Where will you be on Sunday, September 21 when people all around the world plan to make their voices heard as the UN climate summit begins in New York City?
Environmental groups, trade unions, religious organisations and even some businesses have been building what is hoped will be the biggest ever people's march for climate change action.
The streets of New York will be flooded with people demanding a global agreement to dramatically reduce global warming pollution.
All around the world there will be simultaneous events, including actions organised to take place across Australia. Check out where the nearest action to you will be — and be there.
A new film made by rally organisers, Disruption, sums up the core messages.
This is the single biggest issue of our time that will determine how we live, where we live and if we live.
The scientific warnings keep intensifying, yet there has been no effective political response.
The tipping points that we face are a catastrophic shift that threatens everything that we love. And it happens just like “that”!
Inaction or business as usual puts us closer and closer to destruction.
This is not just a “green issue”, it is a social justice issue because the poorest people will be hit first and hardest. It is an all-of-us issue.
No big change will come about without people and communities coming together in huge numbers around a common demand on governments, which, overwhelmingly, are totally failing to respond effectively to the climate change challenge.
[Click here to watch the video Disruption.]
James Whitmore and Michael Hopkin, the editors of the Australian National University publication The Conversation, reported on September 10: “For the sixth year running, the world has failed to meet the necessary 'decarbonisation' targets, according to an analysis compiled by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
“Greenhouse emissions per unit of gross domestic product fell by 1.2% last year, the report shows. While that is ahead of the post-2000 average of 0.9%, it’s a long way short of the 6% needed, the report said.
“The result is that the global economy now needs to decarbonise by 6.2% a year, more than five times faster than the current rate, every year until 2100 if it is to stay within the ‘carbon budget’ estimated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
“On our current burn rate we blow our carbon budget by 2034, 66 years ahead of schedule.”
Green Left Weekly urges all readers and supporters to join the global climate action on September 21.
You can also help by subscribing to GLW, buying a subscription for a friend, and by making a donation today to the fighting fund on the toll-free line at 1800 634 206 (within Australia).
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