Our Responsibility to Copenhagen

Dear all,

I spent last night writing letters to my government representatives asking them to fight hard for success at the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit. I asked them in my letters to insist upon the reduction of carbon emissions level to well below 1990 levels within ten years. Anything less than that will not achieve our goal of limited global rise in temperature to two degrees Celsius.

More than two degree Celsius rise in temperature will ensure that at least half the world's species are lost. I imagine a car engine with half its parts missing. Will it continue to run?

Scientist say the polar icecap will be gone in summers as soon as 2013. Where once white ice reflected the suns rays back into space, the black water will absorb still more heat. If the temperature in the arctic tundra raises a few more degrees, the ground will melt, and the rotting permafrost will release massive amounts of methane gas. Game over.

If I am lucky, I might be allowed to sing "Another World" to the Copenhagen delegates before one of the public conferences. It's a long shot, but I have my fingers crossed. If not, I will be singing it in my sleep.

I for one have no interest in human life without Nature. I am tied to the mast of this beautiful place.

You wont find significant coverage in the U.S. media in general because of the powerful oil lobby. I just hope they are building space ships big enough for all of us.The New York Times has a confused agenda around global warming, but their articles can be informative and have links to definitions and resources. U.K.'sThe Guardian has good coverage, and Amy Goodman is reporting from Copenhagen every morning at DemocracyNow.org.

Web site TckTckTck.org/real-deal describes the Real Deal Weekend (December 11-13) with links to Global Day of Action vigils across the globe. The site is made up of people from different walks of life around the world, all in support of success at the conference.

This is what I did, it didn't take long, and you can do it too: I wrote an email to President Obama at WhiteHouse.gov, asking him to attend the Copenhagen summit (Dec. 6-18), and to make the full commitment to reduce emissions to below 1990 levels within ten years, rather than waiting for China and India to take action before following suit. I asked him to act courageously.

I wrote an email to the office of my U.S. Representative. You can find out yours by entering your ZIP code at House.gov. I asked my representative to petition the President to act, and to support legislation that pushes for the reductions described.

I did the same thing for my U.S. Senator. You can find your senator by going to Senate.gov.

I did the same thing with my governor.

Love, Antony x