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Why You Should Get Excited About 2016: It's A Leap Year For Climate Justice
We are fast approaching February 29th, the beginning of the 2016 Leap Year. Every four years we add a day to our calendars to bring them into sync with the earth's revolution around the sun--because it's easier to change our human systems than to change the laws of nature.
Feb 26, 2016
We are fast approaching February 29th, the beginning of the 2016 Leap Year. Every four years we add a day to our calendars to bring them into sync with the earth's revolution around the sun--because it's easier to change our human systems than to change the laws of nature.
To celebrate the Leap Year, groups in Canada and around the world are holding events to push for a justice-based transition away from fossil fuels and towards new economic and energy systems. From Vancouver to Prince Edward Island, Salt Lake City to Zagreb, there are teach-ins, film screenings, community forums, mobilisations and more:
--In Nelson, B.C. high school students are organizing a 24 hr Leap Day sit-in with workshops and local speakers to push the government on bold climate action.
--In Zagreb, Croatia Friends of the Earth are hosting a film screening and panel discussion titled "Climate change as an opportunity for building a more just world."
--In Peterborough, Ontario, community activists are holding an event celebrating and building on a forum held earlier in February that drew hundreds of people to discuss and commit to local actions suggested by the Leap Manifesto.
--In Fort Chipewyan, the Keepers of the Athabasca and Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation are hosting a Leap Day installation of solar panels at the local Youth and Elder's centre.
--In New York, Bronx Climate Justice North will host a Leap Day discussion and will host a vote to adopt their own version.
--Across Canada, ten Council of Canadians chapters are mobilizing for Leap Year, holding events and activities calling for action on climate change.
--On Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Naomi Klein and other leaders will stand with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers to launch a new campaign to turn the postal offices into green community hubs powering Canada's next economy.
With scores of groups holding dozens of events around the world, it's clear there is powerful momentum to make 2016 a true Leap Year for the climate justice movement.
To find an event near you, or learn how to host your own, visit leapyear2016.org.
About the Leap Manifesto
Canada's Leap Manifesto has garnered more than 30,000 signatories and close to 200 organizational endorsements, including national nonprofits, major unions, religious groups, and a multi-million dollar corporation. CNN called it "a model for the world" during the UN climate negotiations in Paris in December, and parallel initiatives are underway in the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia and the United States.
Ready for more?
--Learn how to host your own Leap Year Event,
--Check out Naomi Klein's Guardian op-ed Let's make this a real 'leap' year, and go fossil fuel-free and her short video Let's kick oil while the price is down
--Watch our recent Hangout with Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis (This Changes Everything), Bill McKibben (350.org) and Asad Rehman (Friend of the Earth UK) on why this 2016 will be a Leap Year for the climate justice movement.
For questions about Leap Year events or other queries, email Bianca Mugyenyi, Outreach Coordinator for the Leap Manifesto, at contact@leapmanifesto.org.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
© 2023 This Changes Everything
Bianca Mugyenyi
Bianca Mugyenyi is an author and former co-executive director of The Leap. She currently coordinates the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute. She is the co-author with Yves Engler of Stop Signs: Cars and Capitalism on the Road to Economic, Social and Environmental Decay.
We are fast approaching February 29th, the beginning of the 2016 Leap Year. Every four years we add a day to our calendars to bring them into sync with the earth's revolution around the sun--because it's easier to change our human systems than to change the laws of nature.
To celebrate the Leap Year, groups in Canada and around the world are holding events to push for a justice-based transition away from fossil fuels and towards new economic and energy systems. From Vancouver to Prince Edward Island, Salt Lake City to Zagreb, there are teach-ins, film screenings, community forums, mobilisations and more:
--In Nelson, B.C. high school students are organizing a 24 hr Leap Day sit-in with workshops and local speakers to push the government on bold climate action.
--In Zagreb, Croatia Friends of the Earth are hosting a film screening and panel discussion titled "Climate change as an opportunity for building a more just world."
--In Peterborough, Ontario, community activists are holding an event celebrating and building on a forum held earlier in February that drew hundreds of people to discuss and commit to local actions suggested by the Leap Manifesto.
--In Fort Chipewyan, the Keepers of the Athabasca and Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation are hosting a Leap Day installation of solar panels at the local Youth and Elder's centre.
