“Mobilizing and using people power is actually crucial to face the climate emergency”, said Friends of the Earth International´s Climate Justice and Energy Program Coordinator, Sara Shaw. A radical systemic change is needed, she warned.

From this Saturday to October 13^th, the member groups of Friends of the Earth International (FoEI), present in 75 countries, will mobilize together to highlight the climate emergency, fight dirty energy and “false solutions” to climate change and demand the transformation of our energy systems. This is what FoEI has named the “Week of Action for Climate Justice” and that Shaw described today in an interview with Real World Radio as an “important tool to show this movement of people seeking a radical change”.

This week of mobilizations is also part of the “Reclaim Power” campaign, organized by different social movements and organizations around the world along the same political lines. This year, “Reclaim Power” will take place from 1 – 15 October.

Many FoEI groups will organize different activities, demonstrations, actions, among others, to expose the seriousness of climate change, the system that is responsible for it and the necessary actions to counteract this crisis.

“We are calling for an end of dirty energy -an  end to fossil fuels, an end to the finance of fossil fuels, calling the Global North to reduce their emissions to zero ASAP and to finance the South so we can see a real transformation of the energy system in the South”, said Shaw.

In the interview, the environmental activist clearly explained the actions necessary to face climate change. She made reference, for instance, to the importance of sustainable and community-owned energy, food sovereignty, community forest management and the struggle against deforestation, the fight against transnational corporations, mainly from the energy sector, among other issues. And then she deepened on the analysis of these big areas.

Shaw stated that a new report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is expected to be launched next Monday, which will focus on the importance of keeping the global average temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius (above pre-industrial levels).

The British activist considered it “crucial” for the planet to stay below 1.5 degrees of warming, otherwise, “the impacts particularly in the Global South and most vulnerable countries are going to be really extreme”. At the same time, she recognized that it will be extremely difficult to achieve this goal.

We also asked Sara about the role of the “Week of Global Action for Climate Justice” in this global context. The activist explained it is fundamental to mobilize, to “raise our voices” with a united federation, also as part of the actions with allies in the framework of the Reclaim Power campaign, to show governments the peoples´ desire for a necessary and urgent transformation.