[Pil-pc-oceania] FW: Bali: people power meets climate change

[tamara griffiths]

FYI.

    						Avaaz.org - The World in Action


    							 Dear Friends,
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>Wow - on Saturday, in desperate last-minute negotiations, the world faced 
>down an effort by the US, Canada and Japan to wreck the crucial Bali 
>Climate Change Summit. Over 600,000 Avaaz members mobilized to save the 
>Bali talks, including 320,000 in the final 72 hours!  Click below to read 
>the whole story with photos and videos:
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>http://www.avaaz.org/en/bali_report_back/1.php
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>Arriving in Bali, most countries wanted to work towards a new global treaty 
>on climate change as well as new targets for carbon emissions by rich 
>countries. But late last week, the US and Canada teamed up to undermine the 
>talks -- the US blocked the whole Bali summit consensus, and when a smaller 
>group of Kyoto treaty countries tried to move ahead without the US, they 
>were blocked by Canada. The summit was in danger of deadlock.
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>The Avaaz community flew into action, signing and spreading petitions to 
>each of the governments, supporting ad campaigns in Bali and Canada, 
>marches around the world, and phoning and lobbying elected officials. At 
>the summit, Avaaz members brought the storm of public criticism inside the 
>conference walls with the only march allowed inside the venue, the largest 
>climate petition delivery in history, daily press conferences and "fossil 
>awards" for the worst countries in the negotiations, and constant lobbying 
>of officials.
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>In the final hours of the summit, Canada backed down completely and allowed 
>Kyoto countries to agree to strong 2020 targets on carbon emissions, and 
>the US team, now entirely isolated and actually booed by the world's 
>diplomats, compromised and agreed to call for "deep cuts" and "reference" 
>the 2020 targets. This paved the way for the summit to agree to sign a new 
>global climate change treaty by 2009.
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>Usually these conferences are stuffy diplomatic affairs - but this time the 
>world was watching, and speaking, each day. Together, we brought 
>people-powered politics to the halls of power, and put our governments on 
>notice: in the fight to save our environment, we will not be spectators. 
>Click below to see a report on this campaign with videos and pictures:
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>http://www.avaaz.org/en/bali_report_back/1.php
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>This is just the beginning. Every nation of the world has now agreed that 
>they will enter into accelerated negotiations and, by 2009, sign a new 
>treaty to confront global warming. We need this treaty to set binding 
>global targets for carbon emissions, and a mechanism for meeting them, that 
>keep the earth's temperature from rising more than 2 degrees celsius - the 
>amount that scientists say would be 'catastrophic'. Such a treaty will 
>change the world's economy forever, weaning us off oil and fossil fuels to 
>cleaner sources of energy. Some leaders, in the pocket of the oil industry, 
>will fight it tooth and nail all the way. And we will too. A great struggle 
>to save our environment has begun, and this weekend, we showed together 
>that the people of the world aren't intending to sit this one out.
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>With much respect and appreciation for this amazing community of people,
>
>
>Ricken, Ben, Milena, Paul, Iain, Sarah, Galit, Pascal and the whole Avaaz 
>Team.
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>________________________________
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>[-525.586669-]
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