The World Bank has not yet addressed climate issues systematically. Most notably, its Safeguard Policy framework does not require climate change risk assessments for Bank projects with climate-related impacts. This gap in policy has allowed the World Bank to continue financing projects with serious implications for our climate and to essentially ignore the issue completely. According to a recent study by the World Resources Institute, 75% of World Bank projects do not incorporate assessments related to climate change risks into their design, while 88% of the projects do not assess GHG emissions from project activities, relative to a baseline. It is no wonder that with such an approach, the Bank continues to finance projects like the coal-fired Medupi power plant in South Africa, and possibly an even dirtier coal plant in Kosovo. The Bank is currently reviewing its policies, for the first time in its history. This review presents an important opportunity for the Bank to adopt best practices for promoting low-carbon and resilient development by establishing a safeguard policy on climate change. Over 100 Non-Governmental Organizations from over 60 countries submitted to the World Bank a proposal for a Policy on Climate Change as part of this review process. This Policy proposal outlines some of the main priorities that the Bank should adopt as part of a safeguard policy on climate change, including introducing a ban on financing any coal projects in the future. President Kim of the World Bank himself said last year that, “…the world needs a bold global approach to help avoid the climate catastrophe it faces today”. The signatories of the climate submission want to see Dr. Kim and the Board members of the World Bank start to walk the talk on climate by establishing a climate safeguard policy that would ensure the World Bank no longer supports projects that contribute to climate change. As each country of the world has a representative at the World Bank Group Board of Directors, your voice is very important to be heard. One of the Board Committees of the Bank will convene on July 30th to discuss the first draft of the new World Bank policies. Let us together deliver a strong message to them before this meeting that introduction of a Climate assessment policy for the World Bank projects is a must and that we stand united in asking them to act on climate, now! Study by the World Resources Institute: http://goo.gl/nGCULH Coal-fired power plant in South Africa: http://goo.gl/0d2tas Coal-fired power plant in Kosovo.: http://goo.gl/jxTt7c Climate Change Assessment (CCA) Safeguard Policy: http://www.bicusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Climate-Change-Safeguard-Model-Policy-for-the-World-Bank.pdf

Three years ago Governor John Kasich approved new state legislation that would permit hydraulic fracturing in Ohio's State parks. 3300 acres of park property have already been set aside for Natural Gas and Oil wells. These wells endanger thousands of residents every day while operating, not to mention the lasting impact for years after the well has been drilled. We must stand together to prevent the destruction of our state parks.

Neil Young continues to make national headlines with his cross-Canada concert tour this week, and Canadians are responding in droves, crowdfunding almost $60,000 for ACFN’s legal defence at www.HonourTheACFN.ca. Young’s response to the Prime Minister’s attacks was brilliant: “... to the thousands of hard-working Canadians… we have respect for all working people. The quandary we face is the job they are working on. They are digging a hole that our grandchildren will have great trouble digging their way out of. … There are better jobs to be developing, with clean energy industries to help make the world a safer place for our grandchildren.” Canada must clean up its act in the oil sands, and stop denying the significant downside to out of control resource exploitation that only benefits a few yet leaves such a great cost for the rest of us. Now is the time to push: thanks to Neil’s concerts this week, the media's attention is finally on the reality of tar sands impacts, and his message is reaching ordinary Canadians across the country. Let's show the Athabasca Chipewyan and other First Nations that Canadians acknowledge their reality and want solutions for the tar sands disaster, not more denial and empty talking points. Please sign and share. Let’s do this, Jason P.S. 100% of the funds from Neil’s tour are going to the legal defence fund of the ACFN, and over 1,000 generous supporters have donated to their crowdfunding website! They are ¾ of the way to their goal of $75,000. Can you chip in $10? www.HonourTheACFN.ca Sources: Neil Young Comments get massive support in Alberta: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/01/14/neil-young-oilsands-comments_n_4597793.html Neil Young Responds to PMO’s Defence of Oilsands: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/neil-young-responds-to-pmo-s-defence-of-oilsands-1.2494950

Our environment is unprotected from the misuse of its abundant assets. Damaging it ultimately damages all living organisms of which Humans are just one. Perils such as climate change, toxification of land, river systems and oceans, loss of tropical and temperate rain forests with all their dependent species and loss of polar and mountain glacial deposits are some of the well known consequences of Ecocide in action, unchallenged by an unaware populace in who's name the destruction is excused. This must stop and we all must say it. The world already has produced 4 laws that protect peace that can be enforced in the International Criminal Court including the crime of Genocide. An additional law, Ecocide would protect all species that enjoy an ecosystem from deliberate harm to the system. This would disincentivise investments in corporations who damage our environment and would make CEO's of them liable to criminal charges if they break the law. This legal process has already been proved to work in a mock trial in 2011 in London, UK. Please will you also sign the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) which has a legal standing? www.endecocide.eu

Tuvaluans are not as aware of the reasons why they are experiencing extreme climatic changes. Most just think that it is an act of God that is constantly punishing people for various reasons through droughts especially. This not only shows ignorance of the facts and reality around them but a need to change mind sets so that people can easily adapt and also prepare them for the worst to come. Tuvalu is one of the smallest island nations in the world and it is almost ignored in the international arena because of its population and land mass size. The international arena may not be paying so much attention because we have no wealth in terms of GDP and GNP. However, just because we do not have monetary significance as a developing small island nation we are humans and deserve the rights afforded upon all to have a home, identity, language and self determination. Most Tuvaluans have no clue of what the climate justice stance Tuvalu has as in where will we be moving if sea level rises to a point where people are forced to migrate? Where will our 10,000 Tuvaluans live in 50years time? What plans do we have in terms of fighting climate change? Are we asking developed and powerful nations to mitigate? Are we just going to sit back and try to adapt as best possible? So many unanswered questions need to have answers.

