This morning, on the opening day of the climate summit in Copenhagen, Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow spoke at a media conference in Ottawa highlighting the fact that 152,843 Canadians have signed the Kyotoplus petition.
This petition calls for:
– setting a national target to cut greenhouse gas emissions at least 25 per cent from 1990 levels by 2020.
– implementing an effective national plan to reach this target and help developing countries to reduce their emissions and adapt to climate change.
– adopting a bold, strengthened second phase of the Kyoto Protocol at the pivotal United Nations Climate Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, December 2009.
Robert Fox, executive director of Oxfam Canada, and John Bennett, executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada, also spoke at this media conference on the need for Canada to take decisive action on climate change.
The Canadian Press reports in the Toronto Star and other newspapers today that, “On Monday, environmental groups released a petition signed by more than 150,000 Canadians calling for urgent action on climate change. ‘Canadians are sending a clear message to the Harper government – we want climate action, we want to be part of the solution,’ Maude Barlow of the Council of Canadians said in a statement. ‘This government, stuck in the tar sands, is not listening – this must change.'”
Additionally, the Canwest News Service reports that, “Canadian environmental advocates criticized the Harper government on two fronts through a petition signed by more than 150,000 Canadians calling for a sustainable Canada, and a surprise protest by members of Greenpeace who climbed onto the roof of the Parliament Buildings with a banner targeting Harper and Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, that said ‘climate inaction costs lives.'”
The Canadian Press report is at http://www.thestar.com/mobile/news/sciencetech/environment/copenhagensummit/article/735389.
The Canwest News Service article is at http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Everyone+responsible+global+warming+Canada/2313289/story.html.
Our media release for this event can be read at http://canadians.org/media/energy/2009/07-Dec-09.html.
To read more about the Kyotoplus petition, go to http://canadians.org/kyotoplus/.
