Draft:WePlanet
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| Founders | |
|---|---|
| Type | International NGO |
| Purpose | |
| Headquarters | August Reyerslaan 80, 1030 Brussels |
Region | Worldwide |
| Methods |
|
President | Adam Blazowski |
Secretary General | Karolina Lisslo Gylfe |
Advisor | Mark Lynas |
| Website | weplanet |
WePlanet is an alliance of environmental organizations from 18 countries (originally Finland, Sweden, Poland, Germany, France, Netherlands, Belgium, with newer branches being created in the UK, Portugal, Kenya, Uganda, Australia, Denmark, Norway, Ukraine, Italy, Bengladesh and Nigeria).
WePlanet was launched in the 2010s as "RePlanet", and was known under this name until 2023, when it had to change to "WePlanet" because of potential conflicts with existing brands as the movement expanded to new countries.
Relationship to ecomodernism
[edit]WePlanet and most of its affiliate national organizations are associated with an ecomodernist environmental philosophy, which means they favor pragmatic, evidence-based and science-backed solutions to address the problems created by the environmental crisis. Advocating the benefits of technical progress for the environment, WePlanet is spearheading a trend that is gaining popularity among a new generation of green activists in northern Europe..[1] This stands in contrast to most older environmental NGOs and established green parties, which have often stuck to anti-technology positions inherited from the 20th century. Young ecomodernist activists claim that the urgency of climate change should have lead them to question the relevance of this ideological legacy[2]
Critics of WePlanet (formerly RePlanet) have often targeted ecomodernism in general, e.g. by attacking its reliance on "technological fixes"[3] and portraying its view of "eco-economic decoupling" as dystopian [4] and unfounded [5]. UK environmentalist George Monbiot has criticized ecomodernists for their assumed subservience to corporate interests as well as for their irrational faith in a literal and unidimensional view of modernization[6]. Monbiot appears, however, to view WePlanet as different from the ecomodernist mainstream, because he has teamed up with them for the "Reboot food" campaign[7]. This has, in turn, lead to Monbiot becoming the target of critics from anti-GMO activists for this supposed about-face and WePlanet being accused of astroturfing [8]
Organizations affiliated with WePlanet claim, according to their websites, to differ from the more technocentrist tendencies of ecomodernism and to be human-centered and grassroots-oriented, with a strong emphasis on fulfilling the needs of developing countries and preserving practices rooted in traditional cultures, in a sustainable and consensual way.
Campaigns
[edit]Nuclear energy advocacy
[edit]This is the most visible rift between the newer environmental organizations like WePlanet and the older established ones.[9] WePlanet and affiliate national organizations are known for advocating nuclear energy as a safe, dense and clean source of energy that is more indispensable than ever for decarbonisation by way of massive electrification. This has led to several campaigns to oppose shutting down existing nuclear power plants, among which a 2023 open letter to chancellor Olaf Scholz, initiated by WePlanet (Replanet at the time) and signed by two dozen scientists and Nobel laureates,[10] calling on him to continue operating the last remaining German nuclear power plants.
Another campaign has been for the inclusion of nuclear energy under the EU "green taxonomy".
A campaign urging Greenpeace to, at last, take into account the climate emergency to abandon its entrenched opposition to nuclear power has been lead by a group of young activists from WePlanet, casting Greenpeace as, by contrast, an "old-fashioned" organization clinging to the long-held positions of its 1970s founders.[2]
"Switch off Putin"
[edit]In the wake of the war in Ukraine, WePlanet has issued two reports under this title,[11] advocating strong restrictive measures to curtail import of oil and gas from Russia,[12] as well as limitations on the use of biofuels to address the food crisis resulting from reduced exports from Ukraine.[13]
New Gene Technologies advocacy
[edit]In January 2024, on the occasion of the discussion and vote by the EU parliament of new regulations applying to organisms modified by "new genomic techniques" (arising from the use of the newer CRISPR-based gene editing tools), WePlanet initated an open letter to EU lawmakers,[14] signed by thousands of scientists among which 34 Nobel prize winners (including CRISPR originators Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier), advocating how indispensable these techniques are to address, among others, the new challenges arising from the environmental crisis and calling them to "reject the darkness of anti-science fearmongering".
As advocated by, among others, George Monbiot,[17][18] the huge share of the world's land dedicated to the production of meat, with a huge direct impact on biodiversity and climate change, could get progressivy reduced if new technologies such as precision fermentation were used to produce protein, with a gain in efficiency of land-use by a factor of around 40000. The land thus reclaimed from its use for meat production could get rewilded, with large-scale benefits in terms of biodiversity, carbon storage[19] and recreational activities.
This campaign inititated by WePlanet african chapters is intended to raise awareness about all the negative impacts of the use of charcoal as a fuel. Charcoal and other wood fuels are responsible for a large share of the deforestation in Africa and developing countries, and are also catastrophic in terms of indoor air pollution. Deaths caused by indoor pollution are said to have increased by 60% from 1990to 2017, according to an UNICEF report[22]. The campaign promotes alternative solutions such as clean cookstoves and renewable energy sources.
Affiliate national organizations
[edit]- Finland : Suomen ekomodernistit
- Sweden : Ekomodernisterna
- Poland : FOTA4climate
- Germany :Eco-Progressive Network
- France : Les Eco-Humanistes
- Netherlands : WePlanet Nederland
- Belgium : WePlanet Belgium
- Australia : WePlanet Australia
- Africa: wePlanet Africa
References
[edit]- ^ "A long overdue moment? "RePlanet are the pro-nuclear, pro-GMO vegans who have come to shake up the environmental movement"". The Guardian. 9 March 2023.
- ^ a b "Young climate activist tells Greenpeace to drop 'old-fashioned' anti-nuclear stance". The Guardian. 29 August 2023.
- ^ "Techno-fix futures will only accelerate climate chaos – don't believe the hype". The Conversation. 31 October 2019.
- ^ "The Brave New World of Ecomodernism". The Guardian. 20 October 2015.
- ^ "The decoupling delusion: rethinking growth and sustainability". The Conversation. 12 March 2017.
- ^ Monbiot, George (24 September 2015). "Meet the ecomodernists: ignorant of history and paradoxically old-fashioned". The Guardian.
- ^ Matthews, Jonathan (14 October 2022). "George Monbiot teams up with Mark Lynas and the ecomodernists to Reboot Food". GMWatch.
- ^ Jonathan, Matthews (4 October 2023). "George Monbiot's ally RePlanet accused of smelling "like astroturf"". GMWatch.
- ^ "Nuclear Power's Rebound Causes Rift Among Environmentalists". The Wall Street Journal. 2 September 2022.
- ^ "A guide: The end of Germany's nuclear power". World Nuclear News. 14 April 2023.
- ^ "Switch off Putin".
- ^ "Ban European flights and car use in cities to hurt Putin, Strong measures by Europe could quickly deprive Russia of oil and gas income worth billions, report urges". The Guardian. 8 April 2022.
- ^ "RePlanet calls on EU to ditch organic targets and for governments to lift bans on genetically modified crops". The Guardian. 13 July 2022.
- ^ "Nobel laureates call on EU to relax rules on genetic modification". The Guardian. 19 January 2024.
- ^ "Reboot food campaign".
- ^ "Replace animal farms with micro-organism tanks, Advocates of plant-based protein say 75% of world's farmland should be rewilded to reduce emissions". The Guardian. 12 November 2022.
- ^ Monbiot, George (2014). Feral: Rewilding the Land, Sea and Human Life. Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-197558-0.
- ^ Monbiot, George (2022). Regenesis. Allen Lane. ISBN 978-0241447642.
- ^ "Climate-positive impacts of rewilding".
- ^ "wePlanet in campaign to reduce charcoal use in Africa". The Observer. 13 February 2024.
- ^ Kisia, Allan (13 February 2024). "Environmental lobby launches campaign to reduce use of charcoal in homes". The Star (Kenya).
- ^ "Silent Suffocation in Africa" (PDF). UNICEF. June 2019.
