10th December 2007

Greens urge people to sign online petition

Green party activists from across the County joined the Climate Change march in London on Saturday with well over 6,000 others. 

Two coaches joined the march from Gloucestershire with 75 Green party, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace members along with other climate change campaigners from Gloucestershire.

Across the world hundreds of other actions took place in over fifty countries including many cities and towns across Britain. In Stroud twenty five Green party members held an action in the High Street using an enormous balloon to highlight our use of CO2 (separate press release to follow).

See blog photos later today for today's date at:

http://ruscombegreen.blogspot.com/

See comments below from marchers;

Bryan Meloy, Coordinator of Gloucester Green party, said: "It was a great atmosphere on the march despite the heavy rain. We already know that failure to act to tackle climate change is costing lives - and threatens all of our futures. Many thousands around the world are paying the price for our affluent lifestyles in droughts, floods and famines. This march was about calling for global political will from the world's leaders: failure of them to act is criminally and morally – as well as economically – negligent. The best option is to negotiate a treaty based on the principal of Contraction and Convergence, under which poorer nations will be enabled to continue sustainable economic development while those richer nations most responsible for greenhouse gas emissions do most to cut them."

Elinor Croxall, a Green party member in Painswick who has attended the climate change marches in the two previous years, added: "These demonstrations worldwide are getting bigger year-on-year: ordinary people want immediate political action on climate change. The news from the scientists gets more and more frightening every month and we really are in a race against time to head off, or at least minimise, catastrophe."

Philip Booth, a Stroud District councillor who joined the march said: "The Kyoto Protocol, whose replacement the Bali meeting will discuss, has failed. Since it was signed, there has been an acceleration in global emissions yet our government still plans new coal plants, new roads and airport expansions. If our economy grows at 3% between now and 2030, we will consume in that time economic resources equivalent to all those we have consumed since humans first stood on two legs. The real issues in Bali are not technical or economic: this crisis demands a much deeper discussion about who we are and what progress means. We cannot and must not continue on our current course: it was inspiring to be with so many others who also know we need radical changes now."

Sign online petition now

Al Gore is going to address the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia. At his urging, please sign an important online petition showing your support for his important call for a visionary treaty to address the climate crisis:
http://www.climateprotect.org/standwithal