The world has just months left to agree on a binding global climate
treaty -- humanity's best shot at preventing catastrophic global
warming of more than 2 degrees celsius.
This week at the Italian-hosted G8 summit, Stephen Harper is trying
to veto the 2-degree limit -- and an immediate nationwide outcry is
needed to stop him.
Click below to sign the petition to Harper and other G8 leaders --
an Avaaz team in Italy will deliver it directly in meetings and
through spectacular stunts on Thursday, bringing global media
attention to shame the climate-wreckers and press them to back down.
We urgently need at least 100,000 signatures -- click to sign:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/two_degrees_canada
Scientists say that if global warming rises past two degrees
centigrade, the world's climate systems are very likely to spin out
of control -- with searing droughts, sudden floods, and rising seas
that spread poverty and force hundreds of millions to relocate.
In fact, such climate effects have already begun -- but we may be
able to avert the worst, if urgent UN negotiations succeed this year
in reaching a binding treaty. The UN talks, culminating in
Copenhagen just six months from now, could launch a historic shift
towards a clean-energy, green-recovery future that leaves the
climate safe for future generations. But a few nations -- now led by
Canada, Russia, and Japan -- have blocked-up the climate talks,
endangering the treaty and our future.
The G8 leaders -- joined by eleven other heads of government at a
parallel "Major Economies" meeting next door -- represent more than
80% of climate emissions. And this is the leaders' last in-person
negotiation before the make-or-break Copenhagen summit.
We know last-moment pressure can change their policies: Avaaz
members and other citizen groups flipped Canada and Japan's position
in the closing hours of the Bali UN climate summit in 2007, and
campaigners won promises to double aid to Africa at the Gleneagles
G8 meeting in 2005. (Of course, Italy's Berlusconi and others have
betrayed those promises -- a reminder that we must insist on a
legally binding treaty on climate.) Canada's Harper, Japan's Aso,
and other leaders could face elections in coming weeks and months --
they can't afford global embarrassment at this summit. Sign the
petition, send it to friends, and help rescue the climate target
now:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/two_degrees_canada
From time to time in history, the forces align that make possible a
fundamental shift in the conduct of human affairs. This year could
be such a time. If we seize this moment -- if we choose, this year,
to remake our economies and rebuild our relationship to the fragile
ecosystems that sustain us -- we will leave our grandchildren a
legacy etched in the burgeoning of glaciers and the currents of the
sea.
Humanity's choice will be the sum of the decisions made by each of
us, in our private lives and in our political actions. Together,
let's choose the future.
With hope,
Ben, Taren, Iain, Alice W, Luis, Ricken, Pascal, Paula, Graziela,
Paul, Brett, Milena, Margaret, Alice, Raluca, Raj, and the whole
Avaaz team.
SOURCES
Italy G8 summit key to global efforts on climate change
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-07/05/content_11656977.htm
Background on 2 degrees threshold: "'Too late to avoid global
warming,' say scientists"
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/too-late-to-avoid-global-warming-say-scientists-402800.html
Canada, Russia Considered Climate ‘Bad Boys’ Among G8 Nations
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=aKecgoGFIH7Y
Make-or-break summit as G8 gamble on climate and economy
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,25738096-36418,00.html
EU's Barroso seeks two degrees Celsius pact at G8
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE5653ON20090706
09/07/2009 06:30 PM
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