss the consequences of bush fires before farming, while Ekinde intends to organise a tree-planting and awareness event in Baseng village.
In Liberia, Rosemary is organising an awareness raising event in Monrovia. And in Ghana, Boniface of Kumasi is organising a 350 picnic for youth between the ages of 13 & 16, who will wear 350 branded t-shirts and learn about the importance of the 350 target, while Kenneth of Tema is organising a youth march to collect signatures on a petition to present to government. In Tamale in Northern Ghana, Abdul-mumin will lead an advocacy workshop for youth to become climate ambassadors in their communities, whereas David is organising a tree planting event in Accra.
In the DRC, Patrick in Kinshasa is organising action in the Congo Basin, while Puati is organising an event to focus on the value of natural plant life. Kalala of the Uvira area is organising an event with school children to raise awareness about the damaging effects of slash-and-burn agriculture and the need to protect their forests, and they will ask the youth to spread this information to their families and communities.
In Burundi, Landry is organising a whole week of events leading up to October 24th in Bujumbura including getting the attention of radio and TV programmes, while in Rwanda, another Landry is organising a 2-mile march in Kigali towards the national parliament building.
In Nairobi, Kenya, Malcolm is organising an awards event for people making costumes and art objects from recycled and organic materials, while Peterson and his group are planting indigenous trees, and Patricia is organising a youth climate action festival
Ambrose in the village of Kadhiambo is organising a mass gathering and march against the pollution of Lake Victoria while Erimoi of Kapenguria in Northern Kenya is organising a pastoralist climate change sensitization festival.
In the Kisii area, Douglas is organising a public gathering to help older persons understand how climate change is affecting, and will affect, them, and then the elders and youth together will plant indigenous trees to symbolise the need for an inter-generational effort to mitigate climate change
And 350 Maasai children in the wild Maasai Mara area will jump up to tell the world that climate change is already underfoot!
And there’s still more to come! Join us on October 24th – be a part of this amazing groundswell!
Register your event on www.350.org/oct24 so that we can send you organising and media guides, as well as get potential supporters in touch with you. Plus if you register, we can alert the international media about your event. Then on the day of action, make sure to take a photo and email it to us, so that we can shower the world in good news!
And find lots of great organising information on our website under the “Day of Action” menu tab. Visit us at www.350.org and if you would like to contact me, my email is samantha[at]350.org
June 29, 2009
There is nothing for us without us
“Why a continent which suffers the most the effects of climate change is not represented when people are deciding how we will be living tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, twenty years and fifty years from now?”, asked Ely Katembo, West and Central Africa Coordinator at 350.org. In order to empower the African Youth in climate change science, international policy negotiations and leadership skills, 350.org gathered forty young people from Eastern and Southern Africa in a Climate Leadership Workshop in Johannesburg between June 14 and 19 to build their capacities for conducting local activism about climate change in their communities and countries.
The workshop tackled issues such as a good understanding of climate science and international policy, presentation of public narrative (story of self, story of now and story of now), effective communication, strategizing and campaigning organization. All those skills are designed to empower participants for October 24th, a day of mobilization and action around the world about climate change issues. Participants are expected to organize and coordinate in their respective communities actions which includes rallies, marches, concerts, sensitization campaigns, education trainings, radio-televisions shows to raise awareness of the public opinion and mobilize their national delegates six weeks ahead to the crucial Copenhagen Climate Change Talks due to take place earlier December 2009 to succeed the Kyoto Protocol. The idea behind October 24th is to raise the voice of the youth and to push national delegates to Copenhagen negotiations to get back to 350ppm which is the safe level of CO2 concentration in our atmosphere.
During the workshop, participants realized that they have the potential, the energy and the capability to be pioneers of change in their areas. They refused to wait for solutions designed by others. The challenge is to have their voice and concerns heard and to be involved in decisions which will affect them and the next generations for tens of years ahead. “We can’t just sit and wait for our leaders and anybody else from outside to do it for us. Yes, we can fight for our rights and come up as young people and make a difference in our societies. We need to stand up and take action just now, not tomorrow” said Winnie Khaemba, a participant in the workshop from Kenya. They agreed upon to focus the efforts and join their voices this day to show the politicians and leaders that youth all over the world share the same vision, a vision of a better world with a clean energy future.
The workshop was organized by 350.org, a youth-led, youth-run and youth-found network supported by partner organizations, university groups, local activists, community leaders, people of faith and businessmen. The network was started few years ago by students of Vermont, USA decided to spark the climate movement in the USA. At the moment, thousands of activists around the world have joined the network and struggle to mobilize the public opinion on climate change issues
June 3, 2009
350Speaks Johannesburg Youth Climate Leadership Workshop
350.org and African youth working together before Copenhagen – Between June 14-19 the 350speaks Johannesburg Climate Leadership Workshop will take place near Johannesburg with the participation of over 40 youth climate activists from all over Africa. The summit will hold workshops and training sessions on sustainable development, climate change, energy, organizing and advocacy.
As the 350.org team, we are very excited for this opportunity. African has been traditionally underrepresented in the climate change negotiations and it is time to help African youth climate activists get their voices heard.
“Out of the 10,000 people who attended the United Nations Climate Meetings in Poland last December, there were only two or three African youth,” said Ely Katembo, age 27, who attended the meetings from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This year, Ely is working with international climate campaign, 350.org, to make sure African youth voices are heard loud and clear.
350.org will also hold workshops to work on the International Day of Climate Action preparations. African youth climate activists will learn how to play an active role on October 24th to call for a fair climate treaty that reduces carbon in the atmosphere below 350 parts per million, the safe upper limit according to the latest science.
350speaks Johannesburg Summit is taking place with the partnership of 350.org and Open Society Institute. We are expecting the attendance of youth organizers from more than a dozen countries on the continent including: Kenya, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Uganda, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa and Somalia…
