Cancun Press Room

Breaking: Photos from 9 December "Negotiating for Survival" Action Now Available!

350.org is currently at the UN Climate Talks in Cancun. For more information about our activities, to contact our spokespeople, or to read about our past campaigns please click on the links below.

Contact | Press releases | Spokespeople | Schedule | Photos | Videos | 

Contact

To contact 350.org and our spokespeople at the UN Climate Talks in Cancun, please contact:

Jamie Henn, 350.org Communications Coordinator
e: jamie@350.org
p: +52 1 9982047406

En Español:

Marcelo Quintanilla, 350.org México
e: marcelo@350.org
p: +52 1 9981415566  
 

Press Releases

9 December 2010

Photo and Video Opportunity:
Island Representatives Negotiate at Table Submerged in the Ocean off of Cancun

Thursday, December 9, 8:00 – 8:30 AM

Aqua Live Hotel, KM 12.5 Hotel Zone – Beach access at Iusacell

CANCUN – Island representatives will sit at a table set up in the waves off the beach in Cancun on Thursday morning to visually represent their negotiating position and the need for strong climate action.

Island nations will be pushing for strong targets in the final hours of the Cancun negotiations. This striking image will demonstrate that they are fighting for their very survival.

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Please RSVP to:

English: Jamie Henn, jamie@350.org, +52 1 9982047406

Spanish: Arturo Pineda, arpico3@gmail.com, 044 55 3200 5207

Directions: The action will be held on the beach next to the Aqua Live Hotel at KM 12.5 in the Hotel Zone. Access the beach via a thru street next to the Iusacel one block south of the hotel. Take public bus R1 Ruta or tell a Taxi to go to Aqua Live Hotel. For complete instructions, visit: 350.org/media/cancun

Hi-res Photo and Video will be available at: 350.org/media/cancun

350.org is a global grassroots movement working for the climate solutions that science and justice demand. 350 parts per million is the safe upper limit of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere according to the latest science (we are now at 390 ppm).
 

6 December 2010

Climate Disasters Highlight Need for Strong Targets in Climate Talks

CANCUN -- A series of climate change related disasters around the world this week highlight the need for negotiators to push for stronger action to reduce greenhouse gases contributing to the climate crisis.

The series of natural disasters is striking in its timing and intensity:

• Over the weekend, the worst wildfires in Israel’s history, fueled by record warmth and drought during the summer, “destroyed large sections of Israel’s northern area” and killed 41 people.
   
• Forty-two separate wildfires were burning in neighboring Lebanon, which has the same tinderbox conditions.
   
• “The death toll from the incessant rains in Venezuela has risen to 34,” with “more than 70,000 people who have been affected” by the catastrophic floods.
   
• “As many as 200 people may have been buried in a landslide Sunday that swept over 10 houses near Medellin, Colombia’s second largest city,” as the country “has been lashed in recent weeks by heavy rains that have left at least 176 people dead and 225 injured, as well as 1.5 million people homeless nationwide.”

For a longer list of climate related disasters please see below.

Despite these clear warnings from the planet itself, negotiators here in Cancun seem to be backing away from the strong climate targets necessary to avoid runaway climate change.

The new draft text now under negotiation omits any mention of the goals of limiting warming to 1.5 C and reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations below 350 parts per million. Both targets are supported by over 100 countries here at the talks and leading scientists, such as Dr. Rajendra Pachauri of the IPCC or Dr. James Hansen of the US space agency NASA.  

“All of these disasters are taking place with just 390 parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere,” said Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, an international climate campaign that has rallied millions of citizens in support of bold climate action. “Physics and chemistry have laid their cards on the table: above 350 the world doesn’t work. They are not going to negotiate further. It’s up to negotiators to figure out how to meet their bottom line.”

“All of these disasters are taking place with just 390 parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere,” said Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, an international climate campaign that has rallied millions of citizens in support of bold climate action. “Physics and chemistry have laid their cards on the table: above 350 the world doesn’t work. They are not going to negotiate further. It’s up to negotiators to figure out how to meet their bottom line.”

“We are not backing 350 because it's a beautiful number,” said Ambassador Antonio Lima, Vice-president of the Association of Small Island States. “No, it is because of science. Some of our members will disappear beneath rising seas if we go above 1.5 C.”
 
350.org challenged the argument that difficult decisions like long-term targets must be removed from the negotiations in order to make progress on smaller issues here in Cancun.

“It’s not the insistence on strong targets that's blocking progress at these talks, it's the big polluters,” said 350.org Policy Director, May Boeve. “Even if there is no agreement in Cancun on 1.5 or 350 ppm, the targets must be put back on the table in order to guarantee the scientific legitimacy of this process.”

