I'm a member of Friends of the Earth and I was pleased to support their campaign and petition calling for international action regarding cutting carbon emissions. I've posted the petition and a link below if you want to get involved.

For me, cutting carbon emissions has many dimensions. We can all do our bit to make personal changes (like with the Guardian 10:10 initiative), communities too can make a contribution and we can tackle the problem on a Citywide level. Then we need to tackle this enormous issue on a national and international scale.

It's a case of 'not only but also'. I fundamentally disagree with people who say that there is no point pursuing this most pressing and important issue because we might fail: we must try to get international action too.

Find the FOE petition here. I hope you'll support this statement like I do:

To United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) leaders / Heads of Government,

At the UNFCCC talks in Copenhagen in 2009, we urge you to reach a just and sufficient international agreement on climate change, which will secure our futures and those of generations to come. The agreement should recognise that rich countries have done the most damage to our climate and they should take action first. In addition, the agreement should:

• Commit wealthy industrialised countries (listed in “Annex I”) to at least 40% cuts in emissions domestically by 2020, by using green energy, sustainable transport and farming and cutting energy demand.
• Not allow cuts to be achieved by buying carbon credits from developing countries or by buying forest in developing countries to 'offset' ongoing emissions in the industrialised world.
• Commit rich countries to providing additional money for developing countries to grow in a clean way, and to cope with the floods, droughts and famines caused by climate change while ensuring that this money is distributed fairly and transparently.

We will not accept anything less from our international representatives in the climate negotiations.

Tags: copenhagen, friends of the earth

Posted on September 18, 2009 in Environmental and Green Issues.