This Thursday, the environment ministers from the G8, the world’s biggest contributors to climate change, will be meeting in Germany. The outcome of this meeting is crucial to world’s response to global warming.
Avaaz.org has been invited to attend this meeting to present our climate change petition. A strong voice for action could help set the agenda for the G8. To help seize this opportunity, click below:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/climate_action_germany
The G8 is a summit of world leaders from the “Group of 8″ largest economies. Together, these countries account for 50% of global greenhouse gas emissions–the gasses that cause climate change. The full G8 summit is coming in June, but the agenda and outcome of this type of high-profile event is usually set far in advance–at meetings like the one this Thursday.
This year, the president of the G8 is German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Her environment minister, Sigmar Gabriel, is in charge of the ministers meeting Thursday. And at 4 pm on March 15th, we have a personal meeting with Mr. Gabriel to present our petition for binding emissions targets to stop catastrophic climate change.
Merkel has indicated an interest in making climate change a top priority. With a significant global petition, we can make the case that the world is ready for aggressive leadership on climate change–and pave the way for truly historic commitments at the G8 summit this June.
It’s a rare opportunity to have a global impact. Add your voice to the petition now:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/climate_action_germany
50,000 people from 131 countries have already demanded action. Our goal is to reach 100,000. Please sign the petition, forward this email to friends and family, and post the link on your blog–we only have a few days to make this statement count.
If we add our voices together, now, 2007 can become the year we took the first step to save the world.
With hope,
Ricken, David, Iain, Lee-Sean, Galit, Graziela, and the rest of the Avaaz.org team
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Dear friends,
Last week, Avaaz campaigners hand-delivered our 100,000-signature climate change petition to the environment ministers of the world’s most polluting countries. It worked. The chair of the meeting waved the petition in the air, calling on his fellow ministers to act–and they agreed that climate change would be the #1 issue at the G8 summit in June.
The momentum is on our side. Let’s build on it. Next Tuesday, another high-level group will meet to move forward with G8 planning — and we can keep the focus on the climate issue by showing that the call for action is growing. Can you help us reach our ambitious goal of 150,000 signatures by Tuesday by forwarding this email to ten friends? Your friends can sign the petition here:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/climate_action_g8
Here’s how our campaigner Iain Keith, who presented the petition, describes his experience:
When my turn came to speak to the Environment ministers, I was so nervous that I thought my voice would quiver. But I wasn’t just speaking for myself–I was there on behalf of 100,000 Avaaz members, and I couldn’t let them down. I walked to the microphone, took a deep breath, and said, “Dear Ministers, ladies and gentlemen, m y name is Iain Keith and I’m here on behalf of the 1 Million members of Avaaz. Avaaz is a new online community where global citizens can go to take action on the biggest issues facing our world. I have here, in my hands, a petition from our members who would like to tell you that they are scared of climate change, and the lack of action being taken. The countries represented in this room are responsible for the majority of global greenhouse gas emissions. As ministers of the environment you are in an excellent position to persuade your leaders to make tackling climate change the number one priority for the next G8 summit. Our members humbly request that you accept this petition as a reminder of your responsibilities, and to help persuade your leaders.”
I handed the petition to the German environment minister, Sigmar Gabriel. The meeting continued, with speeches on other issues from other organizations. I wondered if all of the work had been worth it.
And then came Minister Gabriel’s closing speech.
I could hardly believe it: he was saying that climate change must be the number one priority at the G8 summit. And he was holding our petition.
“Thanks to increased pressure from people around the world,” he said, “the tide is turning. When an international NGO can gather this many signatures” (here he holds up the petition), “we cannot ignore this problem anymore… As Environmental ministers, we have a responsibility both to the environment and our voters to make sure our heads of state act!”
And a few days later, German Chancellor and G8 President Angela Merkel vowed to put climate change at the top of the agenda for the G8 Leaders Summit.
We did it!!
Iain’s right. And we can do even more. Can you forward this email to ten friends, and help us reach our goal of 150,000 signatures by Tuesday?
http://www.avaaz.org/en/climate_action_g8
It’s amazing what can happen when we work together. Thanks for all that you do.
With hope,
Ben, Iain, Ricken, Lee-Sean, Galit, Graziela, and the rest of the Avaaz team
P.S. For a more detailed report of the meeting, including photos, visit the Avaaz blog