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For Immediate Release
February, 25 2020, 11:00pm EDT
Contact:
Mark Morgenstein, Director of Media Relations, markm@publicinterestnetwork.org, (w) 303-573-5556, (c) 678-427-1671
Environment America, Dozens More Groups Sign Climate Strong Islands Declaration
Declaration calls for more sustainable, resilient island communities.
SAN JUAN, P.R.
Representing Americans from Guam to St. Croix, more than 60 U.S. island communities, foundations, environmental organizations, companies, and academic institutions came together Wednesday to sign the Climate Strong Islands Declaration. This first-of-its kind effort is designed to encourage philanthropy, government, business, and academia to recognize how the deepening climate crisis is affecting island communities and how current policies, programs and approaches fall short in meeting their needs.
The Climate Strong Islands Declaration sets forth a set of principles, challenges, and opportunities faced by islands in the United States and its territories and serves as a call to help these communities respond to the climate crisis in an effective way.
With the right support, island communities are well positioned to create, pilot, and perfect innovative solutions that address climate mitigation, resilience, and sustainability. They can pioneer nature-based solutions to prevent coastal erosion in the face of rising sea levels and intensifying storms. With sustained and focused investments, they are poised to transform their energy, transportation, food, and water systems and model the low-carbon, resilient economy we need to build in the 21st century.
Wendy Wendlandt, acting president of Environment America, participated in the announcement of the Declaration and released the following statement:
Environment America has affiliates in more than two dozen states, including many with vibrant island communities. Our people on the ground see firsthand how island residents bravely face down climate impacts, from hurricanes to sea-level rise, and the devastating flooding and storm surges that they can bring. The destruction wrought by Hurricane Maria here in Puerto Rico and throughout the Caribbean made it clear to those who don't live it each day: To avoid the worst impacts of climate change, we need to act--and act NOW. For everyone's sake, it's imperative that we stop burning fossil fuels and switch to increasingly abundant renewable energy to electrify everything in our society, from buildings to transportation and more.
Transportation has become climate enemy number one in the United States. The U.S. transportation sector is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than the entire economies of France and the United Kingdom combined. We just released a report yesterday providing a roadmap to a destination of zero-carbon transportation to ensure that our children live in safer, healthier communities. We know how to do it -- with clean, electric cars and buses, and pedestrian-friendly and bicycle-friendly streets. We just need to convince our elected officials that we have the will to make these changes to our outdated, car-centric culture. And as we power our society more and more with clean, renewable energy, we can also power our transportation system with energy we harness from the sun and the wind.
We owe it to our friends here in Puerto Rico and on all endangered islands to step up to the climate challenge and take bold action.
The full list of signatories includes:
350.org
Abruna & Musgrave Architects
America's WETLAND Foundation
Atlantic Marine Conservation Society
Boricuas Unidos en la Diaspora
Brigadas Salubristas
Cambio, Puerto Rico
Citizen's Campaign for the Environment
Clean Energy Group
Comite Dialogo Ambiental
Coral Vita
Defend H2O
El Puente
El Puente: Enlace Latino de Accion Climatica
Emerge Puerto Rico
Enterprise
Environment America
Environmental Defense Fund
Estuario
Friends of the Bay
Friends of the Earth United States
Fundacion Amigos de El Yunque
Fundacion Comunitaria de Puerto Rico
Futures Forum
Galveston Bay Foundation
Global Island Partnership
Governor of Guam
Green Cross
Guam Legislature
Hawai'i Youth Climate Coalition
Hawai'i Green Growth
Hispanic Federation
Institute of Caribbean Studies
Island Impact
Island Institute
Kua'aina Ulu 'Auamo
Long Island Community Foundation
The Miami Foundation
Micronesia Climate Change Alliance
Mujeres de Islas
Natural Area Reserves System
The Nature Conservancy
The New York Community Trust
North Shore Land Alliance
The Ocean Foundation
Open Space Council
Pacific RISA
Para la Naturaleza
Puerto Rico Bar Association
Queremos Sol
Rocky Mountain Institute
Sea Grant Puerto Rico
Sierra Club
Sisters of St. Joseph, Brentwood NY
Solar Responders
SWEEP Standard
Sylvester Manor Educational Farm
Trust for Public Land's Hawaiian Islands Program
United Nations Association of the United States of America - Puerto Rico Chapter
University of Guam
University of Guam Center for Island Sustainability
University of Guam Green Army
University of Puerto Rico Center for Public Health Preparedness
University of Puerto Rico Department of Environmental Health
Vieques Conservation and Historical Trust
ViequesLove
Wise Laboratory of Environmental and Genetic Toxicology
With Environment America, you protect the places that all of us love and promote core environmental values, such as clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and clean energy to power our lives. We're a national network of 29 state environmental groups with members and supporters in every state. Together, we focus on timely, targeted action that wins tangible improvements in the quality of our environment and our lives.
