Storm the Net to end polluter aid

Take Action Sign the petition: Join the Twitter storm (6/18/12): #EndFossilFuelSubsidies

Support Earth Day Network Your donations help power the movement.

Dear Friend,

Rio+20 is less than a week away, and Earth Day Network already has a team of advocates on the ground in Rio de Janeiro to make sure that your voices are heard.
We’re showcasing the successes of A Billion Acts of Green® and our campaigns for Earth Day 2012 and using them to call on world leaders to commit to:

• A binding plan to transition to renewable energy that includes phasing out fossil fuel subsidies in the near-term;
• Zero deforestation by 2020 and a binding plan to end policies and subsidies that encourage the purchase of wood obtained illegally;
• A plan to engage women and young people in defining and designing the green economy;
• A plan to make cities more sustainable through green building standards, recycling requirements, and other initiatives that help reduce cities’ carbon footprint; and
• Incorporate sustainability education in all primary schools and provide the necessary funding and support for education centers to green their facilities.

And on Saturday, June 16, we’ll hold the latest event in our Women and the Green Economy (WAGE®) global consultative process: a forum in Rio that will bring together scores of influential women in business, government, and NGOs to refine policy proposals to increase women’s participation in the green economy.
There are still opportunities for YOU to take action too.
The petition to end fossil fuel subsidies now has well over a million signatures, but we need more. Add yours. Tell your friends.
While the results of the petition will be delivered offline, you can also make some noise online. On Monday, June 18, join the global Twitter storm to #EndFossilFuelSubsidies. Simply tweet using the hashtag #EndFossilFuelSubsidies anytime on Monday to help us drive home this message to world leaders gathered at Rio+20.
Make sure to stay tuned to www.earthday.org/rio for daily blog and Twitter updates from our team in Rio.
- The Earth Day Network Team

KFC are talking rubbish

Hi
Since we exposed KFC for using rainforest fibre to make its packaging, the company's response has been to just repeat the same statement: that its packaging is "100% sustainable or recycled".
Sounds good, right? If only.

We commissioned forensic testing on KFC packaging bought in the UK that showed it contains rainforest fibre and is not recycled. We traced KFC UK's supply chain and it led us straight back to Asia Pulp and Paper, one of the world's most notorious rainforest destroyers.

You've given KFC a chance to come clean but now they are just lying to you, so it's time to tell them we know the Colonel's real secret recipe.

Email KFC UK's managing director to tell KFC to own up and get rid of rainforest fibre from their packaging for good.

Our investigations revealed that KFC UK's packaging starts life as rainforest on the island of Sumatra, home to the critically endangered Sumatran tiger. From here the logs went to APP's mills* where they are pulped and turned into paperboard. This was sold through APP's UK outfit Calington to KFC's packaging manufacturer St Neot's Packaging.

This is a clear link from KFC in the UK to the destruction of the rainforest.
Testing by independent experts showed that, as recently as March this year, KFC UK's packaging was made from up to 50% rainforest fibre and that it did not show fibre damage - the tell-tale sign of recycled paper.

KFC needs to rid its supply chain of deforestation. Email the UK's managing director now to demand he stops turning rainforests into rubbish.

Greenpeace supporters will be emailing KFC offices around the world to demand that KFC and their parent company YUM! Brands remove rainforest fibre from their supply chains for good.
Thanks
Franziska Grobke
Greenpeace UK
* One of these mills was exposed earlier this year as having illegally logged ramin trees in the yard waiting to be pulped.

Stop the African hunger games

Dear friends,

18 million people are desperate for food in Africa’s drought-struck Sahel, but urgent appeals for help are being met with deafening silence by governments worldwide. Senegalese musician Baaba Maal has started a petition to get the US, Japan, France and Germany to pledge their fair share of aid. Let’s join him -- sign the urgent petition below and sound the massive alarm needed to shake these leaders into action:

My name is Baaba Maal, and I’m a Senegalese musician writing with a personal plea for help. I live in Africa’s drought-struck Sahel region where 18 million people are on the brink of disaster, including 1 million children at risk of starvation. But our urgent appeals for help are being met with deafening silence. Only a targeted and overwhelming demand for action can stop this catastrophe from turning deadly.

The UN says millions of lives could be destroyed unless $1.5 billion in aid is channeled in immediately, but governments have pledged less than half the required sum. The countries who can make all the difference are the US, Japan, France and Germany, but they’re stalling -- that's why I started a petition on Avaaz's Community Petitions website to appeal to the world for help.

