Anyone remember the petition that was emailed around frantically a few weeks ago? It may have side-swiped your inbox or landed in your Facebook account… Either way, I know I signed it!
I sign a lot of petitions but I generally advocate for writing letters - I usually feel like petitions are ineffective, but I sign them anyways. This week, the petition I signed made a difference.
The petition was circulated by an organization called Avaaz. It asked those at the G8 Environment Minister’s meeting to make climate change a number one priority.
[Last Thursday], 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.
Avaaz 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, my 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!!
The next target is 150,000 signatures from around the world before the G8 leader’s Summit on June 6th. Sign here:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/climate_action_g8
And next time you pass a wishing well, don’t forget to toss a coin in - you never know who’s counting the change.
Subscribe by Email!
Subscribe by RSS!
Share on Facebook
That is fabulous! There is such an air of skepticism about all kinds of activism today, from protests to petitions. But this goes to show that all the effort really does pay off. One single campaign may not get us all the way to the goal, but many petitions, protests, meetings, and rallies all organized by different people will.