The vast majority of the world's people want urgent, bold action on climate change -- but here at the G8 summit, three politicians stand in the way. Canada's Harper, Japan's Fukuda, and the United States' Bush are refusing to discuss climate targets for the year 2020. Scientists agree that the next 12 years will make or break our response to the climate crisis. But if the facts haven't grabbed these leaders' attention, something else might: humour. Avaaz has arranged a full-page satirical advert for Tuesday's global Financial Times newspaper, shaming Harper, Fukuda, and Bush for their climate irresponsibility. The paper will be delivered to the hotel rooms of every G8 delegate. Together, we can make it costly and embarrassing enough that these leaders will think twice before squandering another opportunity for climate progress.
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Why this last-moment push? Our strategy is based on two important stories--Australia and Bali.[2] At the UN climate negotiations in Bali, Harper, Fukuda, and Bush were trying to block any reference to climate targets for the year 2020 -- just as they are now at the G8. But a global uproar turned the tide. Negotiators from the global South rose, one after the next, to demand that the spoilers step aside. Citizen groups in every nation raised their voices -- including 320,000 Avaaz members in the final 72 hours. And a satirical full-page Avaaz ad in the Jakarta Post (a remake of the Titanic movie poster featuring Harper, Bush, and Fukuda) made headlines worldwide. A major Japanese paper later reported that this ad was waved at a top-level Japanese cabinet meeting -- leading to a step forward in Fukuda's climate policy.
[3] The second story, of Australia, shows what happens when humour combines with mass political power. In Australia, former Prime Minister John Howard was as bad on climate as Harper, Fukuda, and Bush are now. Last fall, he chaired a summit global summit, APEC, where he tried to paint himself as a world leader on climate change. But Avaaz and other groups pushed back -- with stunts, marches, and a terrific parody television spot from our friends at GetUp, exposing Howard's charade and demanding real targets for climate emissions cuts. Climate change emerged as the defining issue of the election -- and when Howard lost, the first action of the new government was to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. Harper faces a difficult election this fall, and climate change is emerging as a key issue. In the US, the campaign to succeed Bush could hinge on climate policy. And Fukuda's political opponents are challenging him sharply on how to confront the climate crisis. In short, Our global efforts now can send political shock waves through all three countries. It's up to us to raise a cry once again.
Sign up and spread the word: http://www.avaaz.org/en/g8_2020_targets/12.php?cl=107776056
We can't always be certain of the results of our actions. But in the face of the climate crisis, it's worth trying everything we can. We make green decisions in our private lives. And when the big public decisions are made, if enough of us stand together -- this time, next time, and every time -- then, one way or another, our message will be heard. Our leaders will change ... or we'll change our leaders. With hope and determination, Ben, Iain, Alice, Ricken, Paul, Graziela, Pascal, Veronique, Mark, and Milena -- the Avaaz.org team PS: The climate change ad is one of four full-page ads we're running in the global Financial Times this week, all designed to multiply the impact of member-driven Avaaz campaigns. Look for them in the paper, or find them at http://www.avaaz.org/blog/en.
PPS: Here are the sources for this alert.[1] Global and Mail: "Climate-change goals fall short at G8"http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080707.G807/TPStory/and AFP: "Climate deadlock seen at G8 despite 'constructive' Bush." http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jP0zW0kW5h1m3Yl7omV7sk34R6hA
[2] See the ads and learn more about the Bali and Australia stories at http://www.avaaz.org/climate-victories.[3] Fukuda announced that Japan would adopt mid-term targets for 2020. That was a major step forward -- except that Fukuda now refuses to include these targets in the G8 negotiations. Moreover, though Fukuda has promised 2020 targets, he hasn't actually set them.
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