--In New York, Bronx Climate Justice North will host a Leap Day discussion and will host a vote to adopt their own version.
--Across Canada, ten Council of Canadians chapters are mobilizing for Leap Year, holding events and activities calling for action on climate change.
--On Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Naomi Klein and other leaders will stand with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers to launch a new campaign to turn the postal offices into green community hubs powering Canada's next economy.
With scores of groups holding dozens of events around the world, it's clear there is powerful momentum to make 2016 a true Leap Year for the climate justice movement.
To find an event near you, or learn how to host your own, visit leapyear2016.org.
About the Leap Manifesto
Canada's Leap Manifesto has garnered more than 30,000 signatories and close to 200 organizational endorsements, including national nonprofits, major unions, religious groups, and a multi-million dollar corporation. CNN called it "a model for the world" during the UN climate negotiations in Paris in December, and parallel initiatives are underway in the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia and the United States.
Ready for more?
--Learn how to host your own Leap Year Event,
--Check out Naomi Klein's Guardian op-ed Let's make this a real 'leap' year, and go fossil fuel-free and her short video Let's kick oil while the price is down
--Watch our recent Hangout with Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis (This Changes Everything), Bill McKibben (350.org) and Asad Rehman (Friend of the Earth UK) on why this 2016 will be a Leap Year for the climate justice movement.
For questions about Leap Year events or other queries, email Bianca Mugyenyi, Outreach Coordinator for the Leap Manifesto, at contact@leapmanifesto.org.
Bianca Mugyenyi
Bianca Mugyenyi is an author and former co-executive director of The Leap. She currently coordinates the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute. She is the co-author with Yves Engler of Stop Signs: Cars and Capitalism on the Road to Economic, Social and Environmental Decay.
We are fast approaching February 29th, the beginning of the 2016 Leap Year. Every four years we add a day to our calendars to bring them into sync with the earth's revolution around the sun--because it's easier to change our human systems than to change the laws of nature.
To celebrate the Leap Year, groups in Canada and around the world are holding events to push for a justice-based transition away from fossil fuels and towards new economic and energy systems. From Vancouver to Prince Edward Island, Salt Lake City to Zagreb, there are teach-ins, film screenings, community forums, mobilisations and more:
--In Nelson, B.C. high school students are organizing a 24 hr Leap Day sit-in with workshops and local speakers to push the government on bold climate action.
--In Zagreb, Croatia Friends of the Earth are hosting a film screening and panel discussion titled "Climate change as an opportunity for building a more just world."
--In Peterborough, Ontario, community activists are holding an event celebrating and building on a forum held earlier in February that drew hundreds of people to discuss and commit to local actions suggested by the Leap Manifesto.
--In Fort Chipewyan, the Keepers of the Athabasca and Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation are hosting a Leap Day installation of solar panels at the local Youth and Elder's centre.
--In New York, Bronx Climate Justice North will host a Leap Day discussion and will host a vote to adopt their own version.
--Across Canada, ten Council of Canadians chapters are mobilizing for Leap Year, holding events and activities calling for action on climate change.
--On Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Naomi Klein and other leaders will stand with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers to launch a new campaign to turn the postal offices into green community hubs powering Canada's next economy.
With scores of groups holding dozens of events around the world, it's clear there is powerful momentum to make 2016 a true Leap Year for the climate justice movement.
To find an event near you, or learn how to host your own, visit leapyear2016.org.
About the Leap Manifesto
Canada's Leap Manifesto has garnered more than 30,000 signatories and close to 200 organizational endorsements, including national nonprofits, major unions, religious groups, and a multi-million dollar corporation. CNN called it "a model for the world" during the UN climate negotiations in Paris in December, and parallel initiatives are underway in the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia and the United States.
Ready for more?
--Learn how to host your own Leap Year Event,
--Check out Naomi Klein's Guardian op-ed Let's make this a real 'leap' year, and go fossil fuel-free and her short video Let's kick oil while the price is down
--Watch our recent Hangout with Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis (This Changes Everything), Bill McKibben (350.org) and Asad Rehman (Friend of the Earth UK) on why this 2016 will be a Leap Year for the climate justice movement.
For questions about Leap Year events or other queries, email Bianca Mugyenyi, Outreach Coordinator for the Leap Manifesto, at contact@leapmanifesto.org.
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