[p2p-research] Fwd: Climate: the clock is ticking

Tue Jul 7 12:32:33 CEST 2009

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Richard Hames <avaaz at avaaz.org>
Date: Tue, Jul 7, 2009 at 4:48 PM
Subject: Climate: the clock is ticking
To: michelsub2004 at gmail.com

You are receiving this email because Richard Hames
rdhames at asianforesightinstitute.org sent it to you via the "tell-a-friend"
tool at Avaaz.org. Avaaz retains no information about individuals contacted
through this tool. Avaaz will not send you further messages without your
consent--although your friends could, of course, send you another message.

Hi,

I've just signed a petition urging the world leaders to support an
ambitious, fair, and binding global climate treaty -- and specifically for
Canada, Russia, and Japan to sign on to a global warming goal of less than 2
degrees centigrade at the G8 summit this week. Please sign the petition
here, and the campaigners at Avaaz will deliver it to leaders in Italy:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/tcktcktck/98.php?cl_taf_sign=954ed1df66966addd39b142cde94e58e

PS. Here is the original email I received from Avaaz:

Dear friends,

The clock is ticking on climate change as the G8 summit begins this week in
Rome. G8 leaders are weighing a pledge to limit global warming below 2
degrees centigrade, the level at which scientists say a deadly climate chain
reaction becomes dangerously likely.

But Canada, Japan, and Russia are trying to veto the 2-degree limit -- and
an immediate global outcry is needed to get it through. If enough of us join
together, we can show leaders we won't let them back away from tackling
climate change.

Click below to sign the worldwide petition -- an Avaaz team in Italy will
deliver it directly to world leaders on Thursday at meetings and with
spectacular media stunts to shame the climate-wreckers. Then spread the word
-- we have less than 72 hours before the G8 reaches its climate decision!

http://www.avaaz.org/en/tcktcktck/98.php?cl_taf_sign=954ed1df66966addd39b142cde94e58e

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 global negotiations succeed this year in reaching
a binding global treaty. The talks, set to culminate in Copenhagen this
December, could launch a historic shift towards a clean-energy,
green-recovery future that leaves the climate safe for future generations.

The G8's decision this week will be crucial to achieving a ambitious, fair,
and binding global climate treaty at Copenhagen. The G8 leaders -- joined by
eleven other heads of government at a parallel "Major Economies" meeting
next door -- represent more than 80% of global climate emissions. And this
is the leaders' last in-person negotiation before the make-or-break
Copenhagen summit.

By trying to block the 2-degree target, Canada, Russia, and Japan have
jammed-up the climate talks, endangering the treaty and our future.

We know last-moment pressure can change their policies: Avaaz members and
other citizen groups flipped Canada's 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/tcktcktck/98.php?cl_taf_sign=954ed1df66966addd39b142cde94e58e

>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 our
future -- the one we all want.

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

--------------------------------------

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