In days, world leaders will gather in Brussels to discuss the Sahel -- if they decide right there and then to pledge their fair share, we can avert disaster. Sign this urgent petition now -- Avaaz, Africans Act 4 Africa, and Oxfam will deliver it in a coordinated stunt when we reach 1 million signatures:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/The_grain_sacks_are_empty/?bFrVubb&v=15195

Terrible drought, political unrest, and sky high food prices have wreaked havoc on an area the size of the US, stretching from Senegal in the west all the way to Sudan in the east. People here are doing everything they can to survive, but the crisis has hit so hard that it’s difficult to stay hopeful. I’ve seen women and children trying to grow food in patches of land that are bone dry. They know that people are talking about what is happening in the Sahel, but they don’t know if aid will ever arrive.

The UN has only received 43 percent of the $1.5 billion needed -- it’s a shortfall of gargantuan proportions. But this gap must be filled, and can be filled by the world’s richest countries, if there’s political will. We don't have much time to avert mass suffering, and I'm determined to speak on behalf of the people here until they get the help they need.

The world has turned a blind eye to crises like this before, but this time we can make the difference between life and death by forcing our governments to respond. Sign this urgent petition now:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/The_grain_sacks_are_empty/?bFrVubb&v=15195

Avaaz members have come together time and time again to respond to natural disasters, saving thousands of lives by ensuring that crucial aid was delivered to Burma, Haiti, Somalia and Pakistan. We have the power to force our leaders to stop idling away in the face of a crisis we can prevent. Let's stand together now to demand that the world respond to the pleas of the millions living in the vast Sahel region.

With hope and determination,

Baaba Maal, with the Avaaz team

MORE INFORMATION

A distress call from Africa's Sahel: Millions might starve (CNN)
http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/05/world/africa/sahel-hunger/index.html

UN: 18 Million in West Africa to Go Hungry in 2012 (The Associated Press)
http://news.yahoo.com/un-18-million-west-africa-hungry-2012-142100935.html

Meeting of like minds can save the hungry millions in Sahel (Sydney Morning Herald)
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/meeting-of-like-minds-can-save-the-hungry-millions-in-sahel-20120529-1zgm8.html

Baaba Maal: people in the Sahel region need food and water now (The Guardian)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2012/may/25/baaba-maal-sahel-food-water

Coming weeks critical to tackle Sahel hunger – U.N. humanitarian chief (AlertNet)
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/coming-weeks-critical-to-tackle-sahel-hunger-un-humanitarian-chief

Support the Avaaz Community!
We're entirely funded by donations and receive no money from governments or corporations. Our dedicated team ensures even the smallest contributions go a long way.

Urgent friend request from a fisherman

Hi there,

Today, many of our local fishermen are facing an uncertain future. I recently met with with Julian and Jeremy Brown in Cornwall, whose family has been fishing in a sustainable way for generations. Many fishermen like them are now in danger of losing their livelihoods due to unfair fishing laws that favour the more destructive parts of the industry.

Tomorrow, UK fisheries minister Richard Benyon is going to critical European talks about the reform of these fishing laws.

Send this sea shanty video petition now to make sure Richard Benyon stands up the rights of sustainable fishermen like Ben and John and fishing communities across the UK.

Let’s make sure that ministers meeting this week put the health of our seas above the vested interests of the destructive fishing fleets. So far, 1500 people have signed our sea shanty petition and become a fisherman's friend. Let's see if we can get this number up to 5,000 before Benyon leaves tomorrow.

In the UK, even though 77 per cent of all fishermen are local and small-scale, they only get access to a measly 4% of fishing rights or quota. Meanwhile, often, the more destructive vessels are awarded more rights and subsidies to hoover up our seas. That's bad for our fishing communities and bad for our fish.

Over the next few months, these laws (the Common Fisheries Policy) will go through a once in a decade reform process. Let’s send a clear message to Richard Benyon ahead of his meeting tomorrow that we support fishermen who fish in a sustainable way.

Send this sea shanty as a petition via Facebook now. 

(It’s simple – just watch the video in the Facebook app, then send the video link to Benyon in an email.)

Thank you,
Hayley Baker
Greenpeace UK

PS Not on Facebook, not a problem. Follow the campaign and take the action on our website.

