My name is Lucia Ortiz. I've been working with Friends of the Earth Brazil for more than 10 years. In this period, I have joined Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) at UN climate conferences, Rio+10 (the United Nations conference on sustainable development) in Johannesburg and many civil society gatherings. In June 2012 it will be time for us to host friends again in Brazil for the Rio+20 conference.

Friends of the Earth Brazil's Lucia Ortiz blogs on the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development conference that took place recently in Switzerland.

Clean/Green Energy is real, alive, and it’s here to stay.
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PANAMA CITY, PANAMA, October 7, 2011 - Friends of the Earth International has expressed strong concerns over renewed attempts by rich countries to tear up the framework for global action on climate change at the United Nations climate negotiations today.

There’s so much hot air coming out of Washington these days, many Americans have tuned out. But one speech on the Senate floor recently is worth watching in full.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse is a longtime champion of clean air. Last week, he told his Senate colleagues that no matter how you look at it, clean air is a great investment and it’s time to stop playing games with Americans’ health:

Friends of the Earth International, October 2011: Friends of the Earth International promotes the respect and
enforcement of community rights as a means to resist corporate
power and create social change. Our member groups around the
world are working closely with local communities, demanding a
just transition towards sustainable rural and urban societies, in
contrast to the current profit-driven, neoliberal paradigm. This report focuses on campaigns that have the defence
and enforcement of community rights at the heart of their
struggles.

Photographer GMB Akash documents the lives of people affected by rising sea levels and the increasing frequency of cyclones in Bangladesh.