Our staff and volunteers have been busy over the summer creating a fabulous new toolkit for you on Amnesty’s energy transition campaign. The toolkit is designed for a picnic outing or a ‘dine and learn’ experience at home. The idea is for you to have all the resources you need to learn more about the campaign together with family or your bubble of friends.
In the kit you will find: background materials, a game, a comic book, chocolate, a tea towel and a low energy recipe for food you can make to enjoy with this experience.
To order a kit please send an email to our Vancouver office care of Don Wright: dwright@amnesty.ca. The kits are free and we hope you use them and enjoy learning about our exciting new energy transition and climate justice work.
Background
Several years ago, Amnesty International began challenging electronics and car companies for failing to tackle child labor allegations in the battery supply. Our report, Time to Recharge, ranked industry giants including Apple, Samsung Electronics, Dell, Microsoft, BMW, Renault, and Tesla on improvements they had made to their cobalt sourcing practices since January 2016. It found that while a handful of companies had made progress, others were still failing to take even basic steps like investigating supply chain links in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In addition to cobalt, lithium is also required to make lithium-ion batteries, which are used to power many of the devices we rely upon such as laptops, phones, electric cars, and electric bicycles. The global race to secure sources of lithium is placing immense pressure on communities and governments to approve exploration and exploitation licenses in countries such as Argentina, Bolivia, and Canada. Communities concerned about the impacts of lithium extraction and processing on their lives, livelihoods, and the various animal species in their territories, are speaking up to demand respect for their rights – including their right to self-determination and consent on these projects.
- To learn more about Amnesty International’s work on cobalt, lithium, and battery supply chains: go to our webpage to: watch our video, check out our new comic book, and read our new position paper, Powering Change: Principles for Businesses and Governments in the Battery Value Chain.
- Sign the e-action calling on Canada to make sure the energy transition respects human rights
- Sign up to get involved – Our Energy Transition campaign is co-led by Amnesty activists who believe passionately in climate justice and human rights. Join our specialized national team of volunteers across Canada to advance this work. Send an email to Elena Dumitru, National Leadership Development Coordinator at Amnesty International Canada.
