Dear friend,

The fight against climate change is already as hard as it is but it doesn't just mean fighting natural elements. Turns out, it doesn't even mean just fighting big conglomerates, trying to change government policies or trying to convince people that what we're doing to our planet is destroying it. For some people, being a climate activist means putting your own and your loved ones' lives in danger. Latin America is one of the most dangerous places for climate activists, especially women. Read this excellent piece from Open Democracy on the challenges women activists in Latin America face in their fight against climate change.

Berta Cáceres solidarity rally, Honduras 2016. Photo: Flickr/Daniel Cima/CIDH. CC BY 2.0.

If we want to stop humanity from destroying the living planet we need to start thinking beyond the current time and beyond borders. SpaceBuzz is an organisation that is aiming to do both. It's based on the idea of the 'overview effect', something that astronauts who see the earth from outer space experience, that allows them to see it as a "fragile ball of life". SpaceBuzz's mission is to give this experience to as many children so that they will grow up not taking the earth for granted. We talked with Spacebuzz's founder Hidde Hoogcarspel to see where Spacebuzz is headed (other than to infinity and beyond).

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Yemen is facing with the worst famine we have seen in decades

Solutions

Written by
Deniz Gulsoken

on
24 November 2020

UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned the rest of the world of the incoming crisis and called for immediate action from international actors to help the people of Yemen.

How did the situation in Yemen get so bad?

The conflict in Yemen has its roots in the Arab Spring uprising of 2011 that forced the country’s authoritarian president Ali Abdullah Saleh out of the presidential seat to be replaced by his deputy Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi.

The uprising and the following changes were supposed to bring stability into the country that had long been struggling with corruption, poverty and food insecurity; however, the following years only made the situation in Yemen worse.

The conflict started in 2014 when the Houthi rebel movement took control over the Saada province and surrounding areas. Six years into the civil war, the situation in Yemen is not letting up. According to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, more than 100.000 people have been killed, over 12.000 of them civilians.

An estimated 85.000 more people have died as a cause of war-induced famine, and the UN predicts it’s going to get worse.

The UN declared the crisis in Yemen the worst humanitarian crisis in the world for the past two years with 80 percent of the population in need of external aid to survive.

What’s causing a famine in Yemen? Why is it getting worse?

The people of Yemen are starving, but it’s not because there is a lack of food, it’s because they can’t afford it. People express that there is food to be had in shops and markets across the country, but people can’t buy it due to the ever-increasing prices and incredibly high unemployment rates in the country.

Because of the civil war, food prices have steadily been increasing and the rate of employment decreasing. Even people who are employed are having difficulty being paid.

People of Yemen have been relying on international aid for food more and more since the beginning of the conflict. However, 2020 has been a bad year for funding and shortages have caused organisations like the World Food Programme to reduce food distributions.

Funding shortages have become a major crisis for relief efforts in Yemen. UN Aid Chief Mark Lowcock expressed that the organisation received less than half of it’s required funding for humanitarian aid in Yemen this year. The consequences of under-funding are going to be “immediate, enormous and devastating”, according to Lise Grande, the UN’s Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen. Alongside reduced food distributions, some health services have also been cut down.

On top of the funding decrease, ongoing conflict and obstruction to humanitarian aid by the conflicting sides are pushing this crisis towards an unprecedented catastrophe.

How can you help?

Currently, it seems like there is no end in sight to the war in Yemen which means there is no end in sight to the help that is needed for the people of Yemen. You can support them by donating to our relief appeal for Yemen below. The appeal consists of multiple Kinder-vetted organisations, all tackling the crisis from different angles. Your donation will be divided amongst them and support a holistic solution rather than a singular organisation.

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New Mexico elects all women of color to the House of Representatives

Solutions

Written by
Deniz Gulsoken

on
22 November 2020

After 5 gruelling days with all the world’s eyes on the United States, Democratic party candidate Joe Biden has won the presidential race, defeating Donald Trump. His running mate Kamala Haris became the first woman, the first black woman and the first woman of Indian descent to be elected vice president

By all means, there is still so much wrong with the US and world politics at large, but for a moment we get to bask in the good news. To prolong the feelings of hope and energise us to take action, we will be sharing more good news regarding people who have been recently elected or appointed to serve the people of the US.

“The people of New Mexico have chosen to protect what we love – our democracy, our planet, our families and communities, our health care and our future.”

New Mexico elects all women of colour to the House of Representatives

Following the 2020 presidential election, New Mexico became the second state to send an all women of colour delegation to the House of Representatives in United States history. The first state to ever elect a delegation of only women of colour was Hawaii in 1990.

Representatives Deb Haaland, Yvette Herrell and Teresa Leger Fernandez were elected into office by the people of New Mexico to represent the state's three districts.

Representing New Mexico’s 3rd Congressional District is Leger Fernandez who is the first woman and first Latina woman to ever represent New Mexico’s Northern District. Fernandez is an attorney passionate about women and indigenous people’s rights, immigration and the environment. Upon her victory, Fernandez shared on Twitter: “The people of New Mexico have chosen to protect what we love – our democracy, our planet, our families and communities, our health care and our future.”

Republican candidate Yvette Herrel was elected to represent New Mexico’s ‘nd Congressional District. Herrell is a member of the Cherokee Nation and identifies as the conservative voice of New Mexico.

For the state's 1st Congressional District, Deb Haaland won the race against her Republican opponent. A vocal activist on indigenous people’s rights and environmental justice, Haaland was one of the first Native-American congresswomen. Haaland said she’s committed to “fighting for legislation that will guide our nation forward in the areas of climate change, education, racial equality, healthcare and economic justice”.

Would you like to support an organisation that is working to provide girls, women and LGBTQ folk all around the world equal opportunity, so they too can accomplish victories like the three women delegates of New Mexico? You can donate to Mama Cash below and be a part of the solution.

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Sunrise Movement is a youth lead group determined to fight climate change

Solutions

Written by
Deniz Gulsoken

on
19 November 2020

They are “an army of young people to make climate change an urgent priority across America, end the corrupting influence of fossil fuel executives on [our] politics, and elect leaders who stand up for the health and wellbeing of all people.”

Founded in 2015 with community organising principles by Sara Blazevic and Varshini Prakash, the movement currently has over 400 chapters across the United States.

In these hubs, young people teach each other about the power of grassroots activism. They work to recruit more people into the movement, elevating the urgency of climate change and challenging US politics to take climate change seriously.

You might not have heard about the Sunrise Movement, yet, but it’s likely that you know about the Green New Deal, a collection of proposals to address climate change and economic inequality in the US, made famous by representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

The Green New Deal has been Sunrise Movement’s focus since 2017. In November 2018, they organised a sit-in, attended by Ocasio-Cortez herself, in Democratic Party leader Nancy Pelosi’s office to protest the party’s refusal to prioritise climate change legislation.

The movement has played an important role in publicising the Green New Deal and addressing climate change in the political milieu. In the 2020 US elections, they campaigned until the last minute to make sure candidates that supported taking action against climate change were elected into office, from the smallest local council to the head of state.

Through community organising and grassroots action, the young people of the Sunrise Movement continue to demonstrate the strength of ground-up movements and prove those who undermine young people’s political power wrong.

If you, like the youth of Sunrise Movement, support grassroots action and want to make sure our planet is liveable for generations to come, you can show your support by donating to one or multiple of the organisations we picked below. All organisations are vetted by our research team and are amongst the best in their field.

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To infinity and beyond

Dear friend,

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Yemen is facing with the worst famine we have seen in decades

New Mexico elects all women of color to the House of Representatives

Sunrise Movement is a youth lead group determined to fight climate change