(303) 801-0581LATEST NEWS
Spanish PM Says Ceasefires 'Always Good News,' But Trump Deserves No Praise
"The government of Spain will not applaud those who set the world on fire just because they show up with a bucket," said Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
Apr 08, 2026
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Wednesday welcomed news of a two-week ceasefire in Iran as a step back from the brink of catastrophe, but said the war's aggressors—the US and Israel—deserved no praise for the temporary reprieve.
"Ceasefires are always good news. Especially if they lead to a just and lasting peace," Sánchez wrote on social media. "But this momentary relief cannot make us forget the chaos, the destruction, and the lives lost. The government of Spain will not applaud those who set the world on fire just because they show up with a bucket."
"What’s needed now: diplomacy, international legality, and PEACE," the prime minister added.
Drawing US President Donald Trump's ire, Spain's government has opposed the US-Israeli war on Iran from the start, calling it a "cruel, absurd, and illegal" assault and closing off Spain's military bases and airspace to American forces involved in the attack.
"Remaining silent in the face of an unjust war is an act of cowardice and complicity," Sánchez said last month.
Spain's foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, said Wednesday that the government supports "the crucial work of the mediators," including Pakistan, in preventing further escalation of the conflict that the US and Israel launched in late February.
"Diplomacy, negotiation, and international law are the only path to the lasting peace that the citizens of the Middle East deserve," said Albares. "All parties must show responsibility and commitment to ceasing attacks and de-escalating, which Spain will continue to support."
The foreign minister went on to stress that the ceasefire "must extend to Lebanon," which Israel has invaded and bombed relentlessly in recent weeks, displacing 20% of the country's population, devastating its healthcare system, and killing more than 1,500 people. On Wednesday, the Israeli's unleashed a massive bombing blitz of Beirut, the nation's capital and largest city.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said following Trump's announcement of the two-week ceasefire deal with Iran that the agreement "does not include Lebanon."
"Spain will not spare any efforts in supporting the Pakistani mediation efforts in the war in the Middle East and in paving the way for diplomacy," Albares said Wednesday. "Today is a day of hope that we hope will culminate in a definitive peace that must include Lebanon."
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Dems Say Iran Ceasefire Doesn't Change Fact That 'Unstable, Unhinged, and Unfit' Trump Must Go
"Whether by his Cabinet or Congress, the president must be removed from office," said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. "We are playing with the brink."
Apr 08, 2026
US President Donald Trump's whiplash-inducing announcement late Tuesday of a two-week ceasefire with Iran did nothing to diminish calls for his removal from office, with Democratic lawmakers arguing that the president's genocidal threat earlier in the day—and his decision to launch the illegal war in the first place—cannot be walked back.
"The president has threatened a genocide against the Iranian people, and is continuing to leverage that threat," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said in a statement after the deal was announced. "He has launched a massive war of enormous risk and of catastrophic consequence without reason, rationale, nor congressional authorization—which is as clear a violation of the Constitution as any."
"Each day this goes on, the risk and criminality of these actions escalate for our nation and the world," Ocasio-Cortez continued. "We cannot risk the world nor the wellbeing of our nation any longer... Whether by his Cabinet or Congress, the president must be removed from office. We are playing with the brink."
Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.), one of two Iranian Americans in Congress, said while she was "momentarily relieved" by news of the ceasefire, "this doesn't change anything."
"Trump threatened genocide and war crimes against Iranians this morning," Ansari wrote. "His statements that 'a whole civilization will die' and that he’ll take Iran 'back to the stone ages' confirm that he is mentally unstable, unhinged, and unfit for office or any position of authority."
Ansari called for the removal of both Trump and Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth, the administration's leading cheerleader for the war. The Arizona Democrat said earlier this week that she would soon introduce articles of impeachment against Hegseth for "repeated war crimes" in Iran, including the deadly bombing of an elementary school on the first day of the war.
