Friends of the Earth is the U.S. voice of Friends of the Earth International, an international federation of diverse grassroots-based environmental organizations in 77 countries working in solidarity for sustainable, equitable and just societies.
We believe that as the world’s biggest historical global warming polluter, and as a wealthy nation with considerable resources, the United States has a special responsibility to lead the world in forging equitable solutions to the climate crisis, and we hold elected officials accountable for living up to that responsibility. We also believe, for the poorest countries on our planet, the global economic system has been an underlying cause behind environmental degradation and disruption of people’s livelihoods, and we work to change unjust global financial institutions and trade rules.
Read the latest news and updates from our International campaigns:
In Mongolia, increased mining in recent years has caused severe damage to the country’s environment and the traditional communities that have lived off the land for centuries. The country’s scarce water resources (less than 1% of surface area) and forests are being stressed by mining companies exploiting Mongolia’s vast mineral deposits. Now, as the rivers disappear into parched desert and communities are forced to move to the overcrowded and polluted capital Ulaanbaatar, citizens have brought their life-or-death fight over mining to the government in hopes of garnering legislation that would prevent unsustainable mining in river basins and forests and repair some of the damage that has already been done.
In response to House Appropriations Committee mark-up of the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations bill, ActionAid USA, Center of Concern, Church World Service, Friends Committee on National Legislation, Friends of the Earth US, Gender Action, Jubilee USA Network, and Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns issued the following statement:
We welcome the appropriation of $50 million for two United Nations climate funds—the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) and the Special Climate Change Fund—as a step in the right direction. However, we are alarmed that the amount designated for the United Nations is six times less than what is appropriated for the World Bank’s controversial new Climate Investment Funds. The $50 million is also far less than what developing countries urgently need in order to adapt to the impacts of climate change. Therefore, we urge the Senate Appropriations Committee to appropriate an additional $75 million for the LDCF, in effect shifting the House appropriation out of the Strategic Climate Fund.
Congress has a historic opportunity this year to pass legislation that dramatically reduces greenhouse gas pollution and puts us on a path to clean energy. Unfortunately, that opportunity could be squandered this week when a deeply flawed bill comes to the House floor.
International climate change negotiations are underway in Bonn, Germany. These negotiations, formally known as an "intercessional," are running from June 1 to 12 and are intended to lay the groundwork for countries to form a binding agreement to tackle the climate crisis. The agreement is expected to be finalized during further negotiations in Copenhagen, Denmark, later this year.
Two Friends of the Earth U.S. staff (Kate Horner and Karen Orenstein) are in Bonn to participate in the negotiations, and they're producing this video blog to keep folks back home up to speed.
On June 8, a settlement was reached shortly before Shell was due to stand trial in U.S. federal court for complicity in the executions of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other nonviolent Nigerian activists.
After 13 years of legal battles, the deaths of these activists who opposed Shell's gas flaring and environmental devastation of their homeland have been recompensed. Shell was forced to pay $15.5 million, including $5 million for a trust to benefit communities in Ogoni territory in Nigeria, the homeland of the executed activists.
On May 21, comprehensive climate change legislation passed a congressional committee for the first time in history. Unfortunately, what should be a momentous occasion for all of us is, instead, a huge letdown.
For more than 10 years, I have fought in the trenches with champions such as Congressmen Henry Waxman and Ed Markey (the bill's sponsors), hoping for an opportunity to pass the sort of bold clean energy bill that our planet desperately needs. After last year's elections, we finally have that opportunity, but it's being squandered with this bill.
The nations of the world expect U.S. leadership this year in international climate negotiations, which will culminate in the Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen, Denmark in December. The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES Act) begins to take steps to address key issues in the international negotiations, such as emissions reductions targets and support for international adaptation, clean technology and the protection of tropical forests. But in all these areas, the ACES Act fails to meet the necessary level of ambition from the United States to reach a strong and equitable global climate agreement.
On Wednesday, we released a joint statement with Greenpeace and Public Citizen to express our concern about disturbing changes to the new climate bill currently being discussed in Congress:
We are extremely troubled by the reports coming out of the Energy and Commerce Committee last night on additional compromises to the already flawed American Clean Energy & Security Act. The world needs real leadership from Congress and the Administration to address global warming — action that will enable us to transform our economy with clean, renewable energy technology, new green jobs and show leadership internationally. If reports are true, the compromises being struck on the bill undermine these goals.
As part of powerful coalition of international development agencies, faith-based groups, and environmental agencies, Friends of the Earth helped organize a series of events on April 30 – May 1, 2009 to highlight the impacts of climate change and how communities can and must adapt to these changes.
Gas flares are created when oil companies burn off extra gas that escapes as a result of oil drilling.
Gas flares burn several stories high throughout the Niger Delta, often within a few hundred yards of communities. Some flares, like the one pictured here, have been burning constantly day and night for over 30 years.
People living in villages near the flares suffer from polluted air and water, and contract asthma and cancer as a result of breathing flare smoke.
