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Please read my email letter below and send it on to your friends :-) Thanks
When are half a million signatures not enough?
Right now! We can make a difference, but the need is urgent …
Dear friends, and friends of friends,
Climate change is in the news again ... In addition to warmer weather (and less snow!) we are starting to notice that there are more floods, more droughts, more cyclones and worse bushfires.
What scientists have known for years is now becoming obvious to everyone.
But it takes time for people to change their world view - generations usually! And time is what we don't have. Already, we can't stop climate change. And we can't reverse it, any more than we can reverse the effects of a hurricane. But hopefully we can still prevent "catastrophic" climate change.
But how? Sure we can save energy. We can buy 'green power'. This is good - do it!
But it is not enough.
This is a global problem, and it needs global cooperation from our governments. It needs everyone to get together and do the right thing - and quickly.
I was trying to work out how to make this happen, and this is my best guess so far – three simple steps that everyone can do:
1) Let our governments know there are real votes in this issue...
Email them...
Email your friends...
Let them know that this issue will affect the way we vote.
Let them know it is so important that we are prepared to pay a few extra dollars a week for cleaner energy
In Australia, you can email the PM at:
http://www.pm.gov.au/email.cfm
Please do this! Write something in your own words - it doesn't need to be much! Just tell him that he needs to do more about climate change -- because we do care about our future.
(If you live elsewhere, click here to find out who to contact …)
2) Do what you can as an individual
Save energy, and consume less!
With the money you save, buy accredited 'green power'.
Join the ‘virtual march’ against climate change – CLICK HERE
For a list of other things you can do, click here
3) Give credit where credit is due! Lots of people are doing lots of good work, trying to make an impact on this problem. We are making a difference, but the need is urgent. While too many in power are motivated by greed and self-interest, most ordinary people (such as you and me) - and even some business people and politicians(?!) - really do care about the needs of others and of future generations. We need to recognize and support this whenever and wherever we can.
BUT REMEMBER:
We can't do too much too soon - any more than we can afford to do too little, too late!
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"We urgently need strong coordinated action at the international level to save the world from the ‘hellish’ ecocatastrophe that a permanently destabilized climate will bring." (Campaign against Climate Change)
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This is what I wrote to our PM:
Dear Prime Minister,
Your comments on four corners were frightening - we can't dodge climate change, we have to act decisively and act now if we are to avoid catastrophic climate change.
It is above party politics. Please act on the recommendations of your own committee and increase renewable energy targets in Australia. Please push harder for international action.
Sincerely,
Heather Gibbs, PhD student, studying effects of climate change
Email address: h@ancc.com.au
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Last edited September 2006 - for the latest version, please click here. Note on forwarding email: while I really hope that this message will get the widest possible circulation, there is always a risk that if you send things on to all your friends, and they send them on to their friends, then some people will end up getting the same message forwarded more than once … perhaps even many times... to the point that it may be annoying. We can’t eliminate this risk, but we can minimise it, by thinking about who we forward things to. For instance, if I send this to my dad, and he sends it on to all his friends, then I don’t need to send it to any of his friends – and similarly, he doesn’t need to send it to my friends. And if I send it to everyone in, for example, my local ‘mum’s group’, then they don’t need to forward it to each other – just to everyone else they know! But … even so … if this really works, and the message gets around, my apologies to anyone who gets multiple copies …
I can only say, I just wish that more of the ‘junk email’ I get in my mailbox related to genuinely important issues – it would be a small price to pay!