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WWF’s New Campaign to put pressure on world leaders to sign the effective deal in Copenhagen.
WHY VOTE EARTH?
Put simply, because our future depends on it! It only takes a few minutes to vote, but it could help protect our planet forever. It’s your chance to tell world leaders what kind of deal you want them to make at the climate summit in Copenhagen.
Copenhagen: a new direction
World leaders are set to discuss new ways to deal with climate change at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, 7-18 December 2009. This new deal will replace the Kyoto Protocol and set new standards for reducing harmful emissions and global warming.
Copenhagen is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to point our planet in a new direction. But if we don’t urge world leaders to make things right now, it could all go very wrong for the future. Four possible outcomes from the talks could be:
Foundation: leaders agree on ways to strengthen targets over the next five years, but it’s only a slight improvement on current commitments.
Greenwash: leaders pledge to review current arrangements and call it a success, but nothing really changes.
Collapse: no agreement is reached and the problem is deferred indefinitely.
Breakthrough: an agreement is reached with ambitious reduction targets to limit global warming to 2 degrees – the level scientists say will prevent dangerous climate change.
The more votes for Earth we get, the stronger our mandate will be to influence a ‘breakthrough’ result. It’s the only outcome that will secure the long term sustainability for our environment and global economy.
The future can be bright
New economic modelling indicates the world has just five years to initiate a low carbon industrial revolution before runaway climate change becomes almost inevitable. But it can be done, and the long term benefits will be enormous.
So now’s the time to give world leaders the mandate they need to make the right climate deal. It’s time to Vote Earth!
By Devinder Sharma
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh loves to challenge the dominant opinion (except in the case of Genetically Modified crops). Whether it is the stand India should take at the forthcoming Copenhagen conference or the melting of the Himalayan glaciers, he enjoys throwing a stone in the still waters and then sits back and enjoys watching the ripples it creates.
Jairam Ramesh loves to create unnecessary debate that can put him at the centrestage. At a time when newspapers and TV channels are dominated by film stars and cricketers, Jairam Ramesh has to find ways to stay in news. And I must acknowledge he has done fairly well. The PR agencies have a lot to learn from him.
I was therefore not even amused when Jairam Ramesh released on Monday a paper entitled Himalayan Glaciers by V K Raina, a former deputy director general of the Geological Survey of India. While the paper says that there is no conclusive evidence to prove that Himalayan glaciers are melting due to climate change, Mr Jairam Ramesh was quick to add that it is meant to “stimulate discussions”.
I wonder what is the reason now for stimulating another discussion, after the recent leak of his letter to the Prime Minister asking him to take a u-turn in India’s position on climate change to ostensibly show proximity to the United States. Well, I wouldn’t be surprised if we learn subsequently that the paper was formally released to build up a case for river-linking. After all, billions of dollars are at stake and the lobby is still at work.
Neverthless, the simple reason why there is no “conclusive evidence” to show that the Himalayan glaciers are melting is because India had repeatedly turned down requests from the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), for an exhaustive study of the Himalayan glaciers
The Indian government, which treats glacier studies only for defence purposes, did not see any major threat from the melting of glaciers and the formation of the newly created lakes. Perhaps India is waiting for another disaster to strike before it acknowledges the threat. Jairam Ramesh should realise that deflecting attention from the urgent need to do something more meaningful for protecting the Himalayan glaciers will be disastrous for the country’s environment and food security.
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Dear Leader,
Namaste. We are the Indian Youth Delegation representing the concerns of Indian Youth and many more to the United Nations COP-15 in December. Our group, selected from all over India by the Indian Youth Climate Network consists of a 20 members team. We come to you in the interests of over 1.3 billion people in our country, 35% of whom are under age 15, and well over 500,000,000 are under 30.
We feel that India can lead the planet, setting an international example, as She simultaneously pursues meaningful development.
To this end, as the youth and for the unborn who are forced to live with the economic and environmental decisions that are made at Copenhagen in December, and by individuals every day, we would like to present our urgent concerns to you for presentation to the world community at the COP-15.
1. Leader-ji, our Mother India is literally covered in plastic wastes from Himachal, Arunachal and Kashmir to Kanya Kumari; from head to toe. Even in places where the use of disposable plastic bags at the check-out counter is banned, as in Himachal, the use of disposable plastic in nearly every facet of consumer products means an astronomical amount of waste. Plastic breaks down into toxic molecules whose chemical effects are devastating the human body and have been found everywhere, even in mother’s breast milk throughout the planet. 40% of all imported oil is used to make toxic plastic.
