Well by now, I can assume that you are probably awake to the reality of the climate and environmental crises - and so this week's thoughts will start with an outrageous story, before focussing on some incredible stories of resistance.
$7 trillion in subsidies
As the Earth's climate is on the verge of collapse, subsidies to fossil fuels surged to $7 trillion - governments are giving money to an industry that is stealing our future. It's criminal and it must end. As the International Monetary Fund states: “subsidies for oil, coal and natural gas are costing the equivalent of 7.1 percent of global gross domestic product. That’s more than governments spend annually on education (4.3 percent of global income) and about two thirds of what they spend on healthcare (10.9 percent).” If we were to significantly scale back subsidies, we would see drastic cuts in emissions, pollution and a huge rise in the chance of preventing full scale collapse.
Peaceful protest planners arrested in Uganda
Around the world, people are standing up to the fossil fuel industry, and their government's inaction - these activists deserve our admiration and unwavering support. 50 Ugandan students have been arrested for planning to peacefully march and call for a Fossil Fuel Treaty - at present they're still in custody and are being denied access to legal support. The arrests were the latest in a wave of arrests globally of activists joining peaceful #OilKills actions around the world.
Brought to you by Big Oil
There is an awesome campaign in the US where Big Oil is being roasted with billboards across the nation explaining that the recent heat people are enduring was brought to them by fossil fuels. We still have a long way to go in shaping the public narrative to be anti-fossil fuels, most people are somewhere along their journey towards despising the industry that threatens theirs and their children's future, and so diverse communications campaigns are wonderful to see!
Cello resistance
Another act of resistance saw a 63-year-old grandfather & professional cello player, John Mark Rozendaal, be arrested outside Citibank HQ in New York. His crime? Performing J.S Bach’s “Suites for Cello” in an effort to convince Citi to stop funding the climate crisis…
The fact that governments refuse to crack down on Big Oil's propaganda and disinformation campaigns, whilst simultaneously cracking down on activists, really show who they work for - every one of us needs to stand up and reclaim our government and our power, because for a liveable future, we must.
Japanese bus drivers on strike! But not how you think…
Another fantastic story I came across that I loved was a Japanese protest by bus drivers a few years back - instead of striking and not driving, they continued their routes but refused to take fares from the passengers, this disrupted the privatized corporations but kept the public on their side!
Trump is freaking out!
I also was pleased to see that convicted felon, Donald Trump, is freaking out about Kamala Harris’s surging poll numbers: ‘It’s unfair’, he complained on Truth Social after images in the press and on social media showed what appeared to be his rival drawing a larger rally crowd than his. It was almost as heartening to see this story: Lying in politics will become illegal in Wales if a new law passes. Politicians who are found guilty of deliberately deceiving the public will be disqualified from public office! This change aims to rebuild political trust after 200,000 people signed a petition supporting this law!
Elon Musk and Rupert Murdoch
I also wanted to comment on the UK riots by showing this photo - two immigrants, Elon Musk and Rupert Murdoch, aggressively spreading disinformation, preaching hate, and inciting violence in the UK - your issue is with those who fly private jets, not those with big hearts and little possessions.
To finish, this is a favorite meme that I made this week - I can barely keep up with the trends and most recent conservative outrage directed at some minority, but maybe we shouldn't keep up with it all? Because that is what they want. They want us distracted and fighting with each other, because it stops us from organizing and working together to end corporate greed, end government corruption, and end planet scale environmental destruction!
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