CLIMATE DISASTER

Climate Disasters

Freak climate conditions - compatible with climate change forecasts - have been wrecking the lives of millions of people all over the world. In the last three months, alone, there have been:

• Storms in Taiwan, Brazil and Canada
• Floods in Bangladesh, Japan, Vietnam, India and UK
• Fires in US, Italy and the Balkans
• Droughts in Burundi, Croatia, Kenya and Iran

Gathering Storm, a new publication from Friends of the Earth International, not only sets out the latest evidence on dangerous climate changes but also offers moving, eye-witness accounts of recent disaster.

Scientists believe that the number of these incidents will rise as the effects of climate change are felt.

So, what are our governments doing about this?

At best they are sitting on their thumbs doing nothing significant; at worst they are actively trying to find ways to raise their own levels of greenhouse emissions between 15-20% by finding loopholes in the Kyoto Treaty. Nero - the emperor who played his violin while Rome burned - would have be proud of our politicians.

The COP6 climate summit is our last chance to rescue the International Agreement signed at Kyoto. Despite this, many of our countries representatives will be attending this event without any real intention of working towards lower emission levels. Others may not even attend at all.

In order to safeguard our planet and allow developing countries some leeway in sustainable development, it is vital that industrialised countries reduce their greenhouse emissions by 80% by the year 2050. This can be done by developing renewable energy and taking energy efficiency measures to permanently reduce these emissions. It will not be done by self-interested efforts to cheat the system or apathetic attempts to ignore the problem and hope it will go away.

So, what can I do to make these people take notice?

The first thing we need to do is make sure the people who attend COP6 realise how important this summit is and feel motivated to do the best they can while there. We can also chivy those who are reluctant to attend, make people aware of the way some countries are trying to avoid their obligations and draw attention to what will happen if something is not done…and soon

If you would like to take an active part in this campaign now then go to the Climate Voice site and sign the online petition. They are hoping for 10 million signatures. Let's not disappoint them.

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