Statement from the CCI newsletter for October 2024

At the end of October, parts of Spain were inundated with more rain in one day than normally falls in several months. Torrents of water pushed cars through the streets of cities, and more than 200 people perished in the floodwaters. A month earlier, similar scenes unfolded in western North Carolina when Hurricane Helene dumped several feet — yes, feet, not inches — of rain in the mountainous terrain. The consequences of climate change are upending and ending lives throughout the globe, and unless the nations of the world take decisive action immediately, these devastating catastrophes will occur with greater and greater frequency. The action needed, of course, is a speedy transition away from fossil fuels that emit the heat-trapping gases that cause the climate crisis.

Following the recent presidential election in America, that transition will prove to be challenging, as leadership from the U.S. is not expected in the next administration.

It will be necessary to find that leadership in other countries, where citizens engage their governments to demand effective solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Climate Civics International — yes, we have a new name — will continue to empower citizens and provide the tools they need in the fight of our lives to preserve a liveable world.

Citizens’ Climate International, which empowers advocates in 76 countries to engage their governments on climate solutions, is changing its name to Climate Civics International. “We wanted the name to more accurately reflect the importance of civic engagement as the most powerful tool to combat climate change,” said Joe Robertson, executive director of Climate Civics International. “Stakeholders, people whose lives are affected by climate disruption, must be involved in decisions that reduce catastrophic risk and shield communities from the impacts of extreme weather, rising temperatures and rising seas.”