date: Thu, 2 Nov 2000 12:15:15 +0100
from: FABIOCCHI 2 <fabiocchi@supereva.it>
subject: cyber voices against Global Warming
to: "Climate Change Info Mailing List" <climate-l@lists.iisd.ca>

   Cyber voices against climate change



   Gland, Switzerland - As the days count down to November's crucial climate summit in The
   Hague, a coalition of leading environmental organizations today launched the first
   international web-based initiative to give citizens around the world a voice in demanding a
   halt to global warming.



   The website [1]www.climatevoice.org has been launched by 16 organizations, including WWF,
   Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth. The site aims to send 10 million messages from the
   public to world political leaders demanding that they use the November summit to reduce the
   pollution that causes global warming.



   "It is now 10 years since the international scientific community issued its first warning
   about the threats the world faces from climate change," said Andrew Kerr, of WWF's Climate
   Change Campaign. "That's why we're aiming for 10 million messages - one million for each
   year that governments have to failed to take action. It is scandalous that available
   solutions to this problem have been so thoroughly neglected."



   In 1990, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued its first
   scientific report on rising levels of global warming gases and their implications for the
   future. Though impacts characteristic of global warming have since become increasingly
   evident on every continent and in most nations, governments have failed to act to turn down
   the heat. On the contrary, many of the leading polluters, such as the United States, have
   allowed their emissions to increase while pressing for effective international measures to
   be watered down.



   "Climate change is increasingly touching all of our lives. Food production, water supply,
   shelter, public health, disaster relief, and nature protection - all of these will be in
   the firing line," said Roger Higman, Senior Campaigner with Friends of the Earth. "We
   urgently need the intervention of top politicians to give this problem the priority it
   deserves."



   At [2]www.climatevoice.org visitors can e-mail world leaders expressing their concern about
   global warming. The first targets on the site will be European Union Heads of State and
   Prime Ministers. Visitors can also download a petition that can be signed and sent
   off-line. They can then send a cyber postcard to friends encouraging them to join the
   campaign. The site is being launched in English today. Versions will follow in French,
   Spanish and German.



   At November's climate summit, officially the Sixth Conference of the Parties to the UN
   Framework Convention on Climate Change, governments must meet their deadline for finalizing
   rules for operating the Kyoto climate treaty - the only international agreement for
   reducing emissions of global warming gases from the industrialised world. Failing to agree
   in November would make it questionable whether nations would be able to achieve the Kyoto
   timetable for reducing emissions in the coming decade. This would set the worst possible
   example for stopping global warming in the 21st century.



   "It's time world leaders recognised that the people who voted them in care about a cleaner,
   safer future for their families," said Kevin Jardine of Greenpeace's Climate Campaign.
   "People want action now to combat global warming. November's climate summit - the first of
   the 21st century - is the time for politicians to show they listen."



   Notes to Editors:

   1) Supporting organisations

   The 16 organisations launching [3]www.climatevoice.org  are:
   WWF, Greenpeace International, Friends of the Earth International, Climate Action Network
   Australia (CANA), David Suzuki Foundation, German NGO Forum on Environment & Development
   (Forum Umwelt & Entwicklung), HELIO International, EURONATURA, Ozone Action, The Clean Air
   Network, Climate Solutions, The Climate Alliance of European Cities with Indigenous
   Rainforest Peoples (Klima-Buendnis/Alianza del Clima e.V.), The Center for International
   Environmental Law, Save Our World, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and National
   Environmental Trust.



   2) The call from the public
   Visitors to [4]www.climatevoice.org can sign on to the following text:
   "I believe the pollution that causes global warming should be reduced. Otherwise the
   impacts could be devastating for people and creatures around the world.
   "I don't think we should be running these risks when solutions are at hand.
   "Please use the opportunity of November's climate summit in The Hague, Holland:
   - to reduce the country's global warming pollution
   - to agree a fair and effective Kyoto global warming treaty"




   Fabio Quattocchi [5]mailto:FABIOCCHI@infinito.it

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