5 Million Signatures By December!

21.11.2009   Breaking News: 1.5 million signatures collected and the list is growing fast ...more

Please read the petition hereunder or click here to see the scanned copy. Then, please click here to sign the petition. Dear President Obama, We are concerned citizens from Ethiopia appealing to you on behalf of various communities affected and increasingly impoverished by the impact of climate change. We are sending this appeal on behalf of farmers, pastoralists, women, youth, students, children, environmentalists, and other members of the Ethiopian public that are being hit first and hardest by the severe impacts of climate change. First of all, we would like to thank you and your government for the outstanding efforts on the environment and climate change front. Furthermore, we would like to congratulate you on being selected as the Nobel Peace Prize winner. We think that your government has already done much better in the last nine months than what has been achieved by the previous American administration. · Thank you for taking the initiative to have a paradigm shift regarding climate change and for holding talks with various World leaders to discuss climate change policy. · Thank you for enacting the strong American Clean Air Act and for signing an executive order to set emissions targets for federal agencies. · Thank you for inviting and encouraging investments in green projects through the stimulus package. · Thank you for starting the legislation process for a new climate bill that will form the basis for the US position in the international negotiations. · Thank you for the many other things you did to bring about a real change in the climate attitude. · Thank you, more than anything else, for not ‘countering the green house with the white house effect’. Dear Mr. President, in our part of the world, every single day presents a tremendous battle for life for us due to climate change. Our traditional coping strategies are no longer effective in tackling the enormous changes in weather patterns facing us. A fair climate deal at Copenhagen is the only source of hope we are looking forward to at the moment.  Thus we are worried about the possible delay in striking a deal at the international negotiations. Similarly, we are worried about the delay in passing the US Climate Bill, which is hampering your country negotiators from taking a clear stand on emission reduction targets and finances, among others. We are worried about your recent remarks during the G20 Summit whereby you ‘downplayed the importance of sealing a comprehensive deal at the Copenhagen talks’. We are worried that you did not speak as audaciously about the urgent need for the international climate deal as you have done with other issues of global importance. We acknowledge that your government is facing serious issues like the passing of the health care bill and other urgent political matters. Kindly note that the lives of people in Ethiopia are already facing a clear and immediate threat from climate change, which is intensifying by the day. This necessitates an urgent and fair climate deal at all costs. We strongly urge you to take the lead by taking urgent action through endorsing a strong domestic climate bill that is helpful for the international process. We then kindly urge you to do your level best to hasten the process and ensure that the US negotiators go to Copenhagen with a clear target and pledge. When America slumbers, the whole world remains in a nightmare. What made you come to the top, against all the odds, is thinking differently and deeper. The world needs your wisdom now. When you take lead for a better earth and home, everybody will surely follow. We will do whatever we can to make this dream a reality. Most sincerely, Abel Getachew on behalf of Ethiopian Children Frehiwot Wuhib on behalf of Ethiopian Students Farmer Mulualem Berhane, National Green Hero and on behalf of Ethiopian Farmers Farmer Wubalem Mengist, National Green Hero and on behalf of Ethiopian Women Farmers Ali Mirra, on behalf of Ethiopian Pastoralists Zimdina Abebe, on behalf of Ethiopian Young Girls Alemayehu Akalu, UNEP Champion of the Earth in 2009 and on behalf of Ethiopian Youth Betseit Sisssay, on behalf of Ethiopian Women Habtemariam Abate, on behalf of the Ethiopian Civil Society Network on Climate Change Negusu Aklilu, Director of Forum for Environment For further information, please contact the coordinator at ffe@ethionet.et _

27.10.2009 A new Climate Justice campaign launched Ethiopian Civil Society more...

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