CROP CIRCLES, UFOs & WORLD TRANSFORMATION - presentation

We are entering a crucial phase in human evolution. The growing occurrence of Crop Circles and UFOs is connected to a major shift in the consciousness of humanity, and to a fundamental turning point on our evolutionary path. They relate to the return among us of the Masters of Wisdom and Maitreya the World Teacher,  and to the awakening of humanity to the spiritual basis of life. This is a time of tremendous importance and signals a new world in the making based upon co-operation and unity.

This presentation offers a message of hope by affirming that despite the current global crises, we are about to enter a golden age of peace and justice for all humanity. This golden age is being heralded by an increasing number of unusual phenomena, occurring worldwide, including crop circles.

This event also brings together a diverse range of topics:

• The harmless nature of UFOs and the peaceful work of our Space Brothers on behalf of humanity.
• The 'star' heralding Maitreyaâ's emergence into our everyday world and on-going interviews on international television. (60 interviews as of April 2012)
• The unseen and deadly danger of nuclear radiation; the reality of the etheric planes of matter and the limitations of current science.
• The future Science of Light.
• What the 'New Age' and 2012 really means for humanity; the creation of right human relationships involves the end of greed and competition and the beginning of a new era of co-operation with sharing, justice and freedom as its hallmarks.

Admission free and everyone welcome to debate and discuss the various issues raised.

Theosophical Society, 28 Great King Street, EH3 6QH
7:30pm - 9:30pm

Tuesday 12 June
Tuesday 24 July
Tuesday 21 August

Thank you,

Volunteers with Share International
www.share-international.org
SHARING = JUSTICE = PEACE

David Davis

Our right to privacy is under threat. The government has confirmed it wants new powers to snoop on all of us whenever we use the internet. Soon they’ll start pushing the plans through Parliament. [1]

We can stop these Big Brother plans - if enough MPs feel enough pressure to vote against them. So now’s the time to get clued up. We need to work out how to persuade every MP to vote to protect our privacy.

David Davis MP is a senior Conservative, a former shadow Home Secretary and a long-time supporter of civil liberties. He’s hugely opposed to the government’s plans. He’s agreed to hold an online question and answer session with 38 Degrees members. It’s a chance to hear more about the snooping plan and how we can stop it.

The live internet briefing will take place on Tuesday 12th June at 7pm. You can take part from in front of your computer, all you’ll need is an internet connection. Click to reserve your place and get instructions on how to join in:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/David-Davis-live-briefing

If we’re trying to persuade MPs, where better to get insider knowledge than direct from an MP? And David Davis isn’t just any MP – he’s a prominent Conservative and a former minister. [2] He’s been on the receiving end of many 38 Degrees campaigns before. He'll be able to tell us what works and how to best respond to government spin.

David Cameron claims his new plans to invade our privacy will make us safer. But really this is about Big Brother powers to spy on all of us, not just serious criminals. It’s the difference between treating all of us as citizens, and treating us as suspects. [3]

38 Degrees members know better than anyone that the internet can be a force for good. It would be a disaster if the government got more powers to spy on it. So let's come together on the internet next week and prepare to stand up for our privacy online.

Click here to reserve your place and get instructions on how to join:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/David-Davis-live-briefing


Thanks for being involved,

Marie, David, Becky, Hannah, James, Cian, Belinda and the 38 Degrees team


PS: 38 Degrees members and David Davis MP probably wouldn't agree about absolutely everything. But 38 Degrees works with politicians of any stripe or party where they agree with our campaign aims. On the question of internet privacy, David Davis is on our side – so please join in next Tuesday and hear what he has to say: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/David-Davis-live-briefing


NOTES
[1] Draft Communications Bill paper issued by government:
http://www.dehavilland.co.uk/PoliticalUploads/Draft_Communications_Data_Bill.pdf

Telegraph: Queen's Speech 'Surveillance of the entire nation'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/9255201/Queens-Speech-Surveillance-of-the-entire-nation.html

[2] Wikipedia page for David Davis MP
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Davis_%28British_politician%29

[3] Liberty briefing on the new snooping plans
http://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/campaigns/no-snoopers-charter/no-snoopers-charter.php

Stop Syria's death dealer

Dear friends,

Today another 27 children's bodies were found massacred in Syria. India and the US can cut off the arms supply to Syria's brutal regime by threatening to boycott Syria’s main weapons supplier, Russian arms company Rosoboronexport. This financial pressure could end the massacres. Sign the petition now to stop Russia’s deadly supply to Syria!

