*[Enwl-eng] ...making waves
ENWLine
Hi,
Last week brought a wave of wins that started with the oceans.
On Tuesday, we heard that Members of the European Parliament voted to ban the crazy practice of trawling the ocean floor in protected areas. [1] Not only this, but reliable sources in the Parliament told our partners that a big part of this result was down to our petition and social media action. [2]
Now I have to be honest: the show isn't over yet. For the oceans to see a difference, we are going to need the European Commission to put this rule into the EU Action Plan on Oceans due after this summer. But we have won the first major battle and have the power to finish it off. Watch this space!
Watch and share WeMove campaigner Giulio’s message after the results
On Wednesday, we heard that President Macron in France agreed to support suspending patents on vaccines, so that factories in the Global South can produce their own. [3] He responded to the call from India and South Africa supported by more than 2.7 million people including WeMove Members. [4]
As much as donating vaccines is needed in a crisis of countless deaths, we know that COVID won’t be gone tomorrow. Meanwhile, highly qualified vaccine manufacturers are literally ready to produce, waiting for the necessary know-how. But big pharma greed and deep pockets stand in the way. Our campaign got a big boost with France’s ‘oui’ and the US' 'yes' before that. But Merkel is still saying ‘nein’. Next stop Germany…
On Thursday, MEP’s voted to stop suffering for farmed animals caused by cages. [5] With over 250,000 individual emails and tweets we helped get 558 MEPs come out in favour of ending the age of caged up animals. This was a huge majority! [6] Now the stage is set for the EU Commission to propose ambitious new laws phasing out cages in EU farming.
But not everything is awesome. Yesterday we met the team of European Commission Vice President Timmermans in Brussels to tell them that 220,000 of us don’t want forests to be used as fuel, burnt down to meet Europe's renewable energy targets. [7] The meeting left me worried.
Unfortunately, the European Commission is giving up the fight rather fast and is already talking of compromise deals and technical solutions like tightening sustainability criteria and killing bad subsidies (instead of just banning subsidies for forest destruction). Most of this is about fear of the wrath of countries like Sweden, Finland, Austria and a number of Central and Eastern European Countries who still think burning forests is ok. Well, at least their governments do!
Just 10 days back, our community put real pressure on the Finnish government by mass tweeting the Finnish Minister for Environment. She saw our tweets and answered that she too wants to “stop fake renewables”. [8] We need to see more of this kind of well-timed pressure.
You can still sign the petition and chip in to actions here. We will come back to you with more creative actions to keep the pressure up. We will not give up until they accept that burning trees is dangerous, irresponsible and a false alternative to fossil fuels.
A tweet from Finnish Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Krista Mikkonen [7]
It’s been a crazy, intense and rewarding last ten days, made possible by this powerful community. If every week was like the last one, Europe would really be making us proud. So let’s keep going. With every day, we are making more waves.
With hope,
Laura (Brussels) and the entire WeMove team
References:
[1]
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20210604IPR05513/biodiversity-meps-demand-binding-targets-to-protect-wildlife-and-people
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2021-0277_EN.html
(number 86)
[2] Seas At Risk, Oceana, Our
Fish
https://act.wemove.eu/campaigns/bottom-trawling
[3]
https://www.politico.eu/article/macron-backs-waiving-covid-19-vaccine-patents-ahead-of-g7-summit/
[4]
https://act.wemove.eu/campaigns/a-peoples-vaccine
[5]
https://www.ciwf.eu/news/2021/06/overwhelming-support-by-eu-parliament-for-ban-on-cages-for-farmed-animals?utm_campaign=cageage&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=ciwf
https://act.wemove.eu/campaigns/ban-cages-in-eu
[6]
The European Parliament has 705 members
[7]
https://twitter.com/wemoveEU/status/1405103152618250243
[8]
https://twitter.com/MikkonenKrista/status/1399389520865468417
WeMove Europe is a community of people from all walks of life,
who call Europe our home,
no matter where we were born, where we live or who
we love. In the name of a brighter future for people and the planet,
we
come together to sign petitions, send letters and protest on the streets to make
our voices heard.
Our power comes from each other. And it's thanks to
small monthly donations, fivers and tenners, that we can keep going.
please help keep WeMove Europe strong by chipping in.
| DONATE! |
WeMove Europe SCE mbH | Planufer 91 Berlin | www.wemove.eu | Privacy policy |
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