"Thousands of civilians have been tragically killed across the region, American servicemembers have died and suffered unnecessarily, and millions are displaced from Lebanon to the Gulf," Ansari said Tuesday. "Trump and Pete Hegseth have already committed explicit war crimes by bombing schools, hospitals, bridges, and water desalination plants... Whether through impeachment or by invoking the 25th Amendment, it is far past time Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth are removed from office."
Instead of leaking to the press that he was opposed to the war, the @VP should convene the cabinet immediately to invoke the 25th amendment and remove Trump from office.
This is the time for leadership, and we will remember it when he runs for president. https://t.co/lAWjWyb7T1
— Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari (@RepYassAnsari) April 7, 2026
According to a tally by Axios, at least 85 House Democrats have called for Trump's removal via the 25th Amendment, which gives the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet—or a majority of a body established by Congress—the ability to declare the president unable to perform his duties and remove him from office.
Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.) announced Tuesday that he filed new articles of impeachment against Trump after the president's threat to wipe out the "whole civilization" of Iran.
"He's becoming more unstable by the day. His profane and sacrilegious Easter Sunday and subsequent threats, including ‘a whole civilization will die’ and ‘open the Strait…or you’ll be living in hell,’ not only foreshadow war crimes, but put our security at risk," Larson said in a statement. “People across my district know he is unfit to lead and are calling for impeachment. While Republicans in the majority have so far failed to uphold their constitutional responsibility to initiate impeachment proceedings, that does not absolve others of their duty."
The House and Senate, both controlled by a Republican Party whose ranks are packed with Trump sycophants unwilling to restrain him, are currently on spring recess and aren't scheduled to return to Washington until next week.
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) called for both chambers to reconvene immediately to "stop this war and remove Donald Trump."
"I’m glad there is a reported ceasefire deal with Iran. But we shouldn’t be in this illegal war in the first place," said Markey. "And Donald Trump can’t simply threaten war crimes with impunity."
Democratic leaders, who have faced backlash for slowwalking a new vote on a resolution aimed at forcing an end to the Iran war, vowed to move ahead with a War Powers vote when lawmakers return from recess.
"We need a permanent end to Donald Trump's reckless war of choice, which is why House Democrats have demanded that Speaker Mike Johnson immediately reconvene the House back into session so we can move a War Powers Resolution that will end this conflict permanently," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said in an appearance on CNN late Tuesday.
"Assuming it doesn't happen this week, we'll go back into session next week and we will present a War Powers Resolution as soon as it becomes available to us to do so as a matter of privilege on the House floor," said Jeffries. "All we need are a handful of Republicans to join us."
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US, Israel, and Iran Agree to 2-Week Ceasefire Hours After Trump's Genocidal Threat
"A ceasefire is welcome, but if the terms Iran announced tonight are accurate, the United States and Israel are facing a truly humiliating defeat," one expert told Common Dreams.
Apr 07, 2026
Just hours after President Donald Trump issued a genocidal threat against the Iranian people, declaring that "a whole civilization will die tonight," the US leader announced that he's agreed to suspend his unconstitutional war for two weeks if Iran ends its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Citing an unnamed senior White House official, CNN reported that Israel—which has joined the United States in bombing Iran, including civilian infrastructure, since February 28—"is part of the two-week ceasefire" and "has agreed to also suspend its bombing campaign while negotiations continue."
According to The Associated Press, Iran's Supreme National Security Council said in a statement that it accepted the ceasefire, which New York Times correspondent Farnaz Fassihi reported followed "frantic diplomatic efforts by Pakistan and last-minute intervention by China," a key Iranian ally.
"It is emphasized that this does not signify the termination of the war," the Iranian council said. "Our hands remain upon the trigger, and should the slightest error be committed by the enemy, it shall be met with full force."
Trump made the announcement on his Truth Social platform as he faced mounting global outrage over his "apocalyptic" morning comments—including calls for his removal from office—and as his 8:00 pm Eastern time deadline for Iran to reopen the crucial waterway to all ship traffic approached.
Specifically, Trump said:
Based on conversations with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, of Pakistan, and wherein they requested that I hold off the destructive force being sent tonight to Iran, and subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz, I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks. This will be a double sided CEASEFIRE! The reason for doing so is that we have already met and exceeded all Military objectives, and are very far along with a definitive Agreement concerning Longterm PEACE with Iran, and PEACE in the Middle East. We received a 10 point proposal from Iran, and believe it is a workable basis on which to negotiate. Almost all of the various points of past contention have been agreed to between the United States and Iran, but a two week period will allow the Agreement to be finalized and consummated. On behalf of the United States of America, as President, and also representing the Countries of the Middle East, it is an Honor to have this Longterm problem close to resolution.
