[All] Fw: Action Update and follow-up from RISE Waterloo Region - supp

Thu Jun 20 16:57:47 EDT 2019

Motion to Declare a Climate Emergency happening this Monday at Kitchener City Hall. Let's fill it up!
Details from Rise Waterloo Region right here. 
Lulu 😃

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   ----- Forwarded Message ----- From: "RISE Waterloo Region" <risewaterlooregion at gmail.com> To:  Cc:  Sent: Thu, Jun 20, 2019 at 3:08 PM Subject: Action Update and follow-up from RISE Waterloo Region - supp  Hi, and welcome to the very first RISE WR community newsletter! If you're on this list, it means you signed up with us via a petition or at one of our previous events. We'll use this newsletter to update folks periodically on what we're up to, and steps forward on local climate action initiatives we're involved with throughout our region.
ACTION UPDATE: We need your support THIS MONDAY to tell Kitchener City Council to declare a climate emergency! (7pm in Council Chambers - see details below, Facebook event here to share)

First - what is RISE Waterloo Region? Simply put, we’re your friends and neighbours from across the region working towards radical sustainability in our communities, while raising awareness of the threat of our shared climate emergency. We're local activists heading a grassroots effort to support a transformative shift towards a clean economy, positioning our region as a far more sustainable, bright green, diverse and inclusive climate leader. We work for climate action and climate justice - and use lots of creative methods to get there! For more on us, visit our FB page here.

Some of you may have met us at one of our recent events - such as the amazing community mural creation that took place last month in Waterloo Town Square (above), creating a powerful artistic symbol with our community to represent what a large scale, community-led transformation of our current economies could look like (in partnership with the Engaging Economies of Change conference, timelapse here). Others may have attended one of the #FridaysForFuture Youth Climate Strikes, part of the global Youth Climate Movement, which is ongoing and supported by numerous groups including some of our members. You may have signed onto our current climate emergency petition, asking the region and all municipalities within it to declare a climate emergency, or you may have met our members behind any number of other local climate and social justice events (for the climate emergency action, see ACTION UPDATE below). We are truly your friends & neighbours, boldly advocating for just and transformative solutions to the climate crisis in this community, and working to do so in solidarity with other networks and movements.
ACTION UPDATE: We need your support THIS MONDAY to tell Kitchener City Council to declare a climate emergency! (7pm in Council Chambers, Facebook event here to share)

RISE members have been working with other concerned citizens across our region to encourage municipalities within Waterloo Region to declare a climate emergency, as well as implement a carbon budget to guide future planning decisions - in line with the region's own 80% reductions target. This Monday June 24th this will be going to a vote with Kitchener city council, and we need as many people as possible to show up and be sure it gets passed! The motion is being put forwards by Councillor Bil Ioannidis, and will likely be moved near the start of the meeting at 7pm. Council meeting will take place in Council Chambers at Kitchener City Hall, 200 King St West. As Canada has just recently also declared a climate emergency, there is really nothing that should prevent Kitchener from also doing the same, particularly since increasing public awareness and support for action will be critical to meeting its own reduction targets and growing the clean economy. Come out at and show your support at council chambers this Monday, 7pm! Better yet - invite your friends! Official description attached :)
Join our team! Our team is non-exclusive, non-hierarchical and welcoming of many diverse approaches to tackling to the global climate crisis - a crisis which requires each of us to step up and find our own inner courage to RISE in this moment. If you have campaign ideas and/or would simply like to contribute to existing initiatives, please get in touch! We're friendly, love potlucks and hosting public events that can bring together and inspire our community - we'd would be glad to invite you out to a future meeting :)
Cool things to note:    
   - Our team grew out of the global Rise for Climate day of action in fall 2018, which called on communities around the world to RISE to the threat of global climate change 
   - One of our members is currently planning a workshop on how to build a DIY passive home solar heater, which can help offset the need for burning natural gas to heat your home (stay tuned...)
   - We're meeting with local councillors right now across the region to discuss the need to declare a climate emergency, in line with 400+ other regions across Canada that have already done so (!) If you'd like to meet with councillors in your area let us know!
   - We're working to organize a town hall discussion in our region centred around justice, and what a justice-based "Green New Deal"-like policy could look like for this region
   - We're partnering with Tunes for Trees to create a temporary mural in Waterloo Park this coming Saturday, June 22, which you are welcome to join in on! There will be incredible music & community :)
   - We're partnering with local labour groups pushing back against the Ford Government's draconian cuts to critical Ontario social services, and environmental and social protections
   - We co-organize FridaysForFuture actions in solidarity with our youth - the next takes place July 5, in Waterloo Town Square
   - We're also planning future mural & other creative action events, which we'll be sure to invite folks out to via this mailing list!
Our organizing team meets monthly to strategize and plan out next steps for engagement - if you'd like to get involved in organizing future events, send us a message and we'll let you know the next time we're meeting. Otherwise, we always need people to simply show up to the many incredible events taking place, in solidarity with our broader community. Follow our FB page, and come out to a future event to RISE with us!
In solidarity - your friends and neighbours,Kai, Laura, Megan, Caterina, Ryan, Abhithe team at RISE Waterloo Region!

p.s. no longer want to receive these messages? Just let us know and we'll unsubscribe you from future mailings.  
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