We want to see India leading the world in a strict policy preventing the use and production of disposable plastics.
We encourage you to demand this simple right for future generations, the right not to live in and with the plastic waste created by the last 6 generations; we encourage you to make a call for a national and planetary moratorium on disposable plastic usage.
2. Leader-ji, the lungs of the Earth are found in Her Trees and Forests. We want to see India leading the planet in halting deforestation and creating jobs in reforestation. Without healthy lungs, clean water, soils and clean air cannot take place or be found on the planet.
We encourage you to demand this right of all future generations to have the clean air and water that Nature intended for us, by calling for a national and planetary moratorium of any and all deforestation of existent forests and promoting reforestation and jobs in forest care and management.
3. Leader-ji, we need education that will enable us to meaningfully live in an over-populated world with tremendous human suffering at our doorsteps. We need education that will teach us how to clean up the planet, how to create and use technology that is applicable to our inheritance: the travesty of the natural creation and natural systems. We want to see India leading the world in using Her skilled scientists, Her engineers applying their education to find means to solve the toxic mess our planet is in. At the same time, out of the whole planet, our India has a unique culture, born of ethical thought and living. We do not see any other country having the high level of ethical human philosophy that India espouses.
We encourage you to call for education that takes these two facets, of living in our environmentally stressed world, and of making the right decisions for the good of all, no matter how difficult, into one curriculum.
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While the world is grappling with meeting immediate concerns of mitigating the climate era around us the diplomats are dilly dallying their decisions every minute. How much longer are to wait for justice to arrive from the lawmakers? We have numerous examples of development models around us. When the western society wanted to become the leaders of the world, they really had no predecessors. We came up with the model of industrialization of the world. Little did we know that mechanizing our lifestyles would have its far reaching effects which we notice only today. Of course, there are no second thoughts about the fact that we innovated a lot to get to what we are. But, the vital question is, are we going to use our intelligence to get ourselves out of the rut we are in?
The Indian environment minister seems to never make up his mind on what is his stance about the subject. One day we have him say that “forget Bangladesh, forget Maldives”… “India is the most vulnerable country”…. because of the combination of 5 points:
• Dependency on monsoons
• Mean sea level rise
• Deforestation
• Submerging forests
• MELTING OF HIMALAYAN GLACIERS!
We have just read in the media now that the Geological Survey of India has published a report which doubts melting of the Himalayas are because of human induced activity! This apparently seeks endorsement of the environment minister again. A few days back we have a leaked letter from the environment ministry to the PMO which asked for an official change in the stance of the Indian government mandating voluntary emission cuts. And now a government undertakes research which wants to voice out natural melting of the Himalayas. The leader of the opposition demands a debate on the floor of the parliament about the matter, which is yet to see the light of the day yet! (more…)
Dr.S.P.Udaykumar is an anti-nuclear activist from Tamil Nadu. He is the coordinator of National Alliance For Anti-Nuclear Movements(NAAM) which enjoys the support of organizations like Human Rights Forum (HRF), National Alliance For People’s Movement (NAPM) and Khasi Student’s Union (KSU).
Question (Vinayak): What is NAAM? What are the objectives of your organization?
Answer (Dr. S.P.Udaykumar): NAAM is a platform where all the organizations fighting for a nuclear free India come together. We try to eradicate the nuclear threats that could haunt our children and grandchildren and successive generations. We struggle not to sell India and Indians to foreigners in the name of deals, development, globalization and energy security.,
Question: What inspired you to join this movement? How did you become a part of it?
Answer: Three of my grandparents died of cancer, I have seen the ill-effects of uranium mining from my very own eyes, I do not want my children to die like this. For a matter of fact I myself do not want to die like this. That is the fire which drives me to fight tirelessly. This is inhumane and I don’t want anybody to witness such a death or even worse live in such an environment which paves way for a slow and painful end to human life.
Question: What has been the government’s response to your protests?
Answer: The government has been evasive. It has never paid much heed to our demands. The shameful thing is that the government is exploiting its own people’s illiteracy to serve its monetary interests all in the name of energy security, paying no attention to the health security of itss citizens. It is sad and it hurts.
Question: Everyone is brooding about how great a solution nuke actually is, why do you differ?
Answer: Do you know the waste produced emits radioactive waves which fail to die even after 24,000 years of their onset. They continue to harm us and can have far reaching consequences resulting in cancer and diseases which can become congenital thereby not just harming you as an individual but also generations which you are going to bring in this world. What is the use of such a solution which is not safe?
Question: What do you suggest then if not nuke, what are the options available to us to meet our growing energy needs?
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