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GIANT DANCING HARD HATS WELCOME MERKEL TO THE US

Published by , June 25th, 2009 Copenhagen 2009 , global warming , International Affairs , Youth Leaders 1 Comment

Guest post by Julie Erickson

All the climate buzz this week has been about the now notorious ACES bill that comes to a floor vote in the US House of Representatives today. But anyone who wants real action on climate change must remember the ultimate prize – the UN treaty to be negotiated in Copenhagen this December.

It was with international politics in mind that a group of activists showed up this morning at the German embassy ahead of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s arrival. Anticipating the Chancellor’s scheduled Friday meeting with President Obama, they put on a performance with larger-than-life cutouts of the two leaders surrounded by enthusiastic, dancing, six-foot wide green hard hats. The activists called for the two leaders to commit to keeping the international limit of warming to 1.5°C (above pre-industrial levels) and reminded them that climate

change presents an opportunity to create green jobs and new economic prosperity if we make a bold transition to clean energy.

Obama and Merkel are meeting this week and are expected to talk about what positions they will take on climate at the upcoming G8 Summit and at the UN negotiations leading up to Copenhagen. If both convey that their respective countries take climate change seriously and are ready to lead by committing to no more than 1.5° of warming, it could have a significant impact on the negotiations. While the EU has committed to keeping warming below 2°, and Obama has been an outspoken advocate for green jobs since before even taking office, neither leader has shown the leadership or made the commitments necessary for a strong global agreement.

A representative from the German Embassy came out to greet the activists and agreed to pass on their message to Chancellor Merkel upon her arrival.

DSC_0597
The dancing hard hats will also be outside the White House in Lafayette Park on Friday morning to ensure that Obama and Merkel’s conversation focuses on how they will work with other world leaders in the coming months to negotiate a treaty that solves climate change and creates a prosperous global economy based on clean energy.

Project of the Avaaz Action Factory DC

Update:

Our friends in Berlin staged a send-off with a smilar message.  Watch:

1 Response to “GIANT DANCING HARD HATS WELCOME MERKEL TO THE US”

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  1. 1 Morgan Jun 25th, 2009 at 7:15 pm

    More official press release:
    http://ownthepress.com/?p=501

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About Morgan


Morgan is a wandering climate activist, a job well suited to the editorial board of this site. He organized at Williams College until his aprubt and unfortunate graduation in 2008. There, he was a Chinese major, student body co-president and one of the leaders of Thursday Night Group, the campus climate action group. Since graduating, in no particular order, Morgan has worked on a community energy efficiency campaign in western Mass, co-directed NH SPROG for the SSC and worked on Power Vote in Cleveland. He spent traveled in China, networking with youth climate activists and learning about the solar hot water business. He worked on Long Island for a solar and wind company doing home evaluations and sales. And he spent the better part of a year in DC at the Avaaz Action Factory causing trouble for a good cause.

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