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:
Despite conclusive evidence (see http://foe.org/keystone-xl-pipeline-influence-scandal) that the State Department has overseen a corrupt Keystone XL tar sands pipeline review process, the Obama administration indicated last Thursday (November 10) that the department will remain in charge of the new environmental review of the proposed pipeline.
But additional evidence has surfaced that will complicate the State Department's bid to oversee this review. Friends of the Earth and allies have received a third tranche of documents in response to our Freedom of Information Act request and what is hidden from view is just as concerning as the further evidence of collusion with TransCanada that is revealed. The evidence indicates State Department employees have inappropriately shown favoritism toward TransCanada – acting as though it was their job to ensure the pipeline was approved rather than that an impartial review was conducted. It also shows that the department is hiding something.
12,000 strong. That's how many people showed up Sunday, November 6 -- exactly one year before Election Day 2012 -- to link arms around the White House in a circle of hope (three rings deep!) and urge President Obama to stop the proposed Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline.
We're gaining momentum day by day. We can win, but only with continued commitment to hold President Obama to his word.
As another round of negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement between the United States and seven other Pacific countries began on October 19 in Peru, Friends of the Earth joined 20 other environmental and civil society groups to call for an end to secrecy in these important trade talks.
Evidence is mounting that the State Department’s review of a proposed tar sands oil pipeline has been corrupted by bias, lobbyist influence and conflicts of interest. The growing scandal is making front-page headlines and putting new pressure on President Obama to stop the pipeline.
The proposed pipeline — TransCanada’s Keystone XL — would transport the world’s dirtiest oil from Canada’s tar sands to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast. The pipeline threatens drinking water, air quality, and the livelihoods of the people who live along its route. It would also act as a “carbon bomb” that jeopardizes our climate.
At the core of the scandal: the firm Cardno Entrix, allowed by the State Department to conduct the impacts review for the pipeline despite a stunning conflict of interest; emails between State Department staff and TransCanada lobbyist Paul Elliott, previously a top Hillary Clinton campaign aide, that indicate bias and complicty at State; a web of lobbyists and State Department employees cozy with the oil industry; and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who announced last year announced she was “inclined” to approve the pipeline even though the State Department’s review was not yet complete.
In July 2011, the U.S. House of Representatives is likely to vote on three new free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama. Friends of the Earth and other environmental advocates oppose ratification of the three agreements, which were negotiated by the George W. Bush administration and are based on the flawed model of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
As Wall Street profits remain sky high and fat cat bonuses are doled out on silver spoons, the world's poor are struggling to deal with a climate crisis that they did not cause, facing increasingly severe droughts, floods, crop losses and water shortages. Current pledges of climate finance by developed countries ($30 billion until 2012 and an aim of mobilizing $100 billion a year by 2020) come nowhere near the sums needed to address climate change in developing countries. But there are solutions in front of us. A financial transaction tax levied on all financial market transactions involving stocks, bonds, foreign exchange and derivatives could raise hundreds of billions per year, helping to fund a just transition to low-carbon economies in developing countries while also supporting public services at home. This tiny tax is only one of many options on the table that could help plug the gap in much needed financing from developed countries.
This blog post is one of a series of updates from Friends of the Earth representatives at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bonn, Germany.
Many believe that the momentum gained by including forests in a UN climate agreement will finally push countries to deliver the money needed for forest conservation, but deforestation is a complex socio-political and economic problem that cannot be solved by cash alone. What is needed is genuine political will to identify and implement effective action to halt the underlying drivers of deforestation and forest degradation, but to date most draft national REDD+ strategies have focused on the technical aspects of measuring forest carbon. These strategies largely ignore the need for fundamental governance reforms, such as recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities.
This blog post is one of a series of updates from Friends of the Earth representatives at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bonn, Germany.
Friends of the Earth International is at the UN climate talks in Bonn from June 6-17 to hold developed countries accountable for their legal obligations to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and provide new scaled up financing and technology for developing countries. In particular, we are fighting a new U.S.-backed attempt to replace the existing binding targets for emissions reductions with a weak, ineffective system of pledges.
A Convention on Biological Diversity workshop and recent remarks UNFCCC secretary Figueres seem to indicate resurgent interest in geoengineering despite a current moratorium.Geoengineering experiments would be conducted by the few wealthy nations and corporations who have the funds and technology at their disposal to do so, and these experiments could have devastating effects on other countries and the global climate system. The risks of geoengineering are simply too great for it to be seriously considered at a Convention whose purpose is to stop climate change – not to allow one country to try changing the climate on its own.
This blog post is one of a series of updates from Friends of the Earth representatives at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bonn, Germany.
As it stands now, rich countries are cooking the books and the planet. Developed countries seem happy to be able to set their own targets to reduce climate-polluting emissions under a non-binding pledge and review system that includes a lot of "creative accounting." But avoiding the "gigatonne gap" will require a different approach: only by closing down loopholes, stopping offsets and securing rich countries' commtiments to do their fair share within a legally binding international treaty can we reduce emissions far enough to prevent the crash of the world's ecosystems. This is a reality driven home powerfully by many developing countries -- be they vulnerable small islands likely to disappear beneath the sea or some of the poorest countries in the world already having to tackle the catastrophic impacts of climate change and poverty.
This blog post is one of a series of updates from Friends of the Earth representatives at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bonn, Germany.