Today another 27 children's bodies were found massacred in Syria. To stop this horror, we need to cut off the flow of arms to the regime. There is one way to do it, but it's going to take all of us working together to make it happen.

Here’s how: India and the US are key clients to Syria’s main weapons supplier -- the state-owned Russian company Rosoboronexport. If we can get the two countries to threaten to halt all deals unless the Russians stop supporting Syria's murder machine, the arms dealers could be forced to stop their Syria sales. Both the US and India want to stop the violence in Syria, but diplomacy is failing. This is their best chance -- let's give them a massive mandate to act.

The US has already persuaded the company to stop light weapons sales to Syria. Now if we can build up the pressure on India and get both countries to speak out, Rosoboronexport could be forced to cut Syria's arms supply completely. Click here to sign the urgent petition to stop dealing death to Syria and tell everyone -- our call will be delivered to both countries and Rosoboronexport at a massive arms fair in Paris in 3 days:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/us_and_india_stop_syrias_merchants_of_death/?vl

International political solutions are failing to stop the bloodshed in Syria -- just last week the world was stunned by the brutal al Houla massacre where 49 children were executed, and today there is another mass killing. Why? Assad is protected by his old friend Russia, which has blocked international action while profiting in arms sales -- Rosoboronexport is Russia's biggest arms dealer, bringing the government billions in revenue per year. President Assad is only clinging to power through military might and sowing fear. If we can convince Russia that supporting the Syrian regime is not worth it, and end arms sales to Assad, his killing arsenal will wane and his command will slip away.

India and the US make up over 50% of Russia’s arms sales, and they both want strong action on Syria. The US has led efforts to stop the violence, and a group of US Senators is right now calling on the Pentagon to cancel a massive helicopter contract with Rosoboronexport. India already voted to stop the violence in Syria at the UN Security Council. Now, experts say if there’s even a hint that the Indian government might reconsider its patronage of Rosoboronexport because of Syria, sales to the regime could end, and the Russians could ditch their support for Assad.

Rosoboronexport could be held legally responsible for war crimes for sending weapons to the Syrian regime, but due to huge profits and a sense of impunity, they continue their bloody business as usual. Diplomatic pressure is mounting on Russia right now, but it is this financial threat that could be the deciding card. We have to act now and make sure hundreds of thousands of us speak out before Rosoboronexport arrives in Paris next week. Click to call on the US and India to stop Russia’s deadly deals now and forward to everyone:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/us_and_india_stop_syrias_merchants_of_death/?vl

Over the past year, Avaaz members have supported the Syrian spring and an end to the violence -- we have broken the blackout, exposed hidden atrocities and provided critical lifelines to Syrians under siege. Today we are delivering our petition to the UN to call for more monitors. Now, let's do all we can to cut off the weapons at the source that are killing the Syrian people.

With hope and determination,

Alice, Joseph, Denis, Luca, Emma, Ricken, Stephanie, Wissam, Dalia and the entire Avaaz team


MORE INFORMATION

Isolate Syria’s Arms Suppliers (Human Rights Watch)
http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/06/03/isolate-syria-s-arms-suppliers

Russia Said To Halt Syrian Arms Supplies After U.S. Pressure (Bloomberg)
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-18/russia-said-to-halt-some-syrian-arms-supplies-as-fighting-ebbs.html

Houla Massacre: Russia's Tipping Point On Syria? (Reuters)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/30/houla-massacre-russias-ti_n_1556394.html

Russian Arms Shipment Reached Syria, Says Rights Group, U.S. Condemns Supplying Weapons (Reuters)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/31/russian-arms-ship-syria_n_1560097.html

Troubling Rosoboronexport Contract Examination Mandated by New NDAA Provision (Human Rights First)
http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/2012/05/29/troubling-rosoboronexport-contract-examination-mandated-by-news-ndaa-provision

Syria army stockpiling Russian arms, report says (AP)
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/03/19/syria-weapons-fighting.html

Eurosatory Arms Fair. Paris June 11-15.
http://www.eurosatory.com

Rosoboronexport says India remains Russia's largest strategic partner (RIA)
http://en.rian.ru/mlitary_news/20110923/167056339.html

Russia revs up arms exports
http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_02_22/66659787/

Support the Avaaz Community!
We're entirely funded by donations and receive no money from governments or corporations. Our dedicated team ensures even the smallest contributions go a long way.