The year of 2013 has witnessed 3 MAJOR STRIKES on the climate front. ONE - passing the mark of 400 parts per million of atmospheric carbon, in MAY 2013. TWO - a study was released in AUGUST 2013, revealing the fastest acceleration yet, of acidification in the ocean, marking ten times the norm, which was substantiated by a Columbia Univ study in March 2012, indicating the pace of ocean acidification has no parallel in 300 million years. THREE - at the writing of this petition, a major city - San Francisco - is currently threatened by wildfire, potentially shutting down its water and power supply - AUGUST 2013. World cities are showing constant threat now from wildfire, floods and hurricanes.

The last mile mobility should not be by Fossil Fuel powered vehicles. The rate of growth of cars and 2 wheelers powered by petroleum products is contributing to the dangerous raise of green house gases and fast raise of global temperatures. More immediate effect is urban heat Islands that is making life in cities unbearable during summer months. So a shit to pedal power and walking is to be encouraged by design of the roads.

The proposed oil terminal would bring five miles of oil trains through the beautiful Columbia River Gorge to Vancouver every day. The oil would be transferred to tanks, and then barges or ships to be taken to California or maybe abroad. The Oil Terminal and Oil Trains would: • Kill two jobs for each job it might create • Endanger a million people with trains that explode • Kill the Vancouver Waterfront Development • Change Vancouver from green to grimy • Endanger our salmon industry • Depress downtown development in Vancouver • Degrade air quality and endanger our health Furthermore it is urgent that we reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We should not build more fossil fuel infrastructure. All the car makers have cars in production that exceed 80 MPG equivalent. We don’t even need the oil.

Climate Action Now - CAN - aims to give a voice to ordinary people, resident in Herefordshire, who are concerned about the impact of Climate Change but who may not have known how to make their views and feelings known to their political representatives. 97 per cent of Climate Change scientists conclude that man-made Climate Change is a reality. The scientific evidence is now so compelling that, if a ‘business as usual’ approach continues, there is a 50:50 chance that the average global temperature is likely to rise by 5 degrees centigrade or more relative to 1850 by the turn of the century. According to the report of the International Panel on Climate Change in 2007, a moderate international body of climate experts from around the world, the effects of this on the lives of our children and grandchildren would be devastating : crop yields would be decimated, dangerous extreme weather events such as flooding, heatwaves and hurricanes would become commonplace, large tracts of the world’s agricultural land would become desert causing widespread famine, many animal and plant species would be lost forever, sea-level rise would threaten to obliterate coastal areas and cities and severe water shortages in some parts of the world would be likely to lead to mass migration and political and social instability. The last time the planet was this hot was nearly 100 million years ago when dinosaurs lived in rain forests at the north pole and most of Europe was desert. Our existing human economies and natural ecosystems could not be sustained at such a temperature rise. Lord Stern, an economist who wrote the respected Stern Report on Climate Change in 2007 which was based on his consultations with a wide range of international climate specialists, speaking at this year's Hay Festival, told the audience that things appear to be a lot worse than when he wrote the report. This is because the climate models used then did not take account of the positive feedback effects of Climate Change. For instance, the rapid melting of the polar ice-cap causes the sea to absorb more of the sun's heat whereas the white ice reflected it back into space, the melting of the permafrost regions is releasing massive amounts of methane, an even more potent greenhouse gas than carbon, into the atmosphere, and vast tracts of tropical forests which previously absorbed carbon have been destroyed. Climate Change is happening a lot faster than was previously thought. We are already experiencing the effects of Climate Change. The unstable weather and the increase of extreme weather events in this country and across the globe has been felt by all. The NFU has reported a one third drop in wheat production this year, 2013, due to extreme weather. Putting short-term economic goals ahead of halting Climate Change would be disastrous for future generations because, if Climate Change proceeds at the current rate unchecked, there is unlikely even to be a viable economy as we know it by the end of the century or before. Many researchers believe that it may already be too late to prevent global warming reaching a tipping point where Climate Change becomes irreversible and will threaten the very survival of the human race but while there may still be a chance to take effective action this should be the utmost priority for our politicians. We cannot specify which actions should be taken but we need to know clearly that our political representatives are prioritising this critical issue with the utmost seriousness and urgency. There are many economists, ecologists, scientists and renewable energy experts who tell us that there are solutions to avert runaway Climate Change, but only if we act now with determination, focus and international co-operation. It is vital that government policies urgently address the impact of Climate Change. As representatives of our parliamentary and local government voice we urge you most strongly to support our concerns at every opportunity. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The fossil fuel industry has recently targeted California's Monterey Shale and other heavy oil reserves as their latest get-rich-quick scheme. They've calculated that there are 15.4 billion barrels of dirty oil underneath our feet -- about as much as would flow through the Keystone XL Pipeline over 40 years if it were approved. The industry plans on using "enhanced techniques" to get at this oil, such as fracking, cyclic steam injection, and acidization. Each of these techniques is dangerous and unnecessary. This expansion project alone would generate 88,000 tons of global warming pollution per year, or the equivalent of an additional 17,000 cars on Santa Barbara County roads. And that's just to get the oil out of the ground! Nobody has calculated the emissions from transporting, refining and burning this dirty oil. The Santa Maria expansion project would inject 300,000 gallons of water per day to heat up the oily sludge underground. That's water our farmers would otherwise use for irrigation. Santa Barbara county has a choice: do we prioritize renewable energy and scarce natural resources, or do we keep investing in dirty, dangerous fossil fuels?