Monday, October 13, 2014

The beginning of our defense of the Pacific Islands

My name is Milañ Loeak, I’m from the Marshall Islands, and I bring you a message on behalf of my Climate Warrior brothers and sisters from across Oceania.   You've probably heard it all before -- that the climate is changing, that the ocean is rising, that my home in the islands will be the first to go. But the people of the Pacific are not drowning, we are fighting. And the biggest threat to our homes is the fossil fuel industry.   So here's how we're fighting back: there's a coal port in Newcastle, Australia and it's the largest in the world, shipping approximately 617,000 tons of coal every single day. If the port were a country, it would be the 9th highest emitting country in the world. That’s why I have travelled to Australia to shut it down for a day.  Using traditional canoes, I and 30 other Pacific Climate Warriors are going to paddle into the oncoming path of coal ships. Behind us will be hundreds of Australians in kayaks, on surfboards and whatever else they can find, united with us as we stand up to the fossil fuel industry.
The fossil fuel industry will try to dismiss us. They will launch their PR machine to say that we are just a small group acting alone and that we do not speak for others. But we know that we are not acting alone. We are standing with front line communities around the world when we say it is time to end our addiction to fossil fuels before it destroys our homes, our communities, and our culture.
Stopping one day of coal exports alone won't keep our homes above water, but it marks the rise of the Pacific Climate Warriors, and the beginning of our defense of the Pacific Islands.

1 comment:

  1. October 17,2014
    Claudia Alejandra Zapata
    Spirituality and Prayer

    Midterm Blog Comment

    http://saccvi.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-beginning-of-our-defense-of-pacific.html#comment-form

    “The beginning of our defense of the Pacific Islands”

    [Snippet from the Blog:] Taken from the blog, this girl talks about the danger that they are facing in regards with the oil in their island. She talks about how people think that global warming is what will make her island disappear when in reality it is something more specific that will make her home an island be gone from the map.

    [Entirety of Comment:] In session 5 from Engage, our course on non-violence we learned to be compassionate towards others. During this session we learn that to be compassionate is to take someone’s suffering away or take make it less by helping them. Milañ Loeak talks about how she and everyone in the island of Marshall are trying to save their home. As humans we are all responsible to take care of our planet because it is our home. We have been all responsible for global warming a problem that unfortenly cannot be fixed really easily. She is aware of this problem but she says that this won’t exactly harm the island as much as the fossil fuels. She together with 100 people have gotten together to fight in order to protect their home, we have to be compassionate. She is asking for our help to help her to be part of saving the island. We have to be compassionate because this is their home. We have to help our brothers and sisters because they have us and we have them and working together as one we can do great things. I would be interested to see how many people join to help her and what results come from this, thank you.

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