It’s Getting Hot In Here

Last week 12 international climate activists converged on Barcelona to kick off two months of climate actions leading up to the unprecedented climate change agreement slated to be achieved in Copenhagen mid-December. The “Action Factory” is comprised of young climate activists from Germany, Mexico, New Zealand, Senegal, United States, and Australia who, like millions of others, are fed up with the rhetoric that surrounds the climate negotiations we’re setting out to bring action to directly to the delegates, negotiators, and heads of state that hold the fate of our climate in their hands.

The Factory hit the ground running today on Obama’s 1 year anniversary. One year ago today over 65 million US voters pinned their hopes on Barak Obama, a leader that promised to lead on curbing climate change. Now I’m not going to get into analyzing the pros and cons of the last year, but 365 days after hope broke the ballot box it’s safe to say we haven’t seen the international action needed to avert a climate crisis. On a Wednesday full of actions at the UNFCCC meetings in Barcelona negotiators were greeted by a jovial Obama who was celebrating his one year anniversary by giving speeches and passing out pieces of the earth shaped cake (the imagery was lost on no one that in fact Obama was carving up the Earth). However, activists and delegates alike were less than enthusiastic to celebrate Obama’s “let them eat cake” attitude”  and lack of commitment to achieve a fair, ambitious, and binding agreement in Copenhagen. Chants of “Less Speeches, More Action” and “Bold Climate Action Now” drowned out Obama’s climate rhetoric, as it was clear that Barcelona was ready for action. We’ve waited a year and the climate cannot wait any longer!

This was the first of a series of actions in Barcelona from the Avaaz Action Factory, as we gear up for the final stretch to Copenhagen, and they won’t stop until we get a fair, ambitious, and binding treaty!

Note: Actually this was our second action. Last week we stripped down and went green to encourage Brazil to become a climate leader in Copenhagen. Hope they listen because nobody wants to see those boys go Rio style again.