Last week we asked 350ers to take action on climate by sending a message to the leaders of the 8 richest countries in the world — those nations are responsible for more than 62% of human-produced CO2 in the atmosphere.
Thousands of you sent messages to those leaders in six different languages, and this week, our friends at Avaaz and Oxfam will deliver those signatures to the hotel rooms of each G8 delegate in Hokkaido, Japan, so they will hear your voices. Despite the hundreds of thousands of people worldwide who demanded that the leaders wake up and take urgent action on climate change, the G8 remains asleep at the wheel.
Early this morning, Japan’s Prime Minister Fukuda and the other leaders at the UN released this thin statement, passing the ball back to the UNFCCC, “Recognizing the importance of setting mid-term, aspirational goals,” and stating that “Sectoral approaches can be useful tools to improve energy efficiency and reduce GHG emissions…in a manner compatible with economic growth.”
Instead of taking leadership on the issue of climate change and taking responsibility for their own greenhouse gas emissions that have surpassed 350 parts per million in the atmosphere, the G8 leaders have dodged making any progress on significant short-term solutions to climate change. This mediocre effort will not help reduce CO2 emissions and lead back down the path to 350, and is an example of foot-dragging and business as usual. We can’t afford to wait until our leaders wake up. Let’s show the G8 that we expect more from them by organizing actions in our own communities and proving that solutions to the climate crisis do exist.