According to reports, Iran's 10-point peace plan could face stiff resistance from Israel and the Gulf monarchies that Iran has been attacking in retaliation for the US-Israeli onslaught.
The ten-point plan that is the basis of the ceasefire is literally just “Iran gets everything it could ever want, total US surrender, Iran now dominates the Middle East unopposed and controls Hormuz for its own enrichment” so uhh
[image or embed]
— Will Stancil (@whstancil.bsky.social) April 7, 2026 at 4:08 PM
"It’s hard to see how anyone else in the region could possibly agree to this," US lawyer and political commentator Will Stancil said on Bluesky.
Stancil added that it would be "extremely funny if the Gulf states that have funneled billions of dollars to Trump meet their ruin at his hand when he switches sides literally at the culmination of a war so he can pretend to have won, though. Maybe they’ll bonesaw him in retaliation."
Commenting on paying to use the Strait of Hormuz, CNBC's Carl Quintanilla said on Bluesky, "$2 million per ship—to cross a strait that was free six weeks ago."
In response to Trump's threats to take out Iran's bridges and power plants—clear war crimes—and more recent threat to wipe out the Middle Eastern country's "whole civilization," human rights advocates and political leaders across the globe had called on governments and world bodies, including the United Nations, to "urgently intervene."
While welcoming the ceasefire, some observers said Iran's repressive government—which Trump initially said was being targeted for regime change—will not only survive, but be able to claim victory, as Iranian state media was already doing after the truce was announced.
"A ceasefire is welcome, but if the terms Iran announced tonight are accurate, the United States and Israel are facing a truly humiliating defeat," Raed Jarrar, advocacy director at Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), told Common Dreams.
"They launched a catastrophic war of aggression that killed thousands of civilians, wasted tens of billions of dollars, and triggered the worst global energy crisis in half a century," he said. "Iran kept its enrichment. Iran took over the Strait [of Hormuz]. The United States agreed to lift sanctions."
While oil prices plunged by more than 15% and US stock futures edged up on news of the ceasefire, Iranians continued clearing rubble and burying their dead. Iranian officials said around 2,000 people—including hundreds of women and children—have been killed by US and Israeli strikes since February 28, including around 175 children and staff massacred in a US cruise missile strike on a girls' elementary school in the southern city of Minab on the first day of the war.
"Congress should open an immediate investigation into how this war started, who authorized it, and who will be held accountable for every civilian killed," Jarrar told Common Dreams. "War criminals should be held accountable now."
While Republican politicians and pundits portrayed the truce as a major victory for Trump, some Democratic US lawmakers expressed skepticism over the deal, with Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut telling CNN that he doubts there is even any actual ceasefire in place amid reports of continued Iranian missile attacks on Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
“Who knows what’s going on," said Murphy. "Donald Trump lies every single day.”
Murphy pointed to Tehran's claim “that Trump has also agreed to Iran’s right to enrichment, to suspend all sanctions against Iran, and to allow Iran to keep their missile program, their drone program, and their nuclear program," saying "if, at the very least, this agreement gives Iran the right to control the strait, that is cataclysmic for the world, and it is just stunning that that’s where we have gotten to that Donald Trump took a military action that has apparently, at least for the time being, given Iran control over a critical waterway that they did not have control over, before the war began.”
As a sovereign nation, Iran has the right to enrich uranium and have nuclear, missile, and drone programs, and it is unclear how Iranian control of the strait would be "cataclysmic" for anyone.
After the genocidal threats on Tuesday, Trump critics, including members of Congress, urged the president's Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment to the Constitution and remove him from office, and reminded American service members of their duty to disobey any ordered war crimes.
Just because a President announces he’s agreed to a two week ceasefire moments before he threatened to commit war crimes, does not mean he is suddenly fit to serve. #25thAmendment
— Rep. Melanie Stansbury (NM-01) (@repstansbury.bsky.social) April 7, 2026 at 4:00 PM
Axios reported Tuesday that more than 80 congressional Democrats are supporting 25th Amendment action against Trump over his conduct in the war.
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