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350.org will be organizing a series of events throughout the week to highlight the need for strong climate action, including an awards ceremony for the Great Power Race, a clean energy competition between students in the US, India, and China at 4:00 PM on Thurs 9 Dec. in Desierto (Cancun Messe). For more information, please visit 350.org/media.

Other current, climate related disasters include:

• Dynamic winter-storm systems driven by the rapidly warming Arctic have plunged much of Europe into killer cold weather for the second year in a row, months after a summer of record heat and precipitation. Up to 30 people have frozen to death in Poland, and thirty more killed in the rest of Europe.
   
• Floods have hit Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia after “three weeks of torrential rains,” forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands of people.
   
• Thousands of people have been evacuated amid catastrophic floods in Australia that have already destroyed $500 million in crops, with rivers still rising.
   
• Thunderstorms, high winds and tornadoes ripped through the southern United States, injuring at least 30 people, destroying buildings, toppling trees, flooding highways and forcing schools to close.
   
• New Zealand is facing an intense heatwave and its third consecutive summer of drought.
   
• In India, “more than 150 people have died following heavy rains in the coastal districts of Tamil Nadu over the past few days.”

Spokespeople

350.org has a collection of dynamic spokespeople available in Cancun to speak with the press, including:

Bill McKibben, 350.org Founder

Bill McKibben is founder of 350.org and the author, most recently, of Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet. Earlier this year the Boston Globe called him “probably the country’s leading environmentalist” and Time described him as “the planet’s best green journalist.” He has been following the UN Climate Process for over 20 years.

May Boeve, 350.org Policy Director

May Boeve has attended the UN Climate Meetings for the last 5 years and can speak authoritatively on the proceedings, especially on the need for science based targets. She is also 350.org's US Campaign Director and has helped coordinate thousands of demonstrations across the country for climate action.

Marcelo Quintanilla, 350.org Mexico Coordinator

Marcelo Quintanilla helped organize hundreds of demonstrations across Mexico in the lead up to Cancun and can speak about the climate process, Mexican civil society, and the growing movement across Latin America for climate solutions.

Jah-Ying Chung, 350.org China Coordinator

Jah-Ying Chung brought together over 200 campuses across China to take part in the 10/10/10 Global Work Party and the Great Power Race, a student clean energy competition between China, India and the United States.

Vanessa Dalmau, 350 Dominicana

Vanessa Dalmau is the coordinator of 350 Dominicana, a youth group in the Dominican Republic that works with 350.org to build a movement for climate solutions there and across the Caribbean. She organized one of the 15 public art events that joined the 350 EARTH planetary art show in the lead up the Cancun climate talks.

Jamie Henn, 350.org Communications Director

Jamie Henn is the co-founder of 350.org and its international communications director. He has attended the UN Climate Talks for the last five years and can speak on the process, the growing movement for climate solutions, and 350.org's innovative approach to grassroots and online organizing.

350.org also works with grassroots leaders and youth from around the world and can connect journalists with spokespeople on every continent.

Schedule

Tuesday, 7 December

March for Climate Justice

350.org will take part in a march for climate justice in downtown Cancun. Organizers expect thousands of people to take part in the march. Journalists who are interested in attending and getting more information should contact us for more details.

Wednesday, 8 December

Pacific Heads of State Press Conference -- 5:00 PM in "Sol" Press Conference Room 1 - Azteca

350.org is supporting the Pacific Heads of State that are attending the climate talks here in Cancun. At a press conference on Wednesday, these distinguished leaders will speak to the need for strong targets -- including 350 ppm -- to safeguard the survival of their people.

Thursday, 9 December

Photo and Video Opportunity  -- 8:00 -8:30 AM on the beach at KM 12.5, Hotel Zone, Cancun

Island representatives will sit at a table set up in the waves off the beach in Cancun on Thursday morning to visually represent their negotiating position and the need for strong climate action. Island nations will be pushing for strong targets in the final hours of the Cancun negotiations. This striking image will demonstrate that they are fighting for their very survival.

Great Power Race Awards Ceremony -- 4:00 - 4:30 PM in "Desierto" Press Conference Room, Cancun Messe

350.org will host the awards ceremony for the Great Power Race, a clean energy competition between students in the US, India and China. Over 900 campuses registered for the race, competing to lower carbon emissions on their campus through a variety of projects. The awards ceremony will feature youth speakers from all three countries who will talk about the role students can play in helping their nations race towards a clean energy future.

Photos

Click here to access a Flickr set with more hi-res photos from the 9 December "Negotiating for Survival" Action in Cancun.