Dear
Avaazers around the world,
Millions of
us joined young people fighting for our future
in the biggest climate protests ever seen, and
as I watched huge crowds pour onto the streets
across the planet, my heart swelled with
hope.
But it also broke.
It broke for the places already
devastated by climate change. It broke for the
Amazon, burning even as the children marched.
And it broke for those brave children --
broke that children had to strike at all.
My one-year-old son was with them -- at
his first ever protest. I wondered what I
will tell him about all this when he’s old
enough to understand?? And the answer came
in a single word:
Avaaz.
I’ll
tell him the story of us -- the millions of
people around the globe who have come together
across every imaginable barrier to build a
better world for our children. That is Avaaz --
it’s all of us uniting to live in harmony
with each other and our planet, recognising
that we’re not separate from nature, but we ARE
nature, unfolding in ever more magical ways.
Here are a few of the stories I’ll
tell my son about what our movement did to save
the future:
We're
going all out for 100% clean energy -- millions
in the streets!!
Avaazers have been
fighting for a safe, sustainable climate for
over a decade -- and Friday’s climate strikes
and the UN climate summit were no exception.
Together we helped turn out tens of thousands of
people to strike all over the world. We also
helped ensure momentum in the streets was felt
in the halls of power -- days before the climate
summit, we pushed Germany to pass a new climate
plan. Now 77 countries have committed to ending
carbon emissions by 2050, and 130 banks have
agreed to align their investments with the Paris
Agreement. It’s not yet enough, but climate
courage is on the rise everywhere!
We’re
defending the Amazon -- 2.4 million+ Avaazers!!
When news of the
Amazon fires first broke, we urgently needed to
show Brazil’s Congress that there was national
and global consensus for stopping illegal
deforestation. We released a poll showing even
Bolsonaro's supporters wanted action, which was
echoed by a viral campaign signed by more than 2
million Avaazers. Then we brought our message
directly to Congress -- joined by a chorus of
fabulous school children. The fight is far from
over, but every week Avaazers are in Congress
pressuring key MPs to pass more laws to protect
the Amazon and defend against Bolsonaro’s
bullying of indigenous communities.
 Check out Avaaz
staffer Diego Casaes with 38 school kids and key
MPs delivering our Amazon protection message
right to Congress!!
|
"Avaaz
has been a steady fighter for the Amazon. Your
petitions and national polls serve as important
advocacy arguments for our work with other MPs
and make a real difference." - Alessandro
Molon, Brazilian
MP | | |
We’re
fighting the extinction crisis by protecting
HALF the Earth -- 3 Presidents &
counting!!
Earlier
this year, thousands of us wrote deeply inspired
letters to world leaders calling on them to back
a plan proposed by scientists to put half the
planet under protection to stop the extinction
crisis. The letters were turned into beautiful
books and are being delivered in person to some
of the most powerful people on the planet.
Already, we’ve met with Canada’s Prime Minister
Trudeau, Colombia’s President Duque, Costa
Rica’s President Alvarado as well as France’s
Environment Minister Élisabeth Borne and
Ethiopia’s Environment Minister Fekadu Beyene --
and each of them voiced support for this
inspiring plan. Now we need to keep up the
pressure ahead of a key summit next year to make
sure governments everywhere commit to protecting
half the planet.
 Avaaz delivers the
half earth protection plan to world
leaders.
We’ve
helped indigenous people defend their lands -- 7
million acres protected!
When the Waorani people of Ecuador
sued their government to save their land from
being sold to oil companies, Avaazers around the
world donated to help fund their legal case. And
we won!! Helping to protect 500,000 acres of the
Waorani’s land, halting the oil auction of an
additional 7 million acres of indigenous lands
in Ecuador, and setting a critical legal
precedent for indigenous rights across Amazonia.
We also brought indigenous leaders from the
Amazon to New York to meet with key UN
officials, and in Brazil we supported massive
marches of indigenous people to stand against
Amazon destruction!
 Members of the
Waorani Nation finding out they'd just won their
case protecting their rainforest lands from oil
auction.
|
"When
the Ecuadorian government tried to auction off
half a million acres of my people's lands to oil
companies, we took them to court and asked for
your support. Avaaz members responded, giving
our fight the visibility and resources needed to
win a historic victory for the Waorani people,
indigenous rights and the Amazon
rainforest." - Nemonte Nenquimo,
President of the Waorani Pastaza
Organization | | |
We’re
fighting the ivory trade -- closing ivory
markets everywhere!
Our movement has been leading the
charge to save elephants by closing the largest
ivory markets. We helped push Hong Kong to shut
down their massive ivory trade, and after a
major Avaaz campaign, Europe is promising tough
new restrictions on ivory. Now we’re focusing on
Japan, one of the world's largest remaining
ivory markets. Last month, we sent thousands of
messages to Japan's leading decision-makers,
shared our 1.2 million petition with the
Japanese delegation at a key wildlife summit,
and ran a hard-hitting full-page ad in the
Financial Times across Asia. And the best
thing? It’s working -- new statistics show
elephant poaching is dropping as ivory markets
are being shut down!
 Avaaz's full page ad
in the Financial Times calling Japan to close
its ivory trade during the crucial CITES
conference.
And
winning protections for giraffes, snow leopards
and wildlife everywhere!
That’s not all. Over a
million of us helped win new protections for
threatened giraffes this year, even when many
said it was impossible. Tens of thousands of us
chipped in to create a massive snow leopard
reserve in Nepal, and to buy and protect a
swathe of fragile habitat threatened by
development in the Galapagos Islands. And thanks
to donations of Avaazers, brave rangers across
Africa who put their lives on the line to save
our wildlife are getting the best training in
the world.
 Avaaz-funded rangers
receiving training so they can teach their peers
how to best protect wildlife in
Africa.
|
"We
knew we had to change the game for Rangers on
the front-lines of conservation… only thing is
we didn’t know who would be willing to fund and
support such a game-changing plan. And then
Avaaz found us! Already I can hand on heart say
it's the best program we’ve ever initiated for
Rangers, one that will make a profound impact,
and it wouldn't have happened without the Avaaz
community getting behind us." - Sean
Willmore, Founder and Director of The Thin Green
Line Foundation & President of the
International Ranger
Federation | | |
And that’s
to say nothing of our work defending democracy,
investigating massive disinformation networks,
standing up to far-right politics all over the
world, fighting for human rights, and being a
global voice for vulnerable minorities when they
come under attack.
We’re writing a new
story for humanity, one that unites us all and
transforms how we live on this planet. And we’re
doing it together.
How this story
ends is up to each and every one one of us. Hope
can flow from heartbreak when we find within
ourselves the resolve to act. And that's exactly
what we're doing. We’re building the world we
dream of -- the world our children
deserve.
In deepest gratitude and pride
for all of us and what we do,
Bert, and
the whole Avaaz team
|
