"World Environment Day" G8 Update & Action Call

Please take a moment to add your name on behalf of the earth and our future! G8 leaders are watching as the email shows. Thanks AVAAZ.org! http://www.avaaz.org/en/climate_summit

Dear climate-saver,
Our campaign against global warming is on fire! World leaders meet at the G8+5 summit this week--and they're listening to us. Friday morning, we banged boxes of 265,000 names down on the top German negotiator's table in Berlin. Taken aback, he promised to bring our voice into the negotiations, and said he'd track how fast our petition grows. On Saturday, with another 10,000 signatures overnight, we marched at the head of the climate march in Rostock, with tens of thousands peacefully demanding urgent action. Now we're in touch with top officials from France, the UK and Brazil, all following our campaign as they decide on a strong stand.

Let's turn the heat up even higher. Can you help us get to 333,333 voices for change--the biggest global climate petition ever--before the summit decision? One last push, together, to avert a planetary catastrophe. Take a moment and tell five friends to go to this page--
http://www.avaaz.org/en/climate_summit

The energy here in Germany is electric. Every few hours, new reports come in as governments manoeuvre. Amidst the politics, our campaign draws a clear line: a swift global agreement with binding emissions targets.

When we met with Chancellor Angela Merkel's top representative who chairs the talks, he promised us Germany wouldn't compromise-- then on Sunday Merkel came through for us, the Brits followed suit, and now Brazil and China have joined the call for a global UN-led process. Bush has started to move but his proposals would be a step back, the US people and Congress are already way ahead of him.

The summit leaders can tell a global movement is brewing. Our petition, this simple list of names from every corner of the globe, is a sign politicians can see and touch. These talks always come down to the wire-- so it's crucial for world leaders to know how much the global public wants them to stop the climate crisis.

The summit opens Wednesday, ends Friday. This is crunch time. So just for a moment, put aside whatever you're doing and help us get to a third of a million signatures-- urge your friends and family to sign the petition here:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/climate_summit

We know leaders are watching. Let's make their jaws drop.

With hope,

Ricken, Paul, Ben, Graziela, Iain, Hannah, Galit and the whole Avaaz team

PS: For more information about the G8 summit and the climate change negotiations, see here:
http://www.ft.com/indepth/climatechange

And for more about Avaaz's work on climate change at the G8 see:
http://www.avaaz.org/blog/en/climate_change/

___________________________________

Avaaz.org 260 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10001 U.S.A. Avaaz.org is also in Washington DC, London, Rio de Janeiro, and the world

World Environment Day

by Bonnie Alter, London on 06. 5.07

Today is World Environment Day, initiated by the United Nations to stimulate debate about environmental issues around the world. This year's theme is "Melting Ice – a Hot Topic?" in support of International Polar Year. The focus is on the effect of climate change on polar bears and their ecosystem. The earth's climate is changing; in the Arctic the average temperature has risen at twice the rate of the rest of the world during the past few decades. Sea ice is melting and this affects polar bears and seals (dependent on ice) as well as the native communities which rely on them for food. Fittingly, celebrations will be hosted by the city of Tromsø, Norway's most northerly city and home to the Norwegian Polar Institute. An art exhibition will be held in the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo featuring the work of 40 different artists and it will travel to Chicago next year. Included in their materials is a terrifying meltdown poster of the melting ice areas around the world; from Peru to Indonesia to East Africa the rate of shrinking, and retreating is proceeding faster than ever before. Thirty mountain glaciers lost more than a metre of thickness in 2005, resulting in a 0.6 degree rise in temperature this century. There are activities taking place around the world to educate and inform: art, music, seminars, Al Gore, and Town Hall meetings. Find one in your area and walk, don't drive to it. :: World Environment Day