Global Day of Action for the Amazon

On September 5, activists across the world joined the Global Day of Action for the Amazon to hold governments and companies that stand to profit from the fires in the Amazon accountable for their role in this environmental destruction.

Minneapolis, Minnesota

[vc_separator sep_color=”color-205066″ icon_position=”left” el_width=”25%”]In Minneapolis, Mighty Earth and 80+ activists rallied at the Minneapolis Institute of Art–home to the Cargill Gallery–to call out Cargill for its role in lighting up the Amazon and polluting water sources. Holding banners such as “Cargill: there’s no art on a dead planet” and “Cargill: helping the world burn” activists from the Twin Cities gathered outside the museum’s main doors.[vc_gallery el_id=”gallery-163193″ type=”carousel” medias=”59428,59430,59425,59426,59429,59431″ carousel_lg=”2″ carousel_md=”2″ carousel_sm=”2″ thumb_size=”one-one” gutter_size=”1″ media_items=”media|lightbox|original” carousel_interval=”0″ carousel_navspeed=”0″ carousel_loop=”yes” carousel_nav=”yes” carousel_nav_mobile=”yes” carousel_dots=”yes” carousel_dots_mobile=”yes” carousel_dots_inside=”yes” carousel_autoh=”yes” stage_padding=”0″ single_overlay_opacity=”50″ single_text_anim=”no” single_overlay_anim=”no” single_image_anim=”no” single_padding=”2″]

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Midway through the protest, while chanting “The Amazon’s in flames, we’re out in force and naming names protestors” protestors abandoned their spot on the front sidewalk and swarmed into the main entrance of the museum, where they proceeded to stage a dramatic die-in.

The protest was endorsed by over a dozen local, national, and international organizations, including the Twin Cities Democratic Socialists of America chapter, Environment Minnesota, and Rainforest Action Network, as well as by Bill McKibben. Outlets such as Fox 9 and City Pages covered the event.https://twitter.com/FOX9/status/1169810237911552001Cargill went into damage control mode and rapidly issued a comment in an attempt to defend the company’s reputation. In response, Mighty Earth CEO Glenn Hurowitz released the following statement:

“Cargill gives up the game immediately by declaring their opposition is to ‘illegal deforestation.’ What that actually means is that they are still going to take full advantage of lax regulations and enforcement in Bolsonaro-era Brazil. A commitment to oppose illegal deforestation is nothing more than a pledge to obey the law – this is the bare minimum, not something to celebrate.

“The fires in the Amazon are a byproduct of the rollback of safeguards for the environment and Indigenous peoples in both Bolivia and Brazil. These policies have been implemented at the behest of the region’s industrial agriculture sector, of which Cargill is a top player. We have applauded Cargill for joining the Amazon Moratorium in the past, but since that time they have fallen dramatically behind the industry by refusing to go beyond that single safeguard.

“The Moratorium protects only the Brazilian Amazon, but enables Cargill to continue buying from deforesters in the Cerrado or the Bolivian Amazon, where more than 2.5 million acres have burned, largely to clear land for new cattle and soy animal feed plantations, in just a few weeks. By failing to address these issues and others, Cargill has contributed to the atmosphere of lawlessness in Brazil and beyond that has led to these fires.

“These fires are also exposing a loophole in the existing Soy Moratorium. While broadly effective, it does permit soy producers to engage in extensive deforestation for cattle and still sell their soy to Cargill. The Amazon crisis shows the urgent need to close this loophole so that deforestation can be stopped, whatever crop is driving it.

“In addition, the forest fires in Brazil and Bolivia are a result of land being burned to clear it for cattle. Ranchers will then move cattle from existing land to the newly deforested land, and plant soy to sell to Cargill. As long as Cargill keeps providing this incentive, the burning will continue.”

Washington D.C.

[vc_separator sep_color=”color-205066″ icon_position=”left” el_width=”25%”]Mighty Earth also co-organized sister actions in Washington, D.C. and Atlanta. In D.C., protestors marched from the White House to the building that houses both the Brazilian consulate and the local Cargill office. Campaign director Lucia von Reusner was featured as a speaker at the D.C. protest, where she spoke about the role of large agribusinesses in driving and incentivizing the fires. “It is no surprise that Cargill is headquartered in the same building as the Brazilian consulate, given that our satellite investigations of the most recent fires raging across Brazil and Bolivia have found Cargill and mega beef supplier JBS consistently at the front lines of this deforestation” von Reusner said, addressing the large crowd gathered on the sidewalk.[vc_gallery el_id=”gallery-594136″ type=”carousel” medias=”59446,59445,59452,59450,59449,59444,59448,59447″ carousel_lg=”2″ carousel_md=”2″ carousel_sm=”1″ thumb_size=”one-one” gutter_size=”1″ media_items=”media|lightbox|original” carousel_interval=”5000″ carousel_navspeed=”700″ carousel_loop=”yes” carousel_nav=”yes” carousel_nav_mobile=”yes” carousel_dots=”yes” carousel_dots_mobile=”yes” carousel_dots_inside=”yes” stage_padding=”0″ single_overlay_opacity=”50″ single_text_anim=”no” single_overlay_anim=”no” single_image_anim=”no” single_